Drained 2 gallons of coolant from engine oil!

[fiverpuller]

I know this engine has issues but sheesh! The truck ran till I filled 2 gallons of coolant in the radiator. Within minutes it was hydrolocked. Within hours the oil level was up way high and coolant down. I have been assuming head gasket failures but could it leak that much that fast into the oil? If all goes well the engine will be yanked tonight and I can start disecting soon. But I was just curious if anyone had any gut feelings. It could always be the old "C" on multiple cylinders. There is lots of oil in radiator as well.

I was barring the motor over last night and when I hit a cylinder or two on the drivers bank (suspected head gasket blown) compression stroke I could hear a hissing sound that might be escaping the engine. I figure this to be the air in those cylinders squishing out past the head gasket? Another issue is this thing was leaking a ton of oil. I am just kicking around ideas until I can crack it open and have a look see. Thoughts?

 

[towcat]

pull the GP's and find the offending cyls. I had the same happen to me on a factory ford rebuild this last Dec. Only difference I drove it back from TX to CA with those issues.

 

[lschultz]

The 91 Dodge I had this happen it was the oil cooler sprung a leak. They replaced it and never had any more problems but there could be other reasons.

 

[The Warden]

An oil cooler leak on an IDI will get the oil and coolant trading fluids, but I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't lead to a hydrolocked engine, unless the crankcase got so full that coolant was migrating past the rings (and I'm not even sure that that CAN happen).

Unfortunately, with coolant getting into the cylinders, it sounds a lot like either a bad head gasket or the big "C"... Like towcat said, pull the plugs and find out which cylinders have fluid. It's possible that only one side's affected, but if you do one head gasket, you may as well do both, right? If it's the rearmost two cylinders, it's a fair bet that cavitation got another one...

Good luck!!!

 

[fiverpuller]

It's not locked up any more. I could rotate the crank without pulling the glow plugs or injectors. Is that a bad sign? Like low compression? It didn't take much effort. Also I heard air escaping from the front of the engine...so that is a good sign it might NOT be the big "C". I'll take my lumps either way...but would like a chance to rebuild it. Long live the 6.9!

 

[RKOCH]

They are famous for pin holes in the cyl also. That will cause exactly what you are discribing.