6.0L Powerstroke Oil Cooler Back-Flush Procedure

Clogged oil coolers are notorious weak spots on the 6.0L Powerstroke. The typical reason oil coolers clog is from the breakdown of the engine coolant over time. (This is a nice way of saying poor maintenance!)

In this video we show you the method we use to back-flush the 6.0L oil cooler to correct an engine oil overheat condition. This procedure is a good way to save a known good cooler from replacement. IT IS ALSO A GREAT PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE TO ENSURE THE LONGEVITY OF YOUR CURRENT OIL COOLER!

Why Oil Coolers Clog

Engine coolant is typically made up of Ethel-glycol with a specialized additive package in the mix. When engine coolant fails the additive package actually falls out of suspension forming hard particles that become trapped in the tiny fins of the oil cooler. This clogging reduces the flow through the cooler and heat can no longer be wicked away efficiently.

Once you get clumping in a cooling system it is VERY HARD TO REMOVE ALL TRACES. That’s why we have a very tedious procedure we use to clean out the cooling system when we replace an oil cooler. Even as thorough as our procedure is some left over sediment might remain trapped in the original radiator, heater system, etc. Sometimes this leftover sediment can break-away from where it was hiding and clog a newly installed oil cooler. This back-flushing procedure is our low-cost solution to what could be an expensive fix. (Replacing the oil cooler again!) ~Bill Hewitt