Steam out of the tail pipe.

probbin

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Need some help. 2003 f 350 6.0 automatic.58,000 miles.All the factory updates,never chiped,regular filter and oil changes as recomended. On a 220 mile trip pulling about 10,000 pounds noticed a foul smell in the cab about half way. Smell went away. Inspection revealed low coolant.Toped off coolant Started engine and had steam out of the tail pipe.Could this bee egr valve or head gasket. Engine runs fine,no lose of power. Cracked the top on the degas bottle steam went away. What do you think?
 

bushpilot

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id start by looking at the egr cooler, since that seems more common...

while youre in there give a close look at the oil cooler to see if its coolant
flow is resticted (the restricted flow of coolant thru the oil cooler may have
caused the egr cooler to over heat & crack...lord knows you wouldnt be
the 1st to have experianced this)
 
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F350DRW1

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EGR cooler. Pretty much exactly how mine was. Got any warrantee left?
 

probbin

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steam out of the tail pipe

Warranty left till the end of the year.But how do i get the techs at the dealer ship to look at it. So far all they have done is pressure test the coolant system and says it`s holding pressure and that`s as far as they will go.
 

bushpilot

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the simple fact that youve got steam coming out the tail pipe
and loosing coolant should be RED FLAG enough.

i suspect what your seeing is the 1/2 rate payment issue...
ford pays a lower rate and reduced number of hours
for IN-WARRANTY repair (fwiw every mfg does this)

if i was a mechanic i wouldnt wanna work on warranty
work EITHER...specially knowing that out of warranty
repairs pay more.

I'd do what ever i could to show 'em the steam out the tail pipe
as well as asking them to "sniff" the coolant for combustion gasses.

FDDTS - Detecting Combustion & EGR Leaks

DIY - Combustion Leak Detector

Combustion Leak Detector Fluid For Diesel
 

F350DRW1

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Try a different shop. Or, drive it in and show the service manager what's going on. You shut it down for 15 minutes or so, add coolant and start it and it will blow plenty of steam. The crack could be small enough where the engine has to be hot for it to leak.
 

INTERNATIONALPOWER

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I just went through the same problem the egr cooler was cracked due to sand in the oil cooler. My truck had a high wistling sound above 2k,white smoke,and loss of coolant all over the underside of the truck. It just depends on the dealer if they want to fix it. Unfoutunatly my truck has been down for a month because of this and other related problems.
 
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woody17

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my 06 just did the samething it is the egr cooler for sure my dealership is takingcare of it on the power train warranty. 100.00. i get it back on thursday.
 

bushpilot

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I just went through the same problem the egr cooler was cracked due to sand in the oil cooler.....

I've said it before...get a COOLANT FILTER installed on these trucks
ASAP, get that sand and/or stop leak outta the coolant and maybe
just MAYBE we can avoid some of these repairs <either in warranty
or otherwise> !
 
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Black06

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Same issue here. Steam from the exhaust, whistle from the reservoir. New head gaskets and she's as good as new.
 

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