Motor oil keeps the parts lubricated and cools down your engine. It passes through the cylinder head and around the combustion chamber. The heat absorbed by the oil is transferred to the engine block. The constant transfer of heat, in most engines, between the oil, block, and coolant keeps temperatures under control. The 6.0 engines took this step further and added a cooler to extract heat directly from the oil. The 6.0’s cooler is effective but had some failure problems. You can solve it by installing a 6.0 oil cooler relocation kit, or you can completely upgrade the 6.0 oil cooler.
Table of Contents
Common problems with the stock oil cooler:
An oil-to-water cooler is used in the 6.0l Powerstroke. There are a series of small channels inside the cooler, and the oil and the coolant pass through these channels. It helps the transfer of heat from the oil to the coolant. The coolant then releases heat through the radiator. The design shows frequent failures that put the engine at risk of overheating and mechanical problems but is effective. The tiny passages inside the oil cooler increase the surface area for better heat transfer but are clogged easily due to contaminants such as corrosion, additives, and gasket material that seals the passages. Dirt, soot, and sludge can cause the same blockages on the oil side of the cooler. It is placed in the engine valley and exposed to constant heat. Its cooling efficiency gets reduced over time. It increases thermal stress on the cooling block. This continuous heat stress leads to splits in the fluid passages that allow the oil and coolant to mix. It creates a sticky emulsion that blocks the lubrication system, the cooling system, or both. After some time, the filter screen might fail and eventually leads to oil pump failure. The HPOP supplies the oil that drives the fuel injectors. The debris can be passing through a broken filter into the injector supply lines and make them clogged, even if the pump is still working fine.
Symptoms of a failing oil cooler:
If the oil temperature and coolant temperature are almost the same, then the oil cooler is working effectively. If the oil temperature goes above the coolant’s temperature, then the cooler is failing. Ideally, it should be 15 degrees. In high-stress situations like climbing hills or towing near the vehicle’s payload limit, increased oil temperatures lead to mechanical components’ premature failure. Antifreeze enters the EGR cooler after passing through the cooler. The coolant movement is not restricted in the oil cooler to avoid overheating and failure of the EGR cooler. It is caused by debris or emulsified coolant that blocks passages.
How do I fix my Powerstroke’s oil cooler problems?
Bulletproof diesel addresses the pattern failures of the stock oil cooler. Installing a 6.0 oil cooler relocation kit moves the cooler away from the engine and lowers operating temperatures. The 6.0 remote oil cooler kits use an oil-to-air cooler. You can pick any oil cooler according to the amount of work and how much you use the truck.
What’s the difference between oil-to-water and oil-to-air coolers?
In an oil-to-water cooling setup, an oil cooler relocation kit moves the stock cooler out of the engine valley. It is mounted to a bracket. To make some space, the kit is comprised of a replacement vacuum reservoir. The stock oil-to-water cooler is replaced with an oil-to-air cooler by a 6.0 remote oil cooler kit. It cools the oil directly using a radiator and eliminates engine coolant from the system entirely, thereby avoiding coolant and oil to mix at this point in the engine. An oil transfer block is used instead of the oil-to-water cooling block. It meets up with the original oil passages and sends oil through a hose to the included radiator. The radiator is placed between the grill and the air conditioner condenser. It is sent back through a return line to the transfer block, where it gets filtered before going into the HPOP. An integrated HPOP screen is available for both the transfer blocks on the relocation kit and upgrade kit, replacing the failure-prone stock screen. An oil filter relocation kit is available for oil-to-air cooler kits, replacing the engine’s cartridge filter with a larger filter. It is easier to access a can-style filter that mounts to the left of the engine.
What’s the difference between a hot climate cooler and an all-climate cooler?
To circulate oil through the cooling system 100% of the time, hot climate coolers are used. They perform the best at high ambient temperatures. To help the engine warm-up in cold weather, the all-climate coolers bypass the cooling system until the oil is warm. They have a built-in thermostat. If you install a hot weather kit, then the thermostat and bypass hose kit provided lets you turn your hot climate cooler into an all-weather cooler just by moving or changing routes to a cooler climate.
What do I need to install one of these kits?
Installation kits have most of the parts that you will need. However, depending on the truck’s configuration, you might need extra parts and modifications.
- An extra bracket with an upgraded air conditioner condenser is needed for 03-07 trucks. The condenser uses a wider block for the refrigerant lines, a barrier in the oil cooler.
- The cooler needs to be relocated to the bottom using our power steering cooler relocation kit as 06-07 trucks have moved the power steering cooler from below the radiator support to the top.
- The early 2003 engines use a thread-on turbo oil feed tube replaced with an O-ring fitted tube.
- Some trucks have a 17-inch or 14-inch transmission cooler. If your truck has a larger cooler, it can be put at the bottom using the brackets to provide you space to install the oil cooler.
- If you live in an area where the roads are salted and are installing an external oil filter, you should cover the fittings with rubberized undercoating to prevent corrosion.
Bulletproof – The best oil cooler for 6.0 engines:
If you have a performance engine and want to reduce the chances of breakdowns in your hauling rig, choose bulletproof oil cooler solutions. You can order a kit and any accessories you need directly from us because we make the installation process easy. We walk you through the entire installation process. If you aren’t interested in installing and removing the major engine components yourself, we have a preferred installer network.
