Where in Ont are you ?

Kyle

 

The oil cooler is very high on the list of possible culprits. Based upon the picture, it is higher than cups. I would rebuild it with new o-rings and gaskets if it has never been done to your knowledge. It will cost you about $75 and 3-4 hours of your time.

Obviously, you need to flush your system. A good liquid "dishwasher" detergent would be very helpful at removing the oil from the system. You should probably rebuild the cooler first.

 

That's pretty bad looking. How long has it been doing this?

At the VERY least you need at least one new injector cup. You can get away with just replacing that one cup, but the "right" way to fix it is to replace them all. I'm in the middle of doing the job myself right now and it's NOT fun but it's still more fun than paying a shop 1500 to 2000 to do it for me.

You will also need a cooling system flush. I did this to mine about two years ago and I haven't had ANY cooling issues pulling an 8000 lb RV all over the country. Search for "gooch coolant flush" here on FTE.

Edit: Totally could be the oil cooler too. I also did the seals on mine when I flushed mine. I had to get creative with a floor jack and a ratchet strap to put the cooler back together. New o-rings make for a TIGHT seal.

 

Need to rid the oil system too

 

first off I would like to apolagise for not posting for such a long time. life has not been good for me, divorce,sell house ..... you know the story. anyway I live near Thunder Bay ontario and the shop that fixed the truck charged me 1700.00 dollars to remove and replace 1 injector cup and remove and replace a rebuilt #8 injector. they said it sounded weak on a buzz test. I also told them to install new glow plugs while they had them out. they also did a flush and fill with green antifreeze. since then the truck runs strong and smooth with 210th klms. now if i can figure out why my cruise control stopped working......

 

Sorry about jumping into your thread. Thanks for responding. My issue just occurred. It does not smell like oil or fuel to me. I was going to try to flush very thoroughly and drive for a week or so and see if it continues. Do you think that would hurt anything. Again the coolant has not been changed in 15 years, 208k miles.

 

looking at those pics of your degas bottle I would say there is something other than antifreeze mixed in there. this forum has some very good folks here who can help. you definatly need to flush that stuff out.

 

If it were my truck, I would not drive it until I rebuilt the oil cooler, Period, followed by a very thorough flush.

If it is the oil cooler, you are risking water getting into your oil if/when it gets bad enough. Then the main bearings in your engine will be toast.

That mess is NOT from failing to change the coolant for 15 years.

 

Is there a test or check to see if oil is in the coolant?

 

You don't need a test when your bottle looks like that.

 

How do I know for sure if it is oil or fuel related?

 

What's your oil look like? Is it low? Send samples to Blackstone of both, oil and coolant and he can tell you what is in where. But i wouldn't drive it. Do a complete flush first. Keep it running with fresh water running threw it also., Then rebuild the oil cooler. Fill with water and pressure test the system. If it holds you should be good. If not pull the injectors and take a look see. Look close, something is going on at this point. If one leaks, change them all. Then when it's fixed, run ELC, period. Coolant in the oil will ruin your bearing if left in. I had a crank freeze to the bearing in a 6.2 I had years back. Keep going in for warrinty work with heads etc., and I was one mile from the dealer when it happen.

 

You've been given some excellent advice. Many of us have done both cup repairs and oil cooler repairs. If I had to choose one or the other, I would choose the oil cooler hands down, no questions, every time, every day. I doubt very seriously there is any one on this forum who has done both that would disagree and choose the cup job instead. You need to repair the oil cooler simply to eliminate it as a possible cause. Then flush the system. Then, be concerned about the cups if the problem persists. I do not think it will. I have been wrong before. Liquid Cascade is inexpensive, doesn't create tons of suds and cuts grease/oil.

The o-rings and gaskets generally last 150k-200k miles. Living in a cold climate causes them to deteriorate more quickly due to the extremes in temperature. They generally fail during cold weather.

It is not advisable but you could possibly drive the truck with a cracked cup for a short while. You should NEVER drive the truck with an oil cooler that is mixing oil and coolant unless you want to rebuild the engine. Remove 5 bolts, $75, replace 5 bolts and about 3 hours and you could very well be a very happy man. Drive it as is and you could be spending $5000 to rebuild the engine.

Use only OEM Ford o-rings and gaskets for this one unless you want to do it all over again next year.

I would not drive the truck. The choice is yours at the end of the day. Good luck with your decision.

 

Genuine Ford Oil Cooler Repair Kit with 2 Genuine Ford gaskets and 4 o-rings for the Ford 7.3 Diesel

 

I guess that one question would be do you flush the cooling system first or rebuild the oil cooler first. Catch 22 here. If the oil leak is bad enough you mess up the new/rebuilt cooler. As bad as that looks I would go with a thorough flush first and then deal with the cooler and hope for the best.