Major coolant leak!!

[GOOSE]

I had the radiator brazed last Tuesday and after one nights test run I quickly found out that its leaking somewhere else. A quick look underneath and there is coolant literally pouring off of the oil filter. I am praying that the oil cooler gasket has been compromised as I know it has been leaking a very small amount of oil for some time. I am fearing that the block may have cracked or that the freeze plug has become unsettled and is passing fluid.

I had to go out and finish my Christmas runs today and went through 9 gallons of water in the course of 2 hours, with the radiator cap on loose.

I got an oil change, coolant, oil cooler gaskets and a new set up of JB Weld. Lets hope for the best. This is the 4th engine in my truck, a re-manufactured long block at that. Im headed out to do surgery right now. Lets just say that visions of a DT360 are dancing in my head this Christmas eve.

 

[Dieselcrawler]

good luck with it

 

[GOOSE]

Thanks Corey. I got the fluids drained. Looks like mother nature and some rain have different plans for me right now. You gotta love working outside in the grass.

 

[icanfixall]

Wow.. What a time for this to happen. I go along with you hoping its an oil cooler gasket.. Cheap to fix but a tuff job to do also. Good luck and merry christmas too. It gets really dark nearing the end of the tunnel so look for some lite up ahead...

 

[bbjordan]

Hey, I'd love to be outside working in the grass. Beats working in the snow at -18C with a nice breeze. I hope it turns out to be something minor. JB weld is amazing stuff. My brother in law campaigned a 327 in a stock car years ago. It had a cracked block that was fixed up with JB weld. He ran the whole season with it that way!

 

[Darrin Tosh]

Bummer Goose!,.Hope it goes well for you and its an easy fix,..

 

[GOOSE]

Thanks guys. Looks like the evening rain is going to put this on hold until after Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas everybody!!!

 

[GOOSE]

Borrowed my brother's garage for a bit tonight, The oil cooler gaskets were in tact. Looks to be a bad freeze plug. I will look through my stock tomorrow as I believe I have extra freeze plugs. The hard part will be sourcing the install tool. I will have to search for a Rotunda part number and see how good my my local parts stores really are.

I am a bit disappointed as the long block is less than a year old at this point. This should be a warranty thing but I'm thinking that by the time you jump through all of the hoops, its easier to just take care of the problem.

 

[GOOSE]

I googled the tool and wound up finding one of Gary's postings of the tool number. Here it is: OTC-303-D045

 

[Dieselcrawler]

i would still contact promar. see what they say.

 

[GOOSE]

I will. If nothing else comes of it, I would like them to tell me how they install them and if they use the proper tool.

 

[hesutton]

Goose, that is one of my nightmares with these IDI's. Loosing a freeze plug while hauling the 5'er and melting it down. Scary stuff. Thank God it happend at home.

I'd certainly be calling Promar about the issue. Could have been a disaster for sure.

Heath

 

[jaluhn83]

Goose, that is one of my nightmares with these IDI's. Loosing a freeze plug while hauling the 5'er and melting it down. Scary stuff. Thank God it happend at home.
Heath

Yep, been there, done that. Admittedly it didn't help that I thought it was a fault in the temp gauge at first and drove for a couple minutes with no coolant in the block, but it's still a bad day. Wound up with 2 cracked heads from that one, although it didn't look like the gaskets failed.

 

[icanfixall]

Installing the factory only stainless steel freeze plugs with the special tool is the only way to do this job. For me the fear is the other plugs are going to fail too. Not just the one that has failed now. No way even a steel pluf would fail this fast in our blocks. Promar is a great company. I can't see them installing the plugs wrong or using the plain steel plugs/ Getting it out and looking closely at it will tell you lots. Even touching it with a magnet will tell you a lot.

 

[GOOSE]

I called Promar this afternoon and got some insight on my dilemma. First off, they didn't even question it being a warranty claim. They were very professional about it. Second, they described their way of installing the freeze plugs and were 100% right on track, using the specific tool, Ford stainless plugs and a sealant. It was like they took a page off of the Oilburner's site which relieved me of worrying about the other 6 plugs for the time being.

I then called my local IH shop and they have the freeze plugs in stock, that's pretty darn sweet. I bet they are cheaper than Ford as well. I was disappointed to hear the shop guy tell me to not worry about the tool and just use the ball peen hammer method.

I bought a Dorman plug just to compare and will get the IH freeze plugs tomorrow. I still need to source where I can order the install tool but I'm sure I will find it.

The only thing I'm not sure of is how Promar is going to reimburse me. Maybe a quote from a shop will do. I would guess this to be at least a $700 job with labor costs involved. If they do no more than reimburse me for the tools and materials, I will be ok with that. I will keep you posted.