Parking a Truck with Cracked Heads

MikeDually

MikeDually

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Dec 4, 2007
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Can anyone confirm this. My truck has one if not two cracked heads, while I determine if I can sell or save up the money to fix it, it is going to sit unused in my barn. Given that I live in the Northeast and temps are fluctuating between 70 in the day and 47 at night, I was told to drain the Coolant and oil from the truck to prevent the pistons from rusting. Is that true?
 
That doesn't sound quite right...... Stuff covered in oil generally does not rust.
 
I would be more worried about the bearings and crank if it's putting water in the oil...injectors too on a 6.0L

If a tractor we are working on is putting water in the oil and we can't get to it for a few months, or even weeks, we drain the coolant.

Is it worth the risk?
Chris
 
Signature, No it's not worth the risk, just wanted to find out if there was any validity in what I was told
 
MikeDually said:
Can anyone confirm this. My truck has one if not two cracked heads, while I determine if I can sell or save up the money to fix it, it is going to sit unused in my barn. Given that I live in the Northeast and temps are fluctuating between 70 in the day and 47 at night, I was told to drain the Coolant and oil from the truck to prevent the pistons from rusting. Is that true?
Click to expand...

Might sound silly, but have you pulled the heads? What made you think they were cracked? The reason I ask is you said one, maybe two????
 
If they are cracked and cracked to the point of leaking coolant into the cylinders. It would hydrolock the motor after sitting there for a bit. Since the cooling system pressure would push the coolant into the cylinder. Put a cooling system pressure tester in line with the bottle. Fire it up and see what the pressure is. If it immediately spikes to 16 then you have a combustion leak somewhere. If it only spikes really high when you get on it hard and you are running a tuner, take the tuner out. If it doesn't pump the coolant out driving around stock, then you don't have to park it. You either do a few tests or you let people scare you into something. Choice is yours.
 
Sorry I can explain, the truck started getting diesel mixed with the coolant. I researched on here for awhile and asked a few people questions. Got a TON of help. It was suggested that it could be a crack in one or more injector cups, or one or both cracked heads. I unfortunately do not have a great deal of experience with diesels and I don't have a way to pressurize the system. I took it to Ford, talked with the tech for a while and basically he said the same thing, so did engineering. The truck runs great, so he thought it was pretty unlikely it was the injector cups since he though there would be a miss or something. He leaned toward a cracked head, but was gonna be $1000, cause he wanted to cab-off the truck, then put soappy water in the injector cups, drain the coolant, pressurize the system and look for bubbles. If it was injector cups then that was a 1.50/cup, if not it's a head or two and I'm at $1000 and a broken truck, or $4000+ to fix it. So I took my truck, paid for the time and now I'm assuming the worst and tryign to save or sell
 
Let people scare me, I like that. The truck does not spike on presssure, it will reach 19 while getting on it, I do not have a tuner, never have. And it never puked coolant, still doesn't.
 
You are getting diesel in the coolant. The injector sits in a stainless steel cup that is set in the head with green loctite. If you are getting fuel in the coolant the fuel is running through the head right above the top of the cup. The lower injector o-ring keeps it in place. If the lower o-ring is leaking it is possible for it to be pushing fuel past the top seal of the cup.

And the pistons are aluminum. Forged Aluminum.
 
ps60_071_Unique_Service_Procedure.jpg
So the jacket may not be cracked and the when fuel is pushed into the injector fuel is making into the injector and into the coolant, because there is no miss or hesitation. I'm not sure I understand how it could make it past the top seal, if the top seal has not failed? And how would I check that? I think you may have told me before that it could be burnt?
 
Top o-ring keeps fuel from the oil. Bottom o-ring keeps fuel from the injector cup. You don't have to have a missfire or hessitation. How did you determine you had fuel in the coolant? Did it taste different than normal?
 
Oh Thanks! Good time for Sarcasm, I appreciate it. Ya I tasted it! No it smells just like diesel. It's pretty obvious.
 
I figured the sarcasm would help as much as the local tech telling you the pistons would rust. :poke:
 
Sorry Doug, I'm getting frustrated with the truck. I just don't have the time to work on this truck and I would really like to find a mechanic near me, dealer or not that just knew something about 6L. I find myself talking to many mechanics and they have no idea on diagnosing these trucks, I know more, and I have only learned that in two weeks from asking people like you.
 
The 6.0L is not a mystical unicorn. Its an engine. Air In. fuel in. Kaboom. Let that out. And Repeat. The sensors tell the computer if the regulator did its job of getting it where it needs to be. Injectors fire fuel because oil slams the fuel out of them. Keep it simple and it becomes quite easy to fix. Cooling system pressure testers have been around for a long time. Sending out a sample of coolant to check for fuel has been around a long time. Checking the specific gravity of the coolant is older than I am. Its called a Hygrometer.
 
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