Bleitz Construction

No More 6.0 Liter Degas Bottle Coolant Boilovers
VIDEO https://youtu.be/Mamm_4BK444
After 150 miles of test driving, I was unable to make the engine blow coolant out the degas bottle. I never turned on the main engine fan using the blue wire switch modification. I am declaring my overheating and over pressure problems fixed. All testing was done with the 4000 pound Truck Camper on the F550. I am now able to comfortably drive up hills that would make my engine get hot and build pressure causing coolant to blow out of the degas bottle. Everything I had tried to correct the problem helped but completely fix the issue. This latest attempt to fix the problem with heat and pressure seems to have worked. I installed a Mishimoto Degas Bottle and larger hoses and fittings. The connections are also lower and closer to the water pump intake which helps. Combining the hoses closer to the water pump encourages coolant to be sucked into the pump. Being lower from the degas bottle increases downflow with help from gravity. Using larger hoses and fittings lowers pressure, back pressure, and increases flow. Where the heater and coolant filter hoses recombine into 1" hose is a recombination of the two circuits that were divided at the Tee by the alternator, half going to the heater core, and the other half going to the coolant filter and through the Hayden 1040 radiator in front behind the AC Condenser and in front of the Intercooler. Since half the circuit is cooled by the heater core, I decided the other half should be cooled by an equivalent auxiliary radiator. The degas bottle was restored to factory plumbing with the addition of the two Hayden 405 transmission coolers being used as radiators. The 3/8" degas hose from the top of the engine, originally meant for the EGR cooler, goes up to the two coolers and flows through them in series, then into the degas bottle input. The degas output goes to the top of the radiator connection. I did not connect the coolant filter return as many do into the degas to radiator hose. I decided to use the original IPR filter method and recombine with the heater core hose return under the degas bottle. I did not experience any benefit from using that connection earlier so left that hose factory untouched and recombined into the 3/4"x3/4"x1" Tee. That connection connects into the 1" SS Wye down from the Mishimoto aluminum degas bottle and immediately, about 4", into the water pump. This setup has resulted in a successfully functioning cooling system. With the new setup, I have not had to use the blue wire switch to turn on the main engine fan to full lockup. The cooling system is now able to achieve adequate cooling without the fans assistance. The Hayden 1500 CFM electric fan does turn on about 188 degrees but in all honesty, it's added ability to cool the engine is not that much. What it really does well is bring the AC temperatures down in the cab making hot summer days and trips south to Arizona etcetera, much cooler and more comfortable. There you have it, after throwing plenty of effort and a couple thousand dollars at it, I now have a rock solid cooling system on my 2006 6.0 Liter PSD.

No More 6.0 Liter Degas Coolant Boilovers After 150 miles of test driving, I was unable to make the engine bl...

https://youtu.be/2Q3wIXTx-b8
Here's video from under the hood of the F550 showing the degas bottle and coolant pressure gauge. You can watch the coolant level go up and down to the sound of engine RPM. The degas bottle blows coolant 6 times in the video. I drive I5 at 62 to 65 during the test. Temp varies from 186 going down hill and as high as 198 going up hill. Flats about 190. Coolant pressure typically 16 to 18, and tends to blow out coolant at 20 psi combined with temps over 194. Pressure is fairly consistent so the likelihood of a bad head gasket is low. Temperature and control of it seem to be the problem. As you know, I've gone to considerable expense and cost to control temperature. I'm starting to install a larger Mishimoto DeGas Bottle now to give more room for expansion. Lots of people have this same issue and have installed the Mishimoto DeGas Bottle with success. We'll see what happens.

6.0 Power Stroke DEGAS Bottle Purging In Realtime and Coolant Pressure Gauge DeGas Bottle Issues a...

VIDEO https://youtu.be/yL7OtG9zAhE VIDEO
One of my favorite drives, come along.

Jerome Arizona Mining Town On A Steep Winding Road This is a ride along video down a mountain and driving through the interesting old mining town of Jerome Arizona.

