Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Please Help with missing coolant

[lilthumper]

My truck is officially loosing about 1 qt. of coolant every 100 miles, I have only had this truck 4 days. I also see a bit of white jel on my oil fill cap, and also see some hanging off of my blowby tube under the truck. Can someone tell me where to send an oil sample to get it tested anywhere around OKC? I sure hope its a head gasket on not something worse. The blowby tube is also puffing alot more than my other 97. This new one only has 157K on the motor! And no, the oil is not full of any visible coolant, just got the oil changed 2 days ago and nothing on the dipstick.

 

[JohnE]

White or tan foam/gel in the fillercap is a sure sign of coolant leaking into the oil.

Do you have a Cat, John Deere, Case/IH New Holland, Freightliner, etc shop around? They can all run an oil sample for you. At the rate you loose it a dump of the oil pan after the truck has sat should be very milky. The dip stick doen't go down far enough as water is heavier than oil and eventually settles to the bottom of the pan.

Saw a nasty Cummins head gasket today. It was leaking coolant at every passage.

 

[bmoeller]

Another possibility would be the engine oil cooler on the right hand side of the engine next to the oil filter.

 

[lilthumper]

Ok guys, as soon as I posted, I went and picked up my 20ft flatbed car hauler with the truck and brought it home. I ran it hard and decided to check coolant and oil level again. Sure nuff, it has the milk on the dipstick now just like ol turbocharged small block ford. UPDATE, have you ever seen coolant that has never been changed in a 100,000 mile vehicle? It is brown and ugly. Well, This motor does have splashes of brown on the passenger side of the motor, towards the top, on the valve cover, etc... I sure hope this is something simple, what has me scared is this is only a 157K mile stock truck, if it blows a head gasket then that means the damn thing was overheated or something. So, any suggestions for a cheap check? Replace this oil cooler on the passenger side? I have only owned a cummins for about 8 months now, Jim Fulmer has done all my mod work, but this new truck has me scared. Hope I can just "fix it" like the first time my stang blew a gasket. Please guys, help me diagnos and then get me instructions:{

 

[Forrest]

I heard of an oil / antifreeze cross polination ... was on a 1st gen. Something about a radiator that is in the motor, in the oil bath, that circulates coolant. It was leaking.



Wish I could remember the jargon ... could be because it's 24 minutes past midnight.

 

[edmeyers]

Blake

sorry to here about your problem so soon after your purchase

did you trade off the auto you had or do you still have it. if i were you i would not drive it untill it's fixed. but jim going to be gone for a while so if this is your only truck then i would change the oil very very often for fear of running all of that leaking coolant through the engine you don't want to cause yourself more problems.



seems like you should able to take it back to the seller and get a refund i know it's hard to find a truck equiped like that one but some times you just have to walk away if you can.



i looked for 8 months before i bought mine and it wasn't equiped exactly the way i wanted but i knew it was in good shape i've got mine that you rode in the other night and my wifes 01. 5 HO 6spd both used and both had never had a hitch in the bed i know they're hard to find but i just felt better about the trucks than similar rigs let me know if i can help.



ED

 

[lilthumper]

Any other suggestions peeps? No, I have not sold the 2wd truck yet, thank goodness. How do you do a leakdown or comp. test on these things?

 

[DMC]

There is a procedure of removing the the oil filter housing and inspecting the oil cooler. I don't have the manual in front of me right now. But I'm willing to bet you have a problem with the oil cooler. You can get the stuff you need to pressure test your cooling system at Napa. You will be pressurizing the system at the radiator cap.



In order to check your compression you will need to remove the injectors.



With the truck running do you see any bubbles in your overflow bottle?



You should change your oil soon if there is water/coolant in it. Your bottom end is rusting as I type.



You need to get a Dodge service manual for this truck. You will repay yourself twenty times what the manual will cost you.



Where are you located? There may be a member near you that is willing to help out.



Good Luck



Don

 

[lilthumper]

Don, I am in OKC, close to Jim Fulmer, but he is very busy with work right now. I took it by the Dodge dealership and the diesel mechanic basically said he didn't think I had a head gasket problem. It doesn't blow air into the cooling system, nor are there any external leaks. This truck just has alot of moisure in the oil. Dodge said that is was nothing but moisture. I will get a bit of milk on the dipstick, then check it 20 minutes, 20 miles down the road and I don't see any milk. My oil fill neck is pretty milky though, so why isn't ALL of my oil on the dipstick milky right after a drive? Also, the dipstick, oil fill and blow by tube huff quite a bit of steam. I took the cap off and revved the motor and didn't feel any more pressure coming out of it, maybe it is just burning off all the moisture in the oil? I guess I will go buy the service manual, any suggestions on the best place to get it? Anyone else have any ideas on this truck?

Originally posted by DMC

There is a procedure of removing the the oil filter housing and inspecting the oil cooler. I don't have the manual in front of me right now. But I'm willing to bet you have a problem with the oil cooler. You can get the stuff you need to pressure test your cooling system at Napa. You will be pressurizing the system at the radiator cap.



