DamageINC Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Ok, so how many of you are checking for front cover cavitation dueing the horizontal EGR cooler replacement? I have one in the shop right now, horizontal cooler blown completely out. After getting my ducks in a row and calling hotline, the guy recommened I yank the water pump and inspect. Sure enough, the whole inside of the front cover is all torn up, HEAVY eroding going on. Apparently that's very, very common when these EGR coolers fail and now it needs a front cover and oil cooler as a result. Maybe I'm just way late on this but I thought I'd mention it here, haven't seen anything on it in the 6.4 section yet. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_E Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 CLICK HERE Dave, could you post a picture of it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamageINC Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 I don't have a camera here in the shop but I'll try to snap one tomorrow and get 'er up here for ya. It's not hard to notice at all though... a good front cover has a smooth, machined surface inside it right behind the water pump impeller fins. This particular one has virtually NO smoothness left anywhere, small little dimples, "shotgun blast" texture across the whole thing. Maybe when I get the new one I'll shoot a good vs bad photo. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlchv70 Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Some cavitation is expected on these engines. Typically, it doesn't cause a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DamageINC Posted August 25, 2008 Author Share Posted August 25, 2008 Well, although I'm not so sure of that, I wouldn't exactly call this one "some" cavitation. After comparing it to the new one (I'm sorry, I never got pics of the old vs. new) it looks like the old one used for target practice. The new one is very nice and "mirror" finished inside, the old one is VERY heavily torn up, not just behind the water pump impeller but the whole inside of the thing was really heavily beaten up. I still might be able to get a pic of the old one. But apparetnly after these things cavitate so badly, they become somewhat porous and the coolant will make it's way through the cover and into the oil. Yummy. Not to mention that all the eroded aluminum is now getting collected in the oil cooler. That also gets replaced. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselD Posted August 25, 2008 Share Posted August 25, 2008 Ive had 3 or 4 of these lately. most due to low coolant levels from leaky radiators. eventally it will errode enough to leak into the oil system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony302600 Posted August 26, 2008 Share Posted August 26, 2008 Ive had 3 or 4 of these lately. most due to low coolant levels from leaky radiators. eventally it will errode enough to leak into the oil system. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/banghead.gif I have one right now that is overheating due to the radiator leaking causing low coolant. I hope this doesn't turn into having to check the front cover behind the waterpump if the cooling system get's low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikill Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I have done a front cover and oil cooler once already. The truck came in and I replaced the turbos because there was too much play causing a boost and noise concern. A week later the truck comes back losing coolant. It took me about two days to figure out why the crankcase was overfilled. Finally after a call to the hotline they told me to drain the oil and pressure test the cooling system with the drain plug out. If coolant comes out then remove the water pump and inspect the front cover and sure enough there were chunks missing and a pinhole causing the coolant to leak into the crankcase. The truck had previously had two radiators and EGR coolers replaced. I replaced the oil cooler and front cover. Then the oil light came on. The truck had overheated enough to cause the check valve on the filter housing adapter to not seal properly causing the oil light to come on when it wasn't able to keep the oil in the filter housing. So I had to remove everything again and replace the filter housing adapter. That one won't get by me again. I'm sure I will run into it eventually again. I have already replaced a couple of more horizontal EGR coolers after radiator replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_E Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 I finally got one and took a picture Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikill Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I just finished doing my second one. This time though the engine started knocking. So I ended up replacing the short block as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyf Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Could cavitation cause erratic coolant temp gauge readings?Have one now that just replaced leaking radiator for second time.Test drive and seems ok for a while then temp climbed way up.By the time got back to the shop was almost back to normal.Now has a p0128,thermostat stuck open code.Makes me wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Amacker Posted November 19, 2008 Share Posted November 19, 2008 Could cavitation cause erratic coolant temp gauge readings?Have one now that just replaced leaking radiator for second time.Test drive and seems ok for a while then temp climbed way up.By the time got back to the shop was almost back to normal.Now has a p0128,thermostat stuck open code.Makes me wonder. I'd be more likely to think it was a cooling system that was not properly bled. Put a 'stat in it and use a vacuum bleeder on the system to remove all trapped air. Good Luck! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikill Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 Could cavitation cause erratic coolant temp gauge readings?Have one now that just replaced leaking radiator for second time.Test drive and seems ok for a while then temp climbed way up.By the time got back to the shop was almost back to normal.Now has a p0128,thermostat stuck open code.Makes me wonder. When you pull the thermostat you will find it to be coming apart and hotline says to pull the water pump to check the front cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff_E Posted November 20, 2008 Share Posted November 20, 2008 +1 The one I did in the above pictures had messed up thermostats and would never warm up as a result. I just decided to check behind the water pump as long as I was in pretty deep already doing stats. Low and behold I found some more warranty work to up sell /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/puke.gif Also: This whole ordeal started when the radiator was replaced by another dealer prior. Obviously it was run low enough on coolant to cause these problems. It also had coolant in the exhaust side of the horizontal egr cooler - so it got one of those too. As well as a venturi "T" to prevent this from happening again. I'm under the impression the T-stat problems are actually a result of aluminum particles from the front cover going through them. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shrug.gif In retrospect I prolly should have checked the ECT/EOT difference to see if the oil cooler was plugged from it. Oh well, it hasn't been back since so I guess no news is good news. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyf Posted November 22, 2008 Share Posted November 22, 2008 Pulled the housing to find one of the thermostats mising the rubber piece on the bottom.It was also aparently sticking from the markings present.It concerns me to see so many engine failures due to cooling system problems.I pray the Ford engine will be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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