Oil in Radiator

[Randy Bush]

Checking the fluids on my 90 IDI and see the is oil in the radiator. Probably means need to reseal the oil cooler. Just another thing really did not need to do right now. What a good way to flush the radiator afterwards?

 

[Scotty4]

Pull both coolant plugs and open both petcocks and let everything drain. I put a garden hose in my radiator fill and ran it with no tstat (was changing) for 30 minutes. Radiator is plenty clean now. And the new coolant has not changed color which is nice.

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[IDIBRONCO]

If it's a lot of oil, I would try putting some dish soap or some laundry detergent in the cooling system. Run the engine for a while to get the soap circulated around really well. Make sure that you have the heater on just in case. I would then drain the radiator, refill the cooling system and run it. I'd also pull the heater hose off of the water pump and drape it over the fender. This will let you keep running clean water through the cooling system without the thermostat opening. When you don't see anymore soap coming out of the heater hose, rev the engine while watching the end of the heater hose. You'll see some dirty water still coming out while you rev the engine. Keep doing this until you don't see any more dirty water coming out of the heater hose. When you're done, drain the radiator and engine as much as you can. Then refill with your coolant mixture. This is how we used to do it at the shop I used to work at.

 

[Torinojts]

If it's a lot of oil, I would try putting some dish soap or some laundry detergent in the cooling system.

You are going to want to use a dishwasher soap or laundry soap. You do not want the soap to foam up in the cooling system. I have found Calgon, TSP, or Borax work the best. Dissolve a good amount in a gallon of hot water, then fill the rest of the way up with straight. Run engine long enough to have the t-stat open at least two times. drain and flush with straight water, if not clean repeat.

 

[tierod]

Ugh, I bought my 95 7.3PSD with a failed oil cooler and the PO had been driving it like that for some time. Needless to say, I had a very fouled cooling system that I first flushed with a diluted Simple Green and then dishwasher soap. I also changed the thermostat and flushed the system for hours. This process removed most of it, but I still had residual oil in the system for months after that I took care of by floating pieces of oil absorbing material cloth in the degas bottle.

 

[Cubey]

Ugh, I bought my 95 7.3PSD with a failed oil cooler and the PO had been driving it like that for some time. Needless to say, I had a very fouled cooling system that I first flushed with a diluted Simple Green and then dishwasher soap. I also changed the thermostat and flushed the system for hours. This process removed most of it, but I still had residual oil in the system for months after that I took care of by floating pieces of oil absorbing material cloth in the degas bottle.

Maybe a coolant filter setup would help?

 

[MtnHaul]

Coolant filter unlikely to help unless it has a much better filter media than the NAPA 4070(I think) filters. When I r&r'd my oil cooler I used assembly lube to help ease on the o-rings and to slide the end caps on the tube, and even after a year+ of coolant circulating through the filter there was still an oily haze to my coolant.