head gasket,oil cooler O rings, or cavitation?

[Farmer Rock]

Rock, Five Star has a location in York on Market St. AFAIK, they are still open.

Somehow I forgot about that place, but I don't know how, since I only live 10 miles away, and am always across the street at Brenneman's notary getting titles done. . thank you for reminding me, it's good to know that I have a dealer near by for parts if needed.



Rock

 

[Farmer Rock]

You're welcome. I can see the difference with the gaskets still in the package. the PSD front header gasket only has two bolt hole while the one for the IDI has four. The rears are pretty similar, but I'll bet that you can see a difference with them side by side.

I compared the gaskets this morning. You are right, they are very different from each other. I took a few pictures. The first picture is all the gaskets sided by side.




Rock

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[Farmer Rock]

I let the truck sit overnight to see if the oil was being overfilled with coolant again. Lo and behold, the engine oil is still getting diluted. I noticed while I had the truck running for 10 minutes, that there was a ton of white smoke coming from passenger side rear of the engine and of course from the exhaust as well, and the truck was very low on power. I guess this all means head gaskets. How big of a pain is it to do the head gaskets with the engine in place? Also, what gasket kit is recommended?thanks




Rock

 

[Cubey]

The elongated gasket with 3 mounting holes in the new kit is for vans, so you can completely disregard that gasket for pickup use (unless you somehow have a motor swapped from a van).

The link posted back in page 1 (here again to save time: https://www.dieselhub.com/maintenance/idi-oil-cooler.html ) has the Motorcraft part numbers. I suspect most people would say get Motorcraft parts, but probably any would do.

For someone who hasn't already bought the gaskets, this is a complete kit for both trucks and vans with the O-rings also: https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...-ford-e-350-econoline?q=oil+cooler+seal&pos=1

 

[Laine D]

I let the truck sit overnight to see if the oil was being overfilled with coolant again. Lo and behold, the engine oil is still getting diluted. I noticed while I had the truck running for 10 minutes, that there was a ton of white smoke coming from passenger side rear of the engine and of course from the exhaust as well, and the truck was very low on power. I guess this all means head gaskets. How big of a pain is it to do the head gaskets with the engine in place? Also, what gasket kit is recommended?thanks




Rock

I think that every head gasket is about the same. Anything fel pro is always my go to. For a turbo’d truck I think from now on I’ll use the cdd gaskets. I like the extra support.

 

[typ4]

Those black orings wont last.
They got crisp in 20k.
Its funny they are sending an early oring kit .
There is a reason I use OEM green rings and viton for the small.
Farmer rock, I bet you are cavitated or cracked head.
Any head gasket you buy today will be turbo spec.

If you want the good stuff,,,,,


https://russrepair.com/

 

[quickster]

I let the truck sit overnight to see if the oil was being overfilled with coolant again. Lo and behold, the engine oil is still getting diluted. I noticed while I had the truck running for 10 minutes, that there was a ton of white smoke coming from passenger side rear of the engine and of course from the exhaust as well, and the truck was very low on power. I guess this all means head gaskets. How big of a pain is it to do the head gaskets with the engine in place? Also, what gasket kit is recommended?thanks




Rock

I did my heads a little while back by myself. I used a cherry picker to get the heads off and on. Just takes a little time. Get the heads checked while off if you can. I used Fel pro gaskets. Do the valley pan while you're in there. If you were closer I'd give a hand.

 

[Farmer Rock]

The elongated gasket with 3 mounting holes in the new kit is for vans, so you can completely disregard that gasket for pickup use (unless you somehow have a motor swapped from a van).

The link posted back in page 1 (here again to save time: https://www.dieselhub.com/maintenance/idi-oil-cooler.html ) has the Motorcraft part numbers. I suspect most people would say get Motorcraft parts, but probably any would do.

For someone who hasn't already bought the gaskets, this is a complete kit for both trucks and vans with the O-rings also: https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...-ford-e-350-econoline?q=oil+cooler+seal&pos=1

Thank you very much Cubey, I will look into those part numbers right away and hopefully get some parts ordered.


Rock

 

[Farmer Rock]

I think that every head gasket is about the same. Anything fel pro is always my go to. For a turbo’d truck I think from now on I’ll use the cdd gaskets. I like the extra support.

I am thinking of turboing this truck in the future, and I would rather do this job once so it sounds like Wes' are the way to go. I didn't see a kit on his site, do you know if he sells kits?



Rock

 

[Farmer Rock]

Those black orings wont last.
They got crisp in 20k.
Its funny they are sending an early oring kit .
There is a reason I use OEM green rings and viton for the small.
Farmer rock, I bet you are cavitated or cracked head.
Any head gasket you buy today will be turbo spec.

If you want the good stuff,,,,,


https://russrepair.com/

I appreciate the advice Russ. Unfortunately I already used the black O rings when I rebuilt the oil cooler. How would I test the motor to know if it's cavitated?
There was a bunch of white smoke coming from the rear passenger side of the motor, so wouldn't that point towards a bad head gasket?thanks



Rock

 

[Farmer Rock]

I did my heads a little while back by myself. I used a cherry picker to get the heads off and on. Just takes a little time. Get the heads checked while off if you can. I used Fel pro gaskets. Do the valley pan while you're in there. If you were closer I'd give a hand.

Thank you for the offer, I really appreciate that!Did you buy a kit or just the gaskets? Also, I assume I should replace the head bolts like other motors?



Rock

 

[chillman88]

I am thinking of turboing this truck in the future, and I would rather do this job once

Also, I assume I should replace the head bolts like other motors?

Sounds like you should just stud it.

I understand that's expensive, but it's cheaper if you're already considering buying new bolts....

When you get the heads off please go over the cylinders with a very close eye. If it is cavitation I would HATE for you to do all that work before discovering it!

 

[Farmer Rock]

Sounds like you should just stud it.

I understand that's expensive, but it's cheaper if you're already considering buying new bolts....

When you get the heads off please go over the cylinders with a very close eye. If it is cavitation I would HATE for you to do all that work before discovering it!

Agreed! All of this has me wondering if I would be better off swapping in the 6.9 after freshening it up. What do you think would be best? My head is spinning


Rock

 

[quickster]

Thank you for the offer, I really appreciate that!Did you buy a kit or just the gaskets? Also, I assume I should replace the head bolts like other motors?



Rock

I got the kit. from Summit racing. I'm not going turbo, so I picked up new head bolts from headbolts dot com

 

[IDIBRONCO]

All of this has me wondering if I would be better off swapping in the 6.9 after freshening it up. What do you think would be best? My head is spinning

I think that as long as you know the 6.9 is good, then you should swap it into the truck so you can start using it sooner. Then you can take your time going through the 7.3 and have it checked for cracks, pin holes, and other bad possibilities.