Ugly coolant out of oil cooler, do I need head gaskets?

[ComatoseLlama]

I’m in the process of a reseal on my engine going into my truck. When I pulled the oil cooler this nasty looking stuff came out, and has me worried. The coolant that came out of all the other parts of the engine was a normal color and consistency. the engine has been sitting for a long long time but runs.

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There’s also a line of RTV way up in the engine up by the camshaft. How big of a concern is this?

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Thanks

CL

 

[IDIBRONCO]

The coolant that you're wondering about looks like "normal" coolant that comes from down low in the block or sometimes the radiator. It's most likely the sludge (for lack of a better term) than settles out of your cooling system. Since it is heavier than the coolant itself, it settles to the lowest parts of the cooling system first. At this point, I would replace the head gaskets unless you have a better reason than this to do so. The solution would be to do a coolant flush after you get the oil cooler back on and the engine's running again. Now is the time to do this since you've already drained the majority of the antifreeze out of you cooling system. You can also install a coolant filter to help keep this build up from happening again, but I would do the coolant flush first. All of this crap will clog your new filter almost instantly if you're trying to flush it through a new filter.
As for the RTV, if there's any way that you can reach something in there and remove it, it would be for the best. While I'm not saying that it will destroy your engine in a few thousand miles if you leave it in there, I'm CERTAINLY not saying it either. There is the possibility of this doing serious damage to your engine. Since the engine's out and the oil pan is off, you should try to remove it for sure. I've seen similar lines of RTV stuck inside oil pump pick up screens. I've also seen them stuck inside of piston cooling jets. If all fails, maybe you could try some mechanical fingers to pick it up, but I'll bet that you can get it out of there.
One more thing to add, if you're thinking about studding the engine, then the head gasket replacement question is kind of a moot point.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

I'll add that while the engine is out you should re-torque the head bolts for sure. Won't take long with such easy access and it's actually part of the maintenance on these engines since they use standard head bolts.

Search around for the procedure, basically it's one at a time to keep the head and gasket happy. If you have any rusty bolt threads lube them up with engine oil for proper torquing.

 

[hacked89]

I wouldn't say I was resealing an engine and not do head gaskets. If you have the funds for studs do it too. Just pick the rtv out. Bigger question, where was the orange rtv that ended up on the cam?
Something is funny there.
Did they use orange on the oil pan?
Most pictures I see, and the engines I have, orange was improperly used on the waterpump and then it would get pulled into the cooler. Except you should find it stuck in the cooler and not in the oil side..

Also, I'll say it's a bit nuanced about the orange.
Orange permatex is the sensor safe one for newer cars that can be used on oil pans and water pumps but..

1. This isn't a newer car and you're better off with heavy duty oil rtv like ultra black on the pan

2. Factory spec you are not suppose to use orange on the waterpump, it's suppose to be aviation #3.

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[IDIBRONCO]

Bigger question, where was the orange rtv that ended up on the cam?
Something is funny there.
Did they use orange on the oil pan?

From what I can see, the orange RTV was used on the oil cooler gaskets and probably other places too.

 

[hacked89]

@IDIBRONCO Yea good point. When I first skimmed the pic the gasket rtv is orange and is always stuck there, but looks like someone put extra rtv ontop of that.

This is what it looked like on the motor I just did for reference with just the gasket rtv

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Versus his

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[ComatoseLlama]

The orange RTV seems to be from a previous work through of the engine, there’s junkyard marker on the oil pan too so this has been around the block once or twice.

I appreciate all the advice

Do head gaskets on these engines require a head machining job? That’s the main reason I don’t want to get into it. There’s no good machine shops around here

thanks

 

[miles1400]

@ComatoseLlama they should not require machining unless they are not flat. you need a straight peice of steel and feeler gauges. you lay the steel across the head and the block corner to corner and you run the gauge along where the steel meets the engine and the feeler gauge shouldnt go under the steel. im not sure what the feeler gauge spec is for these engines

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check out this video it shows you what to do

 

[ComatoseLlama]

It just keeps getting uglier, the sediment formed a clay that completely clogged one side of the cooler. I’ve never seen anything like it

Just gonna use the oil cooler from the other truck

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[hacked89]

Wow

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[gnathv]

I’d have to wonder what all the other coolant passages looked like.

 

[quickster]

Never seen that before. Maybe someone used a ton of Barrs?

 

[ComatoseLlama]

Yeah it’s not great... gonna look in the other passages as best I can, but like I said all other coolant has been bright green and the engine has been free from sludge deposits as far as I can tell, so I’m not too discouraged.


Glad I caught that

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Wow

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X2. That's horrible. If you wanted to use this one, you may be able to clean out the coolant passages, but since you're going to us the other one, no need to unless you're feeling curious.