EGR Cooler Failure Kills Powerstroke Engine
There is a common problem we see after an EGR Cooler failure. When there is an EGR Cooler rupture, coolant gets down into the exhaust system and then works its way back into the engine. Depending on what the rotation is of the crank when you shut the truck off, the coolant goes down into the exhaust and then it will go backwards and through the exhaust valve and will fill up one of the cylinders.
When this happens, one of two things will occur: 1) when you crank the engine again, if you have a hydrolock situation, you can actually bend a connecting rod; or 2) if you let the truck sit for a long period of time, water will get in there and rust the bore. Once the bore is rusty it creates spots in the bore where the iron oxide (rust) eats into the bore and creates porosity or little holes. These holes then hold oil. Once we get the EGR Cooler fixed and we put the truck back together, the truck becomes an oil burner.
On this particular truck, a 2005 F250, the customer had parked his truck for a period of time. You can see how the bores have been rusted. The only solution at this point is to yank the engine and tear it down, bore it and put new pistons in it. This is avoidable.
What is the solution? Let the coolant run down a little bit. You don’t want to take it completely out because if it gets cold, you don’t want the engine to crack while you are waiting. And, don’t overheat the engine. Then go over to a marine supply, tractor supply or any equipment supply store, and purchase fogging oil, such as Star Brite Engine Fogging Oil. You actually spray it into the intake. Don’t use WD40 because WD40 will dry it out and rust anyway.
You open up the intake and spray it into the intake with the engine running. You let the engine run while you are spraying it and then you shut the engine off before it all runs out. What that will do is coat all the pistons and all the bores. You can then let the engine sit for a long time. This customer has a fairly good size bill with a bulletproof and now it is going to get a more expensive unnecessarily because the bores are rusty.
I understand that money is short for folks, but if you know there is a problem with the EGR Cooler or there is coolant coming out of your tailpipe and you have to store the truck, spray that fogging oil into the engine and fog the engine. This will save your engine and you are not going to end up with a surprise extra bill when you take the truck in to get it fixed. ~Bill Hewitt
