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Some believe the TTY (Torque To Yield) bolts were not step torqued correctly at initial assembly on some engines. That is hard to prove as the only way to know would be from suspecting there was some sort of leak by loss of coolant or pressurization / venting of the degas bottle (>16 PSI). Under normal driving conditions (very much like my issue) the problem would not manifest itself until the engine was under load. The head gasket was compromised at the outside of cylinder 7.
Additionally, there were some engines that had casting sand remaining in them and it was a crap shoot on which ones did or didn't. The TTY bolts, step torqued correctly work just fine on the 6.0 PSD. However, silica drop out and/or casting sand caused blockage resulting burst EGR coolers which dumped coolant into the engine. That coolant immediately flashed off into steam causing and instantaneous over-pressure, stretching the TTY bolts, and lifting the heads. Extreme cases of EGR Cooler failure resulted in hydro-lock of the engine due to amount of coolant dropped into it.
Several methods were used to prevent this. One was an EGR delete. Most states don't do emissions on these trucks and the EGR delete would not be inspected. However many states have laws about tampering with vehicle emission systems and of late some states are cracking down on modified vehicles. If a state does start inspecting these trucks emissions those people who have modified their vehicles are going to be spending some money putting catalytic converters, mufflers, EGR Coolers, EGR Valves, etc.
I chose to fix mine by replacing the EGR cooler with one made by Sinister Diesel. The tubes inside it are made of stainless steel and are much less likely to burst. The Ford head gasket is a good and a new set of them went in, the TTY bolts, do the job, but if there was another EGR Cooler failure, they would not stand the over pressure, so they were swapped out for ARP studs.
Everything else is stock except for the Edge Insight.
The original problem with mine happened at 54,000 miles, 6 years old, so out side of the 5 year / 100,000 mile warranty.
I now have 152,546 miles on my truck with nothing but tire rotations, oil changes, and car washes on it. Most of those miles are towing an RV.
Eric
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