crankcase oil in antifreeze

[carlwest]

pulling a load on a slight grade, smelled antifreeze and found

engine oil/antifreeze pouring out the overflow tank. Head gasket or oil cooler? It is a stock 92, 190 K



Any advice appreciated!

 

[nascar mark]

How dark is the oil in the overflow tank? Have you checked your engine oil for antifreeze. It sometimes cross contaminates but not always. transmission fluid would be a lighter color than engine oil when mixed with antifreeze. I doubt you will be able to tell which one is leaking by checking the dipsticks unless there is a large amount droped.

If you are in doubt, mix a little transmission fluid with some new antifreeze of the same type in a jug and compare color.

 

[carlwest]

At first I thought it wa transmission oil, so I pulled slowly up the road to a driveway, and shut down. There was oil/water dumping out the overflow, and most had spewed all over the engine. There was no oil on the dipstick. This all happened within two miles, from the time the first smell to shutting down. It was a major leak.....

btw, it is air to air innercooled. In the 11 diesel engines I own, this is the first head gasket problem..... if thats what it is. Don't have a pyro guage on this outfit, but the engine and transmission temp guage never overheated. http://turbodieselregister.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=1158758#

 

[nascar mark]

Sorry to say it must be the head gasket then. It must have gone big time. That sucks.

What if any mods have been done to the engine if any? Gauges are a must!!!!

If you do the re & re or someone else, make sure it is done right.

 

[cerberusiam]

If the oil is gone and not on the dip stick I would suspect the engine oil cooler having sprung a major leak and pump the oil into the cooling system. I suppose a head gasket in the right place could do the same thing but generally see antifreeze in the oil and oil in the antifreeze.

 

[carlwest]

Yes, it sucks, just got the engine in the semi 3406 Cat put back together. It had a leak in the aftercooler leaking antifreeze into the back three cylinders. The smell of antifeeze is becoming quite expensive. ..... However when thoroughly mixed with three plus gallons of oil it is a little harder to detect, even in large quantities, scattered over large areas.

looks like Cererusiams outfit is equipped the same as "Red" except this one as far as I know is still stock on the pump etc. From reading the members of 1st Gen woes, my pickup must be reading the script. Its done it all too. My goal since buying it at 78000, has not been increased horsepower, but getting what I already have the ground.

Rebuilt the transmission but didn't get the right torque converter.

Other than that trying to keep up with the "regular" and "reoccurring" problems is all that has been done in the mods department.

Any good ideas how to get the murk out of the cooling system? I have a steam/pressure washer and 5 gallons of industrial degreaser... ... I am temped do the obvious, after the leak is found, fixed.

Think the govenor spring is broken, and the ksb isn't working. Dodge can't get the part number, till I give it to them. I have six 150 to 220 horse John Deere's, and all of them put together don't give me as much grief as this Dodge, and the dealer. :{

Will have to go to a crew cab soon, and manual trans, any advice on the most trouble free Dodge? Looks like even the new one's have problems.

Thanks for the post's, sorry about the whining. lol

Red is tough and does it all around here, but he is just like my ex, high maitnance.

 

[DCTECH]

I Have Replaced 6 Of The Engine Oil Coolers For This Problem, All Were 1990's Or 1991's But None Of These Trucks Are Getting Any Younger. The Engine Oil Pressure Is Higher Than The Cooling System Pressure That Is Why It Fills Up The Radiator. It Sure Is A Mess To Clean Out.

 

[MMiller]

When I have a oil cooler failure, I pull the radiator hoses, and then with Hot water from a pressure washer run it through the radiator until the water comes out pretty decent. Then we have some cooling system flush that you fill the cooling system with water, more from pressure washer, and then put the additive in. Start the truck and after it warms up work it hard for an hour or so, and with it still pretty warm drain the cooling system. Refill it with clean water and another shot of cleaner. A couple of doses of this and usually you can fill it with coolant. I suggest not filling the hot engine with cold water, use the hot water from the pressure washer. Also use a tip that is not very high pressure on the washer. I get the cleaner from the Cat shop. Other places I worked for use Cascade dishwasher soap, the dry stuff. It seems to work well too.



Michael

 

[HRajagopal]

This EXACT thing happened to me about 3 weeks ago. Grey, foamy oil/afreeze spewing out the overflow, all over engine.



Thought it was a head gasket, so I pulled the head. Gasket looked fine and I could find no evidence of failure. Then I checked the boards and found that the oil coolers blow and do just this, so I pulled that. Nothing apparently wrong with it, but I went ahead and ordered one to replace. Head was fluxed and checked for flatness. All was OK.



BTW, I do have boost and pyro gauges, everything was fine, no overboost (12psi was the max this would do anyway) and below 900deg for the manifold temp.



Am just now getting all back together, got the head on the other day, but still waiting on the cooler to get here.

 

[carlwest]

I haven't pulled the cooler off yet, but there should be a way to pressure check the cooler. Can we get the cooler from Cummins? Anybody have the part # and best place to order, cost etc. Maybe the units on the Case/IH tractors

with the same Cummins motor have a heavier cooler?

Just a thought. Thanks for the advice. Will get it apart tomorrrow and begin the cleanup. Will let you know what I find.



I have the Hotsy engine cleaner/degreaser industrial soap, might try that. Thanks

 

[MMiller]

You could even pull the t-stat out and run hotsy/soapy water through the engine with the cooler off, to get more oil out of the block. The more you get out with the engine apart is less to get out once it is back together.



Good luck, patience is your best friend when cleanup is involved.



Michael

 

[carlwest]

I needed to have the radiator cleaned and rodded anyway )-:

where is the best place to get a new cooler?

 

[cerberusiam]

Cummins is going to be the best shot for the cooler. Give them the CPL off the engine and they should be able to get you the right one. It will probably be cheaper than the dealer.

 

[HRajagopal]

Cummins is the way to go, local quoted me around $226, dealer was $400 or so. Gaskets are $12 and $20.

 

[BJMarshall]

Stay away from anything sudsy when you clean the inside of the engine. Next to impossible to get it all out. I have good success with Cascade, but any detergent for a dishwasher should work.

Barry

 

[HRajagopal]

Just a note on the cooler. Here's one I bought NEW off ebay for my truck cheap. It's for a '97-02 ram CTD. It's "almost" identical to the stock one from my truck.



The only diff is one extra hole that has no connection to the block (just solid at that point in the block) and the gaskets I bought FOR my 1992 have that same hole blocked off as in the pics below:



Old cooler (missing the actual cooler part) on LEFT, new cooler on RIGHT:



#ad




Here's the hole in question and the gasket to compare to it (all parts are genuine Cummins - the gasket shown is the latest design):



#ad

 

[HRajagopal]

Am installing the new cooler now and CANNOT find the torque value for the oil filter cover (that holds the cooler to the block. )



Can someone look that up for me please (all I have is a Chilton and nothing there for it. )

 

[Paychk]

18 ft. lbs. on cooler bolts & 11 ft. lbs. on the turbo oil supply line.

 

[Paychk]

An additional note the FSM says to test the cooler with 70 PSI air if a leak is suspected.

 

[HRajagopal]

18 ft. lbs. on cooler bolts & 11 ft. lbs. on the turbo oil supply line.

EXCELLENT!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!