Help, diesel down on side of road

[icanfixall]

You can leave out the coolant for now if your still flushing the system. But, If its freezing where you aare better run antifreeze to protect the block from freezing. The steam coming out the catch tank bothers me. You should not be having that. As for the aftermarket temp gauge not moving sounds like the block has an air lock in it. Try lifting the drivers side wheel so any trapped air can flow up to the top drivers side of the radiater. Dawn Dishwashing blue liquid detergent cleans the oily mess better than the other crap. Just do it a couple of times. As for loosing oil that could be a drip, bad valve seals or plenty of other things. After 2 dawn flushes any leftover oil will collect in the catch can where its easy to get rid of because that fluid is not completely draining back into the radiater. Some off the bottom does but not very much. It mostly goes back and forth as the water or coolant expands or contracts.

 

[riotwarrior]

mr_smith

Do you have block drain petcocks installed, they are like the drain petcocks used on a radiator. IIRC they are in my waterpump replacement thread in the tech section. It shows where they go.

I would strongly suggest not to use a prestone flush, but instead a strong mix of Calgone or other auto dishwasher detergent instead. This helps cut the oil better IMHO than the flush, it's also less likely to cause issues with damage.

Buy a box of the powder dish washer machine detergent, mix say a cup of detergent in HOT HOT HOT water so it fully disolves and then add to rad, flush system for a while drain, repeat untill clean. Draining block and rad between each flush.

If you do not have Petcocks installed and can't that will make it more difficult to fully drain system and require more flushes to effectively thin out the sludge through multiple flushes. Having petcocks allows the cooling system to more fully drain and subsequently do a better job of flushing.

JM2CW

Al

 

[mr_smith]

I just noticed a thick white (almost like lithium grease) gunk covering the sides of the inside of the oil fill tube

What the hell is that??

 

[mr_smith]

Saw this just in time, I will use some dawn to flush it instead..

Fixall, I am worried about the steady steam too.. are you thinking h/g?

 

[mr_smith]

I am thinking (hopefully) the white crap is from the recent weather change and the fact that the truck has been run infrequently latley..

At least thats what my 5 mins of research just told me

 

[icanfixall]

I thought you posted that the coolant slash water was finally mixing with the engine oil. If so theres the reason for the white froth looking mess in the oil fill cap area. It basically boiling off and leaving the hot oil side of the engine thru that area. boiled water raises. Not ready to suggest the head gaskets are shot nor will I go as far as suggesting a cracked head.

 

[79jasper]

^^^ I'll suggest it.

Do a compression test.

We had one that we thought was a good runner. It would drink a little coolant, til one day it was on a 12 hour trip. She finally blew all the way through the cylinder wall.

What's the blow by look like?

Get one of those pressure readers for the cooling system.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Most of those rad flushes aren't worth a damn for oil, unless it says so. Remove the t'stat so you get circulation. Use Dawn dish washing liquid, fragerance is your choice, on the large size use about 3/4 of the bottle with clear water, leave the rad cap off, it will overflow when it warms up, thats OK let it, run engine about 1000 RPM so you get circulation, run for about 15 - 20 minutes like that, drain the sysrem including the block drains that are located on the sides, one is behind the starter the other is same location on drivers side. Leave the plugs out, remove the lower rad to engine hose, connect your city water hose to the flushing tee in the heater hose turn on the water and let er flush. With the lower rad hose off yet, flush the rad. Put every thing back together, fill with just water, run the engine like above, drain again, if oil is still coming out, you have to repeat the flush.

 

[mr_smith]

I thought you posted that the coolant slash water was finally mixing with the engine oil. If so theres the reason for the white froth looking mess in the oil fill cap area. It basically boiling off and leaving the hot oil side of the engine thru that area. boiled water raises. Not ready to suggest the head gaskets are shot nor will I go as far as suggesting a cracked head.

No, I dont have any evidence to suggest that the "coolant" is getting into the oil, just vice versa. There is still a bunch of sledge coming out. We warmed the truck up and we just barely cracked the rad cap and it went a steamin'.. there is a lot of pressure when the engine is running..

Not sure where to go from here

 

[mr_smith]

The truck made it to a job about 3 miles away yesterday. On the way home it lost all power, everything dead. I am pretty sure its unrelated. With the 13lb cap on it seems to be making it further, I am still thinking a possible h/g problem. I just don't get why I would not have any water in the oil. When I get it home I will do a compression test. Is it dont the same way on a diesel as a gasser? Also, are there any other tests I should be doing to diagnose the problem?

 

[mr_smith]

Just drove it to the dump and I saw the temp climb, started to pop the cap and had a crazy amount of steam/sludge come out. I had to hold it half cracked open for a good 3 mins.

 

[mr_smith]

I just rented the cooling system pressure tester. I started the truck cold and let it idle for about 5 mins, the pressure reached about 5psi, then I revved it a little bit and the pressure would drop slightly, but when I stopped revving it would go right up to a little bit higher of a point vs before I revved it. The temp never reached over 150.. after about 15 mins I has 16 psi of pressure so I shut it down. I am assuming this means I have way too much pressure..

I have not drained it yet but I have no signs of water in the oil..
Still have sludge in the cooling system but it is getting less and less.

Whats next??

 

[icanfixall]

When you pressure tested the cooling system and the pressure reached 16 lbs what was the pressure cap you were using. If the cap had no pressure rating on it then your cooling system would pressurize till something blew. The reason behind a pressure cap is two fold. To allow a pressure release and to raise the boiling point of the water or coolant. My old 1937 Cord V8 has a neutral pressure cooling system. We can run that same thing if we run the Evans Waterless coolant.

 

[mr_smith]

When you pressure tested the cooling system and the pressure reached 16 lbs what was the pressure cap you were using. If the cap had no pressure rating on it then your cooling system would pressurize till something blew. The reason behind a pressure cap is two fold. To allow a pressure release and to raise the boiling point of the water or coolant. My old 1937 Cord V8 has a neutral pressure cooling system. We can run that same thing if we run the Evans Waterless coolant.

It was a pressure gauge attached to a fitting that acts as the cap. I let it get up to 16 then I shut it off. I guess the real question is, how much pressure is the cooling system supposed to have while running? Something has to be causing huge pressure that shoots a few minute long burst of steam out of the recovery tank after a short period of driving

 

[mr_smith]

What else should I do to diagnose the problem?