2004 International VT365 head gasket or EGR issue?

[CreativeEnt]

I have a 2004 International with a VT365 motor. The truck has about 108,000 miles on it. The truck overheated while we were driving it on the interstate and blew some of the coolant out through the coolant resovoir cap. Upon closer inspection the coolant resovoir had a 16 psi cap on it instead of the stock 10 psi cap. We replaced the cap and the coolant resovoir (cracked) and it blows coolant out as it is being driven due to pressure in the coolant system.

I'm not sure if this is due to a bad head gasket or EGR cooler. Any ideas?

 

[bdcardinal]

remove the EGR cooler and pressure test it, that will isolate that portion of the system.

if you do pull the heads, put it back together with ARP head studs.

 

[m37charlie]

For Ford versions of that motor, there are aftermarket replacement EGR coolers that have multiple stainless tubes instead of a radiator-like fin design.
If that will work on the Int'l version and it turns out you need an EGR cooler, look into it. Or else consider an EGR delete kit.
I second the ARP studs.

Charlie

 

[mechtech2]

Sure sounds like a bad head or head gasket.

 

[Chris142]

I've never seen a bad egr cooler push water out the cap. Theres more pressure in the cooling system than in the exhaust so I don't see how that could be the issue.

Usually when the egr cooler goes bad it puts water in the exhaust and on top of the pistons but no pressure out the cap.

I'm voting heads and the ARP studs.

 

[DieselTech]

I see this every day. We specialize in international and powerstroke. You can usually tell how bad it is by the amount is has puked. When the EGR cooler goes it super heats the coolant and blows the headgasket. There are upgraded OEM bolts but I highly suggest ARP or A-1 H11 studs. It's out of warranty so an EGR cooler delete from liberator or Gillett Diesel would be good. I also use alot of Bulletproof Diesel EGR cooler for those that are concerned with emissions or extended warranties. It's also a wise idea to replace the oil cooler and the screen filter located under the cooler. Whoever does the work needs to flush the Oil and Coolant lines extremely well and I advise a coolant filter on the VGT365 and 6.0 powerstrokes. Lastely and Very important to do the job right you need to have the heads decked. If any material must come off you will need to contact Cometic for gaskets to compensate for the Head Volume difference. The Dealer does not have these. If this is not done you maybe in the same boat all over again.

Hope this helps. If you need anything or advise just let me know.
Shawn

 

[DieselTech]

With all of the above being said, the VT365 doesn't have near the head issue the powerstroke does as it does have different programming so pressures are much less and they are not tuned as many trucks are. I'm willing to bet the EGR cooler will fix your issue with puking. I would continue use of the 16PSI cap aswell all of the newer ones run a 16PSI for a reason.

 

[1 FMF]

i had an old '89 7.3L idi F250 years ago,
haven't followed diesel in the last few years since getting rid of the truck except only to know the cavitation issue the mid 90's 7.3L powerstrokes had, and all the problems I've heard the 21st century 6.0L powerstroke having. So it seems International Harvester is still having tons of problems?
I did a google on VT365 and the 2nd link that comes up is VT365 boat anchor... is the new 6.4L any more reliable than the 6.0?
It seems like with all these new emissions devices they throw on the engine, with all the electronics and computer programming, the more problems there are.

 

[DieselTech]

The 6.4 has proved to be a much more reliable mill then the 6.0. I still see alot of 6ohs that have over 300k on them but they have had the issues taken care of. The early build 6.4 have had radiator problems and a few other minor issues, but nothing drasic like the 6.0 has had. many of the 6.0 issue are owner self induced via custom tuning or poor over the counter tunes. Even untuned they have problems, but near as much as tuned trucks.

The new scorpion is going to be a great engine. I have seen them and been to class on it and it willtake a force of god to lift the heads on this mill. The Emissions stuff is still but much improved.

The new intake and head design along with the turbo will reduce greatly the large amount of turbo lag you see with the 6.0. All in All I am impressed so far.

 

[artificialist]

Sure, an EGR delete would be a nice thing for engine performance and durability, but how tough are the inspections where CreativeEnt drives his truck?

 

[DieselTech]

I don't believe he has any major emission requirments like we do out here. When I was in OK it was just a safty inspection, but they maybe a bit different. I don't always reccomend deleting the cooler all together especially on commercial international Trucks with the VGT365. The PCM will require special custom programming to shut off the CEL light. I am not aware of anyone tuning the Internationals like we do the Ford 6.0. For the 365 I personally would use an EGR cooler from Bulletproof Diesel here in AZ. They have a great product and it's much stouter then the OE cooler is. At this time they are the only one with an aftermarket cooler.

If you need their info please let me know. As i said before you will also want to replace the oil cooler heat exchanger and the screen under it. Flush the oil and coolant lines really well.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: DieselTech

The new scorpion is going to be a great engine. I have seen them and been to class on it and it willtake a force of god to lift the heads on this mill. The Emissions stuff is still but much improved.



The Scorpion does look interesting... but I really don't know if I trust aluminum heads on a truck diesel, no matter how well designed they are. We'll see! I also wish they hadn't gone with urea injection for emissions, but I guess it beats melting the pavement and ruining fuel economy with the DPF "burn" cycle :-/

 

[DieselTech]

UREA is going to be a PITA for some people to get used to. MB uses it and it works well and it's reliable.

With the lower drive pressures with the new turbo the alum heads should be fine. My concern is when people start sticking aftermarket tuning to them and the drive pressures go up and heat does aswell. We shall see!!

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
but I really don't know if I trust aluminum heads on a truck diesel, no matter how well designed they are. We'll see!

The Detroit Diesel Series 60 has an aluminum head and that engine is extreemly reliable.

 

[DieselTech]

yes it does and it's also IMO the most reliable mill out currently.

 

[onion]

Sorry, folks- the Series 60 head is cast iron- always has been. And considering that (according to bigwheels at work) this will be the last year of the Series 60, the head will always be cast iron.

The only diesel engine that I can recall seeing that I KNOW had aluminum cylinder heads was a little oddball italian engine that we see in generators now and then- a Vimatori. Inline 4-cylinder with 4 individual heads. Maybe 50hp or so. They seem reliable enough, but it's a whole different application.

 

[artificialist]

The 6.6 Duramax has aluminum heads.

However, I don't work with enough of them to know if it is a weakness.

 

[CreativeEnt]

I'm revisiting this post after a few months. We are currently working towards repairing this truck.

After the truck originally had the puking problem we took it in and they replaced the coolant resovoir and the cap (10lb cap). We were driving it back from the shop and after about 5 miles the truck shut down due to low coolant. It went back to the shop and they were unable to find any other problems. Could it have shut down due to an air bubble somewhere in the system? I've been holding on the repair until we have a need for the truck and until I have a better idea of what's going on.

The truck is at the shop now. They are trying to determine if it has a bad head gasket. They put a carbon monoxide detector on the radiator and ran it and it didn't show any in the coolant. Can anyone suggest any other ways to try to determine if it is the head gasket or an EGR problem?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[DieselTech]

Easy way to diagnose the cooler is to raise the rear of the vehicle while it is warm and remove the EGR Valve. Look inside the hole and look for evidence of coolant. If there is coolant you have a bad EGR cooler. This is the way we do it. If it's losing coolant that quickly it likely a combination of HG's and EGR cooler. When the coolant was low was there evidence of "Puking" out of the degas battle again?