Oil in coolant

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Not my truck but my neighbors friends 89 F-350 7.3.

The guy tells me he dropped over 300 clams for a new oil cooler after a local diesel shop tells him his oil cooler needs replaced.

He first buys a used cooler bundle and has the same problems hence the new cooler purchase.

The shop supposedly cleaned the cooling system as the radiator was plugged with oil.
He even replaced the radiator and is still having issues with a plugged radiator.

Is there a good chance that there still may be oil in the cooling system or has the shop possibly damaged the orings reinstalling the oil cooler. The shop pressure tested the oil cooler before install and supposidly tested good.

If there's still oil in the coolant system, what is the best way to get it all out and flushed?
Any good chemical flush additives?

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Well it arrived and all I could say was eeewwww yuck.
There was more oil in the radiator that coolant.

Digging into it I pulled the back half of the oil cooler off and getting things apart, I found 2 pieces of rust up against the inner oring. Prolly the culprit as all 4 orings appear in good order and no cuts or nicks were seen.

Looks like a good cleanup and reassemble things and a severe case of the suds are in order to clean up the mess inside the cooling system.

Good thing was the ease of taking out the oil cooler without having to remove anything else.

 

[argve]

Doggy,

but you failed to mention about how hot oil gets in a very very short period of time...

I'm with you on the rust in the oring thing, after talking with ya this afternoon I highly doubt it's anything more than a bad cooler install/push together.

Oh and btw my project went well - I just checked the frig - the beer cooler section was sitting at 30 degrees and my test water bottle was starting to freeze so I back it off a couple of notches... and will check the tstat in the morning.

 

[geonc]

Ron, run some diluted Calgon thru the cooling system .
I have used up to half a box per total capacity.....just dissolve in warn/hot water BEFORE dumping in radiator....prolly 2 good doses for what you gots followed by a real good flush beteween and after

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Ron, run some diluted Calgon thru the cooling system .
I have used up to half a box per total capacity.....just dissolve in warn/hot water BEFORE dumping in radiator....prolly 2 good doses for what you gots followed by a real good flush beteween and after

Hehe.... Calgon take me away. I'll be totally looking at sudsing up the yard on this one.

Doggy,

but you failed to mention about how hot oil gets in a very very short period of time...

I'm with you on the rust in the oring thing, after talking with ya this afternoon I highly doubt it's anything more than a bad cooler install/push together.

Oh and btw my project went well - I just checked the frig - the beer cooler section was sitting at 30 degrees and my test water bottle was starting to freeze so I back it off a couple of notches... and will check the tstat in the morning.

Gee thanks Trav, my fingers are still a little red.
Good to see that the "cooler" project went well.
Hopefully I can get it back together without following suit from the shop. Gonna be a challenge cause the underneath of the truck looks bout like the one Darring had chopped up a couple of weeks ago.

 

[geonc]

Hehe.... Calgon take me away. I'll be totally looking at sudsing up the yard on this one.

Ron, Calgon does not suds up, it actually emulsifies the oil ie: allows it to bond/mix with water

Lemme put it this way....it's quite noticeable when you are pumping oily bilge water in a marina full of mega dollar yachits ......I have personally flushed many a oil contaminated cooling system using Calgon and never once left a oil line on any hull

Just be mindful of your coolant temp......due to the emulsified oil and softer water, it acts as an insulator so heat is not drawn away as fast...flush, drain= all drains, fill and repeat till you can no longer feel the silky residue on your fingers.

Another hint....use some sand/dirt when/if you use gojo etc....they contain lanolin that will give a false feel.....very similiar to Calgon/oil mix !

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Ok, the parts arrived on my doorstep today momma says.
Should I remove the t-stat and run wide open or allow the cooling system to function normally?????

 

[Agnem]

You could remove the thermostat and run it wide open. But then, maybe you'd like to swap stories with Zigg? Assuming your on crack, instead of wanting one, maybe you should put the thermostat in.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

You could remove the thermostat and run it wide open. But then, maybe you'd like to swap stories with Zigg? Assuming your on crack, instead of wanting one, maybe you should put the thermostat in.

Ouch!
Well I got the cooler back on last night and yes I have confirmed that you can remove the oil cooler leaving the front header without having to remove the motor mount or jack the motor up. Even on the 4x4.
Piece of cake. It was more of a PITA keeping the front section of the cooler clean from debris on reinstall.

Getting it warmed up and degreasing the coolant system now THAT is a mess. I figgered at least 3 quarts of oil made it into the cooling system.
All was going good till I was running up the rpms last night when all of a sudden the motor started to stumble and then started to make a very noticeable metal clattering sound.:***:
I hopped down and shut her down. I checked everything over that I could no block windows or anything else and fired it back up to have goatboy take a listen.
For the life of me I couldn't get it to do it again. WHEW!:***:
What scares me is when I asked the guy about SCA levels, I got a blank stare.
He's well versed in that maintenance issue now.

Total flush time so far is 2.5 hrs and am still getting gray **** out of the system.

I did notice last night as I was bout done for the night, a few drops of fresh oil back in the water bucket that I was draining into to monitor progress.
I'm hoping at this point that it was from an area in the block that was a high point and didn't get my cleaning mixture.

I'm trying to monitor oil consumption at this point to see if I fixed the problem, but not sure how long it will take to show signs.

I would think that it wouldn't take long with a hot motor to push oil into an open coolant system.

Today, more flushing and in the rain of course.

 

[argve]

fresh drops... you're scare'n me...

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

fresh drops... you're scare'n me...

You! Yer not the one workin on it. Try being in my shoes. I'm hoping to see if it turns over today.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Still getting oil in the mix after another hour of flushing.
Looks like it still might be pushing oil into the coolant system.

 

[argve]

Sounds like either a head gasket (not common) or she's cavitated (more likely)...

Does she build pressure in the cooling system?

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

Not able to pressurize the system due to the crap radiator he had in there along with the pinhole in the lower radiator hose.
I'm kinda leanin towards cavitation too.
Not sure I want to put my spare radiator and hoses on it to see.
I believe I may had a dead horse.