VIDEO https://youtu.be/_0FIZ3ghe2o VIDEO
I'll do the driving and hiking, You enjoy the ride and adventure. The ECHO Canyon is a pretty cool place set with beauty all around. The 10 BLM campsites were freshly restored with good amounts of space between each of them for a very reasonable price. Half price with Geezer America Card. The Natural Bowl Shaped Amphitheatre creates a strong ECHO. Stand closer and the echo is very fast. Stand farther back on the trail a couple hundred feet and the echo gets longer and still has good volume. Lots of wildlife and a Peregrine Falcon living in the cliffs. We stayed 3 days we liked it so much and moved to a higher spot our last night. Reasonably good cell service was available on Verizon. We left there and backtracked to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum where Kelli went on a tour of her home. No photography allowed. I did some work on the Truck Camper. We returned up the road toward the ECHO Amphitheatre to where Georgia made her summer home on Ghost Ranch. An interesting place with museums, Only the Dinosaur Museum was open at the time of our visit. Others were being refurbished and painted. After our visit there, We headed to Chama, NM but that is another video.
Enjoy...

CITAP1 4 likes. "ECHO Amphitheater NM Great BLM Camping"

Video https://youtu.be/dTYhIrh849k Video
I'm installing some offroad lighting on the truck to better light the way on forest, desert, and other roads where good night time vision is a must. I'm going to be using the FORD factory Auxiliary Switches. An often misunderstood feature in the Ford trucks. I'll explain the function of these switches and remove any confusion you might have.

CITAP1 2 likes. "Ditch Lights Bar Light Using FORD Auxilary Switching Explained"

VIDEO https://youtu.be/nszRZamO6H8 VIDEO
The F-550 has a 47 gallon fuel tank in the back between the frame rails where the spare tire is normally mounted. I have been strapping the spare to the rear slide out deck on the truck camper but it just isn't the best location for it. It's a lot of weight to be bouncing around on that deck. A friend had a front mount hitch and spare tire mount on his truck and camper and he said it was a great setup for him. It makes the most sense to me to mount the spare in front. It allows us to carry a couple bikes on a rear mount hitch double bike carrier. I also show the electric fan I installed to makeup for any loss in engine cooling due to the spare tire blocking air from being rammed into the radiator when on the highway. I'm still working on several other truck and camper projects and looking forward to improved travel capabilities from those changes being done to the truck and camper.

CITAP1 F-550 CURT Front Hitch With Spare Tire Mount Installation

Steep Rough Scenic Drive https://youtu.be/_6pkwlT7RZU VIDEO
One of the cooler places we've driven and camped

Chiricahua Mountains Rough Forest Road 42 We take you along for one of the best and roughest scenic drives over Onion Saddle Pass at 7600 feet altitude on Chiricahua Mountains Forest Road 42. This ro...

Good for a smile and a laugh.
VIDEO.: https://youtu.be/EhJuZjtGPbQ?si=K7e5zOO_q-R1Q1rh VIDEO

Truck Camper Rally Karaoke We had a blast singing Karaoke at the Truck Camper Rally. Most people gave stardom a shot and and sang their best? The finale wad John Denvers "Take Me Home ...

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/no3ysL-kHo8
We had a great few days relaxing, hiking, watching wildlife, meeting folks and wandering dogs, and of course cooking a few things.Enjoy the show, and fast forward to the next section for a different subject. This video is a compilation of several shorts.

Alamo Lake AZ BLM 5 Days Relaxation Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/gPKpunNMAwc
We visit Montezuma Castle National Monument. Native American Cliff Dwelling at it's finest. Ancient peoples who lived here constructed a magnificent home in the cliffs above a fertile, farmable land below them with water, hunting, gathering which must have made a good life. like msny other similar communities in the region, it was suddenly abandoned and it is not for certain known why. My opinion is, only one thing could have effected everywhere simultaneously, drought! Drought over many years, would lead to crop failure, reduction in game and gathering. Eventually becoming famine and struggling to survive, and finally war. That's just one scenario. Disease could have spread throughout the region. Disease in crops, game, or people. Someday the answer may be revealed.

Montezuma Castle National Monument We visit Montezuma Castle National Monument. Native American Cliff Dwelling at it's finest. Ancient peoples who lived here constructed a magnificent home in ...