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engine oil in coolant tank

3K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  KLIFFBAR77! 
#1 ·
hello,

recently i noticed engine oil in my coolant tank.
i have since rebuilt my oil cooler with new o-rings and engine gaskets.

i topped the engine oil off, drove my 99 around , and again the oil ended up in my coolant again.

basically i have the same problem;

has any one ever had a tube leak or rupture on the water side of the cooler.

or should i look some where else

can anyone help with any suggestions at this point.


thanks for any help that any one can provide


tony b.

easton, pa
 
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#3 ·
thanks for the reply,
to be honest i did not flush it that well.

after i rebuilt the cooler i added new engine oil, brought it up to full mark.

ran engine and added more oil to get it to full mark.

drove truck, checked engine dipstick nothing on it, put wire down dipstick tube and found it to be just below dipstick

i believe it ended up in coolant again.

believe me any input will be appreciated

tony b.
 
#4 ·
From what I have seen before, people have had to flush the coolant system VERY well to get the oil out. If you want to do it yourself, thats no problem just follow the GOOCH procedure. But it is a long process to do by yourself, and uses a lot of distilled water.

I have done it before, but last time I just said screw it and took it to Ford. They did a power flush (which the Gooch method is not) and used a chemical cleaning agent to clean instead of just water. Of course you can also buy the chemical from Ford if you wanted. In the end the $160 I gave to Ford was worth it to me.
 
#5 ·
Flush it with tap water and dishwasher soap. The DW soap is good at cutting and holding the oil in suspension. You may have to do it several times. Once you get clean water draining, then finish up with the distilled water and correct amount of anti-freeze mix.
 
#7 ·
You won't know if you still have a leak until you thoroughly flush the coolant system.
 
#8 ·
thanks,

my concern is that i am/ have been adding oil and it is still going some where and i believe it is transferring into the coolant still.

thanks


tony b.
 
#9 ·
You say you are adding oil but how much oil are we talking that you have added since you did all the work? Are we talking a quart of oil or are we talking a gallon or more? It is possible that you have a cracked injector cup but without more details it is hard if not impossible to diagnose over a computer screen.
 
#11 ·
I had to change an injector cup in my 7.3 power stroke but that was due to diesel fuel getting in my coolant ! I do remember a long time ago having chocolate milk frothy coolant that was due to oil getting in the coolant but I cant remember if that was from my internal transmission lines leaking into the radiator or something to do with the Engine oil cooler.
 
#10 ·
gtx,
I had a bad oil cooler and the oil in my coolant tank was pretty thick. Before I did the oil cooler repair, I didn't notice any loss of oil or the need to add oil to keep the correct level. Maybe you have other issues like the cracked injector cup mentioned.

On the flush issue. I flushed my truck I think over 10 times with simple green and then liquid dish washing detergent before I changed the oil cooler. Then I did the full GOOCH procedure after changing the oil cooler.

Also I changed the radiator, all coolant/heater hoses, degas bottle, t-stat, water pump, etc. No sign of oil in the coolant system afterwards.

Even if you damaged an o-ring on the oil cooler R&R I don't think you would be loosing that much oil to the coolant system. Good Luck.
 
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