Puking water from dipstick

Speedy

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So I bought a new to me 94 7.3 idi factory turbo not running was told they couldn’t get it started bad fuel lift pump and starter.

Installed new batteries old ones were crap and it had a good starter. Nothing wrong with the lift pump other than rotten rubber hoses leaking fuel. Fixed that and started bleeding out air finally got all the air out and started it ran rough for 30-60 secs I remembered there was no coolant showing in radiator so I thought I would shut it down and top of off with distilled water and then flush and fill. 14 gallons later water and oil starts pouring from dipstick and large hose from cdr. So I’m wondering could a bad oil cooler do this or do I more than likely have a large hole in my block or heads? (Sorry for the long post)
 

Dieselcrawler

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Oil cooler rarely lets coolant in the oil. It sounds like you have an internal issue, but don’t cry yet. It could be just the plate behind water pump.
 

Thewespaul

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I agree that it’s likely not an oil cooler, or really a head gasket either. Most likely it’s a cavitation issue or the timing cover behind the water pump is pitted and leaking straight through to the crankcase. I would pull the water pump off and check for pitting. If it looks good, time to pull the engine to investigate further.
 

Speedy

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Took the water pump off and no corrosion at all it’s very clean no rust no pitting. Pulled off the drivers side valve cover everything looks good no bent push rods or anything just milkshake everywhere gonna try to pull the passenger side tonight and check it. Also the valve covers have stickers from dealers diesel From the little bit I could find on line they are a rebuilder. Truck only has I think 240k must have been a rough one. My Powerstroke was all original with 380k when it was wrecked. Is there anything else I can check before I have to pull the heads?
 

pafixitman

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When you bought the truck was the snail that connects the intake to the turbo etc. on it? Was there any chance the intake was open to the elements? Was the square plug still in the snail?

The intake falls right below the cowl. On non turbo trucks if the cowl seal is bad and the air cleaner hold down bolt does not have a good rubber seal under it, water will get into the intake and seep down past the rings. Yours being a turbo that should not have been an issue unless there was an opening in the snail.
 

Speedy

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When you bought the truck was the snail that connects the intake to the turbo etc. on it? Was there any chance the intake was open to the elements? Was the square plug still in the snail?

The intake falls right below the cowl. On non turbo trucks if the cowl seal is bad and the air cleaner hold down bolt does not have a good rubber seal under it, water will get into the intake and seep down past the rings. Yours being a turbo that should not have been an issue unless there was an opening in the snail.

Yeah I checked it was all connected and sealed up the oil was clean no signs of water when I bought it that’s what is so strange
 

snicklas

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OK, Here are my concerns, having just replaced a water pump, and reading his description.

He said when he bought it, no evidence of a milkshake, I'm assuming looking at the oil fill cap and/or the dipstick.

He said he poured 14 GALLONS of "water" into the radiator. The cooling system holds 8 gallons DRY, and the oil pan should have 2.5 gallons of oil taking space. The description is the water is coming out of the dipstick tube (and I'm reading this as the TOP of the tube, not at oil pan, and from the CDR hose, which if this is a Factory Turbo truck, it's in a rocker cover. This means to me, if all 14ish gallons went into the radiator cap, and none is seen running out of the block, and the cab floor isn't full of water (heater core leaking), then there is 17 plus gallons of liquid INSIDE the crankcase, to its completely full and running out the 2 easiest openings it has, the dipstick and the CDR...... I don't see where the engine was ran after the initial run and shutdown to fill the radiator. Also, the way I am reading this is he poured in gallon after gallon after gallon, back to back until it started running out. If this is the case, it wasn't running , so don't think it could be heads or gasket, and don't think it's cavitation, because that is normally an almost microscopic pinhole. To me, this sounds like a "gaping hole" between the water jacket and the crankcase INSIDE the engine. Not wanting to be a "Debbie Downer".... but I don't think it's a little hole.

Now, if it took a long time to get the 14 gallons in there, then it could very well be something else. Or could be leaking from the 2 large coolant passages and behind the front cover, not a pinhole, since he looked for that. If he put the 14 gallons in over a 15-20 minute time frame, like I am thinking, then this isn't a small hole that is trickling a small amount across.
 

Garbage_Mechan

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I agree.
At this point if it was in a truck where you could get the pan off I would pull the pan, fill up cooling system again and see where it came out.
In a pickup in this case I think I would drain the cooling system and oil. Refill oil. Leave water out. Rotate engine a couple rotations with ratchet. If it won’t rotate remove glow plugs. Crank to clear water.
Start and let run no more than 60 seconds at a time. Does it run smoothly? Any chuffs, clacks, clicks or skips? If no compression tester cranking engine with fuel pump solenoid unplugged will tell you if there are dead holes because it will skip ie raer, raer, raer, ra, raer, raer, raer....repeat.
Last question.... not insulting or joking any way the crankcase oil filler was mistaken for the radiator filler? Don’t laugh....... been done before.
 
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