93fordturbo
Full Access Member
In the previous post you mentioned it could be the problem for smoke, but you have never heard of that being the problem? Confused lol
just bought a 6.0...advice?
- Thread starter 93fordturbo
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FordGuy100
Registered User
If it's not the sensor and actually is low ICP pressure it would mean low injection pressure which might cause white smoke, especially with weak injectors. But if it's just the sensor problem I haven't read it causing the truck to have white smoke. Sorry 
If you have a 6 liter that is drinking coolant, you most likely have a bad EGR. Do not continue to drive it, and I wouldn't drive a 6 liter accross the street without a tuner that monitors oil and coolant temperature. Justin in right on with the differential temperatures being critical to plugged coolers on 6 liters.
Here's the short version: egr starts to fail, you start slowly drinking coolant, burning it off via your tailpipe. Green coolant gets low, gets hotter and starts to precipitate the oil cooler plugging "gel". You keep driving it until your cooler is so plugged that it can no longer cool oil effectively. Then you put a load behind it one day and it pushes out a head gasket. Then you pull the cab to replace the head gaskets and start to invent new swear words as your credit card becomes maxxed out at the same instant.
You have to keep an eye on the temperature difference between the oil temp and coolant temp as it is directly related to how clean your oil cooler is on a 6 liter. Go get a tuner and see what the differential is at steady state driving. My buddy's was 30 degrees after only 75K miles, which is way higher than it should be. He caught it and did all the work (about 2K for parts) and his truck is completely bulletproof, with coolant temps within a couple degrees of each other. No headgaskets, great power, great fuel mileage, original head gaskets.
Read the 6 liter blogs and pick your poison, but I'd park it and diagnose/fix it now. The 6 liters can be made very, very bulletproof without pulling the heads off, but you have to fix all the factory gremlins that stack up and make bigger messes.
Good luck.
Here's the short version: egr starts to fail, you start slowly drinking coolant, burning it off via your tailpipe. Green coolant gets low, gets hotter and starts to precipitate the oil cooler plugging "gel". You keep driving it until your cooler is so plugged that it can no longer cool oil effectively. Then you put a load behind it one day and it pushes out a head gasket. Then you pull the cab to replace the head gaskets and start to invent new swear words as your credit card becomes maxxed out at the same instant.
You have to keep an eye on the temperature difference between the oil temp and coolant temp as it is directly related to how clean your oil cooler is on a 6 liter. Go get a tuner and see what the differential is at steady state driving. My buddy's was 30 degrees after only 75K miles, which is way higher than it should be. He caught it and did all the work (about 2K for parts) and his truck is completely bulletproof, with coolant temps within a couple degrees of each other. No headgaskets, great power, great fuel mileage, original head gaskets.
Read the 6 liter blogs and pick your poison, but I'd park it and diagnose/fix it now. The 6 liters can be made very, very bulletproof without pulling the heads off, but you have to fix all the factory gremlins that stack up and make bigger messes.
Good luck.
93fordturbo
Full Access Member
It isn't drinking coolant. At least not in 350 miles. It seems to be in the same spot
93fordturbo
Full Access Member
Oil and coolant looks good. I Gotta move tomorrow, guess I will have to chance it. Don't see why it would blew up in the next few hundred miles if all seems good. I know things can change, just saying
Gotcha, confused by your first post on the coolant level, and the exhaust smoke.
When you plug a tuner in the temperature differential will tell you what shape your oil cooler is in.
Take care, hope the weather is good for your move as good weather always seems to make moving more bearable
When you plug a tuner in the temperature differential will tell you what shape your oil cooler is in.
Take care, hope the weather is good for your move as good weather always seems to make moving more bearable
93fordturbo
Full Access Member
So when I get a tuner... I just plug it in somewhere? I know nothing about tuners, what's a good simple one and what all will they tell me. Are they hard to install? Do I only get one offline?
Timthetoolman
Full Access Member
I did not think my EGR was bad either, only had a 3 degree EOT ECT difference but I changed it anyway, never added any coolant in the 10,000 miles I drove it.
When I got the old egr off it was clean going in oily wet going it the intake, intake had a half inch of crap built up inside it, leaking just a little bit, i had the white smoke too, nothing now, see my last post. BULLET PROOF IT, I used Sinister products, $700 for the kit with oil cooler. www.sinister.com
When I got the old egr off it was clean going in oily wet going it the intake, intake had a half inch of crap built up inside it, leaking just a little bit, i had the white smoke too, nothing now, see my last post. BULLET PROOF IT, I used Sinister products, $700 for the kit with oil cooler. www.sinister.com
'94IDITurbo7.3
HAMMER DOWN!
get something like the edge cts monitor. there are no tunes on it. it plugs into the OBD port under the dash and will read out just about everything the PCM sees.
tbirdfiend281
Full Access Member
Maybe because I was in the business I would only know about this, but I know why your truck 'uses' coolant when you fill the surge tank full up.
It probably fell off, but a number of years ago Ford had a recall to place an updated level on the surge tank. The tech would get a sticker and match it up with the hash marks on the bottle. It made the full line a lot lower. The reason for this is when full to the factory line some trucks would push coolant out of the bottle, and then get improperly diagnosed by inferior techs that they needed an egr and oil cooler. That's your issue, you don't have a coolant usage issue.
The second item, smoke, could very well be a high pressure oil issue. The icp failure mentioned above 99% of the time presented with an oil leak, if you don't have one, your good. If you do, if you have long arms and enough skill you can change the icp without removing the turbo. It's a bit tricky but not to bad once you've done a couple hundred. I think your smoke could very well be a problem but most likely is not, your mileage is up there I think its just because of that, IMHO
That being said 03s had issues with there high pumps failing, among other things.
It probably fell off, but a number of years ago Ford had a recall to place an updated level on the surge tank. The tech would get a sticker and match it up with the hash marks on the bottle. It made the full line a lot lower. The reason for this is when full to the factory line some trucks would push coolant out of the bottle, and then get improperly diagnosed by inferior techs that they needed an egr and oil cooler. That's your issue, you don't have a coolant usage issue.
The second item, smoke, could very well be a high pressure oil issue. The icp failure mentioned above 99% of the time presented with an oil leak, if you don't have one, your good. If you do, if you have long arms and enough skill you can change the icp without removing the turbo. It's a bit tricky but not to bad once you've done a couple hundred. I think your smoke could very well be a problem but most likely is not, your mileage is up there I think its just because of that, IMHO
That being said 03s had issues with there high pumps failing, among other things.
tbirdfiend281
Full Access Member
P.s. get a tune that turns off your egr. If you don't your truck WILL blow an egr and or oil cooler, then if those go without repair, you will lift the heads and need a headgasket done. Edge will cause everything I mentioned above to happen, as will banks, I know because I have had the talk with customers after I have fixed there coolant usage issue for them, caused by those tuners.
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