300* coolant temp?

Mdub707 · Aug 13, 2012

I have a buddy who is a new 2003 6.0 owner. He just installed some tunes a couple weeks ago and has been driving it on Eric's extreme street. I get a call yesterday saying he was driving down the highway and his "check gauges" dash lit up and the temp was maxed out on the dash. He is monitoring it with an ITSX through his Itouch or something, said coolant was at 300*!!!! I almost wanted to believe it was just a wrong reading. He said he pulled over, and popped the hood. It actually shot the top right off of the coolant reservoir bottle. He said he got some water, added the water, put the cap back on, started up the truck and it was at 160*, started driving and temps started going right back up again. Up to 250* before he shut it off and let it cool again. Anyone ever heard of this? Truck has a new oil cooler (couple weeks old) and an EGR delete. The up-pipe is welded shut. I believe the cooler is gone, though he may have kept it on. Not sure. I thought maybe the waterpump? He said he just tore into it this morning and the waterpump is fine. Any ideas? Never heard of this one...

Also, any idea what should be checked for damage if coolant did indeed get this hot? I'm thinking possibly warped heads? He said the truck still starts and drives fine though, other than the temp sky rocketing.

Mdub707 · Aug 13, 2012

Also tested the thermostat in boiling water and it opened, so that's working.

He just called me, said he put it back together and when he tried to start it, the front cover broke? WTF? I'm not there to see it in person, never really had the front cover off of one either, so I'm kind of at a loss on how to help him here...

Zmann · Aug 13, 2012

kinda like to now what the oil temps are also ?

but for those temps to be possible(if true) I would suspect the coolant isn't circulating and unless He removed the pump He can' really tell if it's fine

kyle43335 · Aug 13, 2012

headgaskets,or severly cracked heads

Mdub707 · Aug 13, 2012

He took the front cover off and checked the pump, said it spins freely. When he put it back together, tried starting it, said the idler pulley ripped right off the front cover and wrecked the cover and the belt flew off. WTF? Maybe a locked up ilder pulley causing the belt to not turn properly and in turn not spin the waterpump? I'm at a loss, this is not normal, or even a common 6.0 thing.

Spindrift · Aug 13, 2012

Makes me think that the wp had seen better days.

Mdub707 · Aug 13, 2012

He said everything was spinning freely when he was putting it back together...

Just asked about oil temp, said it was higher, but no where near coolant. The oil cooler was just replaced a week ago, and the entire coolant system flushed. EGR cooler is definitely gone off of the truck. I asked, and he did say the fan was coming on as it should.

Spindrift · Aug 13, 2012

The impeller could still be spinning...but on the shaft only. I'm not trying to throw the guy under the bus, just don't know his level of expertise.

Mdub707 · Aug 13, 2012

Ok, just got off the phone with him. He said he tried as hard as he could to get the impeller to spin on the shaft and it did not. My thinking is this, headgaskets are blown, creating pressure in the coolant system, cap blows off the reservoir, loses a bunch of coolant there is steam inside... my guess is the steam is what caused the reading of the 300*, not actual coolant temp.

As for the front cover, my guess is that the belt wasn't put on correctly when he tried to restart it. He said it literally ripped a huge hole in the front cover. He's sending the truck to Ford now, as he's out of his home state and can't really work on it right now. He said if the gaskets are blown, he will just order the studs etc for it and have it done. Sucks it had to happen away from home, but usually how it goes.

Still don't know why the headgaskets would have just "blown" going down the road taking it easy, but it seems to be the only thing that makes any sense.

UpstateDieselGuy · Aug 13, 2012

Chances are that the head gaskets were already compromised and the added stress of the tune pushed it over the edge. It may also be cracked heads as mentioned above.

Chris

Mdub707 · Aug 14, 2012

My guess is he's going to have it fixed and sell it right away at this point. I think he's had enough frustration. Truck is really nice too, 03 with only like 75k miles on it.