I just recently had oil cooler failure leading to EGR failure.(no surprise right?) The problem is there is no outstanding diesel mechs in my area. I was told by an area regular CSE mechanic, he could replace EGR and oil cooler with upgrade. My concern is my heads the more I read about stretching studs. I do not want to build a new house on a bad foundation (if u know what I mean). I think I caught this early at the first sign of coolant loss. How should I challenge him to ensure my heads are OK or is it almost evident I have stretched the studs and just have not had my truck under load? (ex.my 15000 lb. RV) Can anyone help???

 

First of all do you have factory bolts or ARP studs. If you had egr failure what were your symptoms? Were you blowing coolant out the bottle or just puffing smoke? If your intentions are to upgrade, I would say lose the EGR cooler i.e. delete it.

 

The studs are factory. 135,000 mi. occasional towing very heavy loads 4 or 5 times year.
Symptoms: Truck was surging a very little and took to garage. Had changed coolant a month ago and did not really see any oil. After coolant change in four weeks it has dropped approx. 3/4 gal. None blown out under hood at water bottle. A very slight ring around top of bottle, u really have to be looking. No heavy towing last 2 years due to health. I have not noticed any white smoking, what I have noticed since #1 and #8 injectors were replaced at the dealership, I have been blacking my paint just a little and it has never done that. I have never seen an increase in temp. while driving. I actually put the truck in the shop for surging but I had started reading of the issues of the 6.0. I was told I had a bad sensor for the surging, and then the oil cooler, and EGR issue. I have found a vendor on ebay IPRresearch which has a delete, factory like bolt on, and a high flow oil cooler. He states that in a month or so he will have a external cooler as bulletproofdiesel has for far less. His name is Vince. Mods: Banks exhaust, K&N air, Edge chip at 85,00 mi. Thanks for the fast reply!!!

 

Based on what you have provided, unless I have missed something I don't believe headgaskets are an issue yet. As for the coolant loss can you determine where it is going? I'm inclined to think EGR cooler or oil cooler going bad, which will affect your headgaskets over time, if not repaired. Do you work on your truck, i.e. repairs or do you generally take it in to a shop? You don't have studs on the heads of your truck. They are factory bolts and will give way if problems arise with your egr/oil cooling system. Frankly, so will ARP studs if they are not installed properly or the heads are already hosed when you had them installed. The only way to know if your heads are true and not damaged would be to pull them off and have them magnifluxed for cracks then checked for warpage. Again, if your truck has not been spitting the coolant back out the Reservoir, then you might be lucky. Hope I've answered your questions.

 

Factory studs, and I have to use a mechanic. I am absolutely confident I have not blown any back through reservoir. I looked for any white but if its there I cannot see it. Based on your extremely accurate feedback, I am going to let this mechanic do the delete and high volume oil cooler (IPRresearch), sensor that lets it surge very very intermittently; change these and hope for the best right now. He did not say anything about pulling the manifold and cleaning. Would this be something that is mandatory or based on what he finds? I guess I'll find out if the bolts are stretched when I pull my RV up(15,300lb.); what call here the Saluta grade, up the side of the mountain. Many trucks on the side of the road up this highway. I have always been able to top at 60 mph; or maybe I just thought I was doing well? I am very thankful for your help.

 

You have to pull the manifold to get to the Oil Cooler. Have him check the egr valve also. It will get clogged and stick. It can be cleaned and reused. However, if your mechanic is going into the egr cooler such as a delete system then you can delete the egr valve and cap it. Or you can leave it in place and plugged in. With the elimination of the egr valve, some trucks have popped a DTC. Not really a problem just nuisance. It all depends on what your mechanic is doing with the egr cooler system (mod. or delete).