Warped 6.0 Heads??

BigOrange · February 14, 2019

Hey guys - Long story short my wife crashed our 06 2500 through the trees, crushing the rad in and she proceeded to get out and continue on her way to the lake. She said that she watched for overheating --- which it eventually did --- so she shut it down. Let it sit for 20, went again for a bit till it crept hot. Shut it down.............maybe more than that but "She wasn't sure".

Anyway, I did check later on once we towed the truck home and it was a little over full on oil - bad sign - so I pulled the plug and the oil was definitely somewhat chocolate "milky" looking = Coolant in oil so I assume head gaskets blown.

My question is........how susceptible are these 6.0 heads to warping/cracking??? I'm going to pull them off of course to do the gaskets and take a look but I'm wondering if I should be looking to buy my buddies used ones he has sitting around. One guy told me that it's likely she just overheated and blew out the gaskets and I shouldn't even worry about the heads aside from giving them a look for visual cracks but thought I'd ask for some other opinions.

- Since we really didn't run the truck any real extended period with the coolant in the oil...I'm going to go ahead and assume a little flush, some fresh oil (changed fairly soon) and I SHOULD be okay for any other damage to bearings/crank/etc?? It was still purring like a kitten when we moved it into the garage.

Thanks!!

Formulabruce · February 15, 2019

There are oil cooler lines that run up to the radiator. The lines often leak and can be compromised in a collision.

Your heads are most likely fine. I would put in a bigger transmission cooler while you are fixing it. After the new lines and cooler and radiator, change the motor oil and filter .

Good luck!

Edited February 15, 2019 by Formulabruce

davester · February 15, 2019

Yeah, the oil/water probably mixed due to the busted radiator. Engine should still be fine if it's running good now.

As a tip, if oil is in the coolant system, an easy/safe way to clean it (note: ONLY for the coolant system, don't do this for the engine oil or transmission fluid), is to drain the coolant out, fill with plain water, then add dishwasher power to the water (directly, not in the overflow tank), then run the engine so it gets hot enough to open up the thermostat and then another couple minutes), drain, perhaps repeat, then flush with plain water and then drain/refill with coolant.

But it's important to use dishwasher powder (for a dishwasher machine), and NOT use hand dishwashing soap. Dishwasher soap is necessary because it's non-foaming.

And you may also want to swap out the transmission fluid as well as the engine oil, as it also could have coolant in it (it also runs through the radiator).

Edited February 15, 2019 by davester

BigOrange · February 15, 2019

Interesting thoughts guys.....I’ll take a closer look at the situation with the oil cooler lines......but she didn’t cause a WHOLE lot of damage to the rad overall really, nothing I can see for certain or clear as day so I think it’s a puncture from a branch/etc. And the drivers side took alot less of the impact since the headlight/turn signal assembly are still good and that’s the side where the oil cooler lines connect unless they run through the entire rad???

Wherever the puncture or crack occurred was on the passenger side since the coolant leak was all over on the front suspension/frame area. And there was still some coolant in it when I disconnected the lower rad hose which was very clean so didn’t look like any cross contamination of oil into the coolant. Overflow jug is clean as can be as well so I’m still sort of leaning toward a head gasket.

I’d love to just replace the rad and reassemble, but I’m worried that I’ve got the entire front end wide open right now and would be a lot more work to pull the heads later if it’s still a problem.

BigOrange · February 15, 2019

- also trans fluid still looks clean and red with no signs of coolant in it at all.

Formulabruce · February 15, 2019

The 6.0 heads are AL. I have never seen one crack. Usually a spark plug is broken off and then it requires a machine shop.

90% chance your oil cooler lines or couplers leaked before the accident, and they do go in the radiator.

Do the easy first, then go buy a new truck !. It sounds like you are talking yourself into one!

BigOrange · February 15, 2019

Thanks FormulaBruce - - - no new truck in the works and I like the old girl since she's got jussssst enough war wounds that I don't feel too bad if something happens to it when we're hunting, fishing, or just doing some general romping through the bush. And I must be getting old since I like the 8ft box and anything I found as a replacement was a beat up work truck.

I took the rad down to a buddies shop and so they ran some pressure tests on it since it had next to no damage - - - and as expected there the engine oil cooler held pressure no problem. The only damage they found was a minor crack on one rail where it looked like a branch must have jammed it so a quick repair and now it's ready to go.

Which I would say means that I'm doing some head gaskets. I'm just still wondering about the likelihood that the heads warped also???? Even though I know the best thing to do is run them to a machine shop in town to get them checked out.