(2014) ISX15 coolant help!

[Rawze]

(10-16-2020 )GhostHauling Wrote:  ...
with a Fretted liner wouldn’t I be losing coolant and or smoke?
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I’m asking would running it for 3 to 6 weeks with a fretted liner without coolant loss and fluid containment’s going to destroy the engine or cause major engine component failure ?
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I am not going to tell you that your issue is a fretted liner. Your descriptions so far do not definitively point to this.. it is anyone's guess on the forum here without seeing it first hand.

You say the coolant level is not changing nor is it loosing coolant. Like others have said, sounds like you need to just keep an eye on coolant levels and other possible signs of bigger issues.

TO answer those 2 questions I highlighted .. generalizing for ppl who may be trying to learn ...

- YES it is very harmful to run an engine with any amounts of coolant in the oil. Water and oil do not mix and coolant in the oil will wear out the lubricated components 100 - 300x faster than normal.. it is very serious. - Some could argue that it is only wearing out the components that get replaced during an inframe, but that is not true. It wears the crank, cams, rockers, shafts, air and fuel pumps, and all other things, quickly rendering it too expensive to replace everything during an inframe vs. replacing the whole engine. it is nothing to take lightly or take for granted if you have coolant mixing in your oil, even in small amounts.

- You also asked if it would smoke ... Not unless it was severe. Most the time, your only indication of a fretted liner or bad injector cup is simply coolant level rising several inches in the coolant bottle when engine brake is on, or when climbing hills, etc.. or it puking coolant out of the top of the bottle (or out the overflow on some trucks) on occasions. If the problem is not severe, there would be no other signs of problems that were immediately apearant. This is why some have suggested pulling the oil pan off and pressure testing the coolant for 24 hours. That is the definitive way to know for sure if there is an internal coolant problem in the engine. - Not something someone would resort to unless problems were suspected.

- The truck being a Prostar, the coolant in the top of the plastic bottle splashing around is quite normal for them. The thermostat bleeder dumps into the top of the plastic tank and causes this. That in itself is not a sign of bigger issues.

A simple test for bigger coolant issues ... Whenever someone comes over here I want to do a simple/quick test to see if they might have liner, injector cup, or head gasket issues, I do this...

I put a pressure test set on the coolant system and pressurize it up at 1 or 2 psi (just enough to get the gauge to move off of zero) with the truck still warm from operations but switched off. - I then crank the truck and let it idle and see how fast the pressure build up from that point up to above 10 psi or so. It should take 10 - 15 minutes (give or take) or more to build up and it should not build up in only a couple minutes. - Testing it this way is not 100% the most accurate but if it fails, then you know for sure there are issues. Just because the pressure does not build at idle, does not mean nothing is wrong though... Many times a bad head gasket or liner will only show up when under engine load or during engine braking. In your case, you are concerned about bubbles while it is idling. If it were the head or an injector cup causing what you see, this test would reveal if the bubbles/splashing around in the top of the tank were a bigger problem or not because if it the head gasket or injector cup is bad enough to cause bubbles at idle, you will see the pressure slowly build as well (pressure going from 2 psi to 10 psi in only a few minutes), and it would fail this test.

- Like mentioned though... if it is a slow leak or an injector cup barely leaking and those components are suspect, the only way to know for sure is to resort to pulling the oil pan off it and pressurize the coolant system at 20-psi and let it sit with that pressure on it over night (topping off the pressure so it stays stays 20 psi as engine cools) for 24 hours. - After that, like Waterloo said,.. The next day, have someone turn engine by hand and someone else listening for gurgling in one of the cylinders on a compression stroke and/or droplets of water on a liner wall or other component. - This is the only 100% way to know for sure.