new oil coolers contaminated

Brad Clayton · March 11, 2008

This may be old news but I just found out that some new oil coolers are putting garbage right into the high pressure oil pump and causing ipr failures. Got one in my bay now, another dealer replaced the coolers and now it won't start. removed ipr valve and screen is beat up, removed oil cooler and the screen is destroyed.

Hotline said it could be casting sand and not to replace the cooler again but to clean it and the passages back to the hpop and replace the pump and ipr valve.

Just a heads up, not sure if it would be wise to clean the new coolers before installation until they clear this problem up. It may save a comeback and frustrated customer if the problem can be solved on our end in the meantime though.

Jeff_ · March 11, 2008

There was a thread about this on Fmcdealer. Lots of techs are having HP pump failures after replacing the oil coolers. I've started looking at mine whenever I do one, and I noticed a white powder residue on the underside - stuck to the housing of several. I don't know what it is, maybe some kind of flux, but I've been wiping out the majority of what I could reach with brake cleaner and my fingers, and haven't had a problem yet. Next time I do one, I'll post a picture unless someone beats me to it.

Tony302600 · March 12, 2008

We had a run of those too, usually a month apart. Isn't that awesome. And everyone wonder's why 6.0 warranty is so high.

Mekanik · March 13, 2008

This is good to know. The next one that I do, I'll clean it out before I install it. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbup.gif

Brad Clayton · March 15, 2008

Well the saga continues on this one. cleaned everything out and replaced the pump and ipr valve. Started the truck and it had an exhaust leak at the egr supply from the y-pipe. Not wanting it to get hot, I shut it down and fixed the exhaust leak. Now it wont start and only builds 250 psi on the icp.

Very strange, the truck ran fine, now no go. So I am back to square one.

mchan68 · March 15, 2008

Well the saga continues on this one. cleaned everything out and replaced the pump and ipr valve. Started the truck and it had an exhaust leak at the egr supply from the y-pipe. Not wanting it to get hot, I shut it down and fixed the exhaust leak. Now it wont start and only builds 250 psi on the icp.

Very strange, the truck ran fine, now no go. So I am back to square one.

Is this an '05 and up model?

Brad Clayton · March 17, 2008

'06 F-550 with 60k. I removed the new IPR Saturday and it looked fine no damage to the screen, so I am going to look for leaks in the high pressure system next.

Brad Clayton · March 20, 2008

Okay, this one is finally all fixed. I removed both valve covers and air leak tested the system and found the o-ring and plug for the test port in the top of the oil rail blown out and loose on the passenger side. I replaced the plug and rechecked and it held pressure fine. I replaced the left plug also and reassembled. Went to start 'er up and could not make more than 117 psi. Wow, at least before I had 250 psi. I removed the ICP sensor and hooked a hose to the rail and draped it over the fender and spun 'er over to see what came out. I bet ya an old timer with a prostate the size of a softball could muster up a better stream on his worst day.

Since I'm spending Fords money, I made a call and it was suggested the HPOP could be bad right out of the box. Sooooo once again I replaced the pump and the 'ol girl started on the first crank cycle and purred. Test drove quite a while and all is good.

Jeff_ · March 26, 2008

As Promised, here is a picture of a brand new oil cooler with the mysterious white residue stuck to the underside of the casting. I always check for this and clean out as much as possible before installing it in the vehicle.

Posted Image

Keith Browning · June 11, 2008

Bump... I believe we may have fallen victim to one of these, does anyone remember if there was any official notice on this oil cooler debris issue like an SSM?

Jeff_ · June 11, 2008

not that I know of, just a lot of chatter on fmc message boards

DamageINC · June 12, 2008

Bump... I believe we may have fallen victim to one of these, does anyone remember if there was any official notice on this oil cooler debris issue like an SSM?

I got bitten with this once too. I submitted a hotline request stating that I'd "heard about a powdery residue in some out-of-the-box oil coolers" and was curious if they'd heard of it too (because my HPOP and IPR were canned after the oil cooler was installed).

They didn't even request a call-in, it was just a message saying something like "If the oil cooler has been replaced and now there is debris in the IPR screen, replace the HPOP and IPR, replace the oil cooler again, replace the filter screen beneath the cooler and blow out the passage between the HPOP and the resivoir."

I imagine they know there's some kind of issue..

Dave

Keith Browning · June 13, 2008

I agree that makes it sound like they know something but we just did a CASH oil cooler and the truck died three minutes after the repair down the street on a road test. So, since there doesn't seem to be an official paper trail would that be a "service installed" warranty repair with "related damage?" Talk about a shit sandwich!

mchan68 · June 13, 2008

No paper trail? What about a parts purchase receipt? If the defective new part is what caused the subsequent failure of other components, wouldn't Ford be picking up the tab?

Keith Browning · June 13, 2008

Mike, what I was getting at is that we know there was an issue with these coolers, apparently Ford does as well but there is nothing officially documented to support claims against this. After the cooler is installed I would think that the debris/evidence has disappeared... straight into the pump. Prove it? Without documents to back it up you are on thin ice.