2250 Oil in Coolant.

[Rawze]

(04-19-2022 )5cylinder Wrote:  ...
if the cooling system pressurized wasn't loosing pressure or coolant, Then dropping the pan isnt going to show its self so I wanted to test the head. When the machine shop said the head was good, I wanted to visually inspect the liner o-rings. I'm not trying to dispute, just trying to educate myself for the future. The last thing I would want to do is to waste customer money.

that is bad logic.


UNLESS IT IS A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE SOMEWHERE THAN CAN EASILY BE FOUND ... OIL IN COOLANT IS USUALLY A SEEPAGE PROBLEM!!.. ONE THAT TAKES TIME FOR THE OIL TO BUILD UP INTO THE COOLANT SYSTEM.

So pressurizing the coolant system to make it go back the other way .. Is also a seepage issue! .. That takes time to show itself.. Usually at about half the rate that the oil is seeping at due to only being able to pressurize the coolant system safely to 20 psi instead of the 40+ psi that the oil system can have on it.

This means that most of the time ... Unless there is some already obvious type of serious failure... When someone has coolant getting seeping into the engine and going where it should not be getting (because someone pressurized it to 20 psi and let it sit all night.. to find an issue) .. It does not easily show up at the coolant tank as any kind of pressure or volume losses that can be confirmed ... It does not typically drop by any confirmed amount that someone can say definitively ... Therefore most of the time, with a seepage issue, it is mostly useless to stand there and stare at the coolant pressure/level for the most part.


Therefore, if all that was used is looking at the coolant levels and pressure to determine that someone's engine had to be torn completely down ....ON A seepage problem ... And the pan was not dropped ... The oil filter, pump, etc. Was not removed and the oil cooler circuit area and piping was not checked visually and/or with a with boroscope, etc.. For coolant seepage when testing for a day+, etc... AFTER the oil cooler itself was 100% confirmed not to be leaking again ...

THEN IT WAS INDEED GUESSING AT IT WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S EXPENSE!.

The coolant system is a 15+ gallon system ... So unless it has a serious leak somewhere ... And it dropped a half-gallon+ into the oil system ... Which it is not likely to do unless the oil was already pushing 2+ gallons into the coolant system in that same time span that you tested the system by .. Which i seriously doubt it did this.. Because it would have been something catastrophic and easy to find ... Then you will not see any goddamn$ difference in pressure drop or level losses at the coolant tank! ... It has to be quite the bad leak for a problem to be seen at the coolant tank alone!.

If it did not push a gallon+ of oil into the coolant system every couple hours or so... And the coolant level rising by large amounts and overflowing ... Then it is not going to push coolant back the other way that fast when under half that much pressure during a test!!.

And did anyone ... Before accusing the most expensive parts of the engine ... Did they bother to determine it was not the transmission, or other gearbox, pto device, etc. First?.. By checking what type of cooling system they had?. Draining / testing tranny or other gearboxes that might be part of the coolant system oil into a cup/bucket to see if coolant was mixing with the tranny or any gearboxes?

So.. Yes ... If the seepage cannot be determined by any of the other the normal methods ...

AND THE OIL COOLER--- Which is the number one culprit of oil in the coolant problems, and YES it can get leaky again even with new components... was not removed, plated, dunked into a water barrel with 40+ psi of shop air on it to determine definitively that it was not leaky again...


Then the next step .. Before tearing down the engine ... Is -- yes --= to drop the oil pan and stiffening plate ... Clean up everything under the engine ... And put pressure on the coolant system for a day+ .. Maybe 2 if needed.. And find the seepage as it finally starts to build up somewhere in reverse! ... While checking and boroscoping components, passages, head, etc... For coolant buildup/ seepage as needed.


There are MANY PLACES that both pressurized oil and coolant meet, including in the turbocharger, the air compressor, the oil cooler (number one culprit almost always, always), and for many trucks, also the tranny, gearboxes, maybe a pto device, external pump, etc. .. and I can tell you that definitively.. the head itself (or head gasket) .. is the very least likely place to ever allow OIL into the coolant system. To suspect it so easily or quickly, shows a lack of ISX experience. .. However.. It is not uncommon that the head allows FUEL into the coolant system. Are you 100% sure it was not FUEL?!

SO BEFORE RESORTING TO TEARING THE ENGINE APART!. THAT HEAD SHOULD NOT HAVE COME OFF IT WHILE STILL TRYING TO DETERMINE WHAT THE ACTUAL SEEPAGE ISSUE WAS. THAT WAS THE MISTAKE -- AND PULLING THE LINERS TOO? ... AT THIS POINT, IT WILL MOST LIKELY COST THAT TRUCK OWNER A WHOLE HECK OF A LOT OF MONEY UNNECESSARILY with regard to any "oil in the coolant" issue . because NOW, it will need counter-boring and liners raised to 0.015", and an overhaul kit, a new head, and a whole lot of other components at this point .. and when it goes all back together.. it will likely STILL HAVE THE OIL SEEPAGE ISSUE! because it had not been properly identified before the engine came apart.