In order to check your compression you will need to remove the injectors.



With the truck running do you see any bubbles in your overflow bottle?



You should change your oil soon if there is water/coolant in it. Your bottom end is rusting as I type.



You need to get a Dodge service manual for this truck. You will repay yourself twenty times what the manual will cost you.



Where are you located? There may be a member near you that is willing to help out.



Good Luck



Don

 

[crabman]

Manual

Go HERE

Hope this helps & good luck on finding your problem.

crabman

 

[cartman]

hi thump sorry to hear about your truck i have seen this before if the engine has not been run much like short trips to the store it never gets hot enough to evaporate the moister in the engine and you will get that brown/milky looking oil also if the thermostat is bad the engine wont get hot

now if you are looseing coolant and there are no leaks outside the engine and the oil level is going up then there is a good chanse that the oil cooler in the engine has a leak in it i have seen this a few times it is in the block behind the oil filter you will have to replace this and on the ones i did i went one step more to check if there was any engine damage i replaced the rod and main crankshaft bearings and cleand up the bottom real good to get all that gunk out of the engine

hope that some of this may help you write back so we know what you found and how you truck is doing take care

 

[lilthumper]

WELL GUESS WHAT!! I just talked to the previous owner and he said the engine was rebuilt 4000 miles ago!!! Hmmm.

 

[Brandon]

I havent even read the whole thread but



oil cooler bad=oil in water 60psi oil press pushes into rad



head gasket pushes into NON press side of oil (oil drains in deck Etc) hence water in oil... ...



nuff said

 

[cartman]

it was just rebuilt i would like to know why it needed to be rebuilt with a little over 150,000 miles that kind of mileage is nothing to these engines sorry to say but someone must have beat the hell out of that truck it sure sounds like they didnt take care of it and what was replaced in this rebuild and who did it there are a lot of questions that need to be answered

good luck

write back when you find more out

 

[lilthumper]

Brandon, you are correct, no oil in the coolant, must me a gasket. Yes, I suspect that this guy did a cheap rebuild and then turned it. I went by the cummins dealer and they suspected a cracked head, but knowing that hillbilly rebuilt this motor makes me want to just do everything. Cummins quoted me 3800 for shortblock with exchange, anyone have any better ideas? I may need to call Piers or someone. Anyone know of a good builder? I could just throw away the truck, but I love every part of it but the motor. Oh ya, the owner said it spun a rod bearing, prob. never changed the oil huh.

 

[DMC]

Lillthumper:



You say, you were told that the motor was rebuilt 4000 miles ago. You should have a warranty.



Also I can't imagine moisture being in oil that has just been changed. Was this bulk oil at Jiffy Lube or some other place?



What is your temperature gauge telling you? If its like mine it will take about 30 miles for the gauge to somewhat stabilize to around 180-190*.



I saw a lot of moisture from my vent tube when I had a thermostat that was not fully closing. It would take quite a while for it to warm up, and would constantly fluctuate between 170-190*. I would notice the moisture from the vent tube when the temperature would swing down to 170*. I believe the oil will develop some moisture due to short trips over time. A good reason to drive it a couple of hours now and then to heat the oil up enough to burn off the moisture.

I went out to the truck one cool night and checked the oil before leaving and the upper hose was collapsed. I changed the thermostat and radiator cap. And have found another problem, My radiator needs replacing. Got the new one today from glorad.com, it goes on tomorrow.





I don't mean to sound harsh but you should service the Cummins yourself. Oil changes and filters, fuel filters, trans service, diff service. You can count on the fact that you will do it better than someone else will. The attitude of todays service personel is not what it should be. If you can't do the work yourself seek out someone who at least seems capable of doing a reasonably good job on your truck and stick with him/her.



Good Luck



Don

 

[Brandon]

just go down to a junkyard, swap a junker out then rebuild yours... . you should pull head and flux it then go from there, you could only be down a week with the head getting it checked and all. It ain no big deal this ain science, you can handle it... ...



sorry fulmer looks like I am makin work for ya... ... lol

 

[JohnE]

Fresh rebuild and coolant loss. hhhmmmm



Local diesel repair shop has started re-torquing heads. Cummins says their gaskets don't require a re-torque but they have seen too many failures.



I was out there Saturday and mechanic showed me the torque marks on a 24 valve (didn't catch year) where they put in a new head gasket and ran it up to temp for a few miles. They let it cool and checked the bolts. The worst one needed almost 90° extra to get it back to torque.



Keep your fingers crossed as that is about the cheapest to fix.

 

[DJW]

Of changing oil, filters etc. best to do it yourself or someone you can trust, having someone answering the phone etc can change their line of thought, if you mess up you can only blame yourself Scrum Down

 

[Brandon]

how do you retorque torque to yield bolts, I might learn something here? because I am very confused about the whole torque to yield thing. I always thought the truly proper way to retorque is to loosen nut or bolt then torque, not just cranking down on it... very confusing