I own a VW/Audi specialty repair shop and I have a customer's 04 Passat that was driven for a long time on a failed oil cooler.
The entire cooling system is filled with oil sludge.
I've been able to clear out the oil on other vehicles in the past, but this is the worst one I have ever seen.
The radiator is clogged, the heater core is clogged and every hose is filled with this brown glop.
When I pulled the plug to try and drain out what was left of the coolant, there was no water running out of the bottom hose, just this stuff that you can see in the video.
I left it draining overnight, but I don't think I'll find much in the bucket this morning when I return to work.
I'm thinking that maybe I could get it to clear out if I bought a container of that liquid laundry soap that is designed for front loader washing machines and try and run it for a while, maybe let it sit for a couple of days with that solution in there to try and dissolve all this goo.
.
Anyone else run into this problem and found a good way to clean this out?

YouTube - Oil Cooler Failure.MOV

 

Wow...what a mess!

I've seen techs in the 6.0 section say that a solution of Simple Green is the best thing to use. Apparently laundry/dish soap is too "bubbly", and next to impossible to rinse from the block thoroughly.

 

Thanks for the reply, Steve.
I've used Simple Green before and it kind of worked.
It was very difficult to rinse out too.
Laundry soap is very bubbly, I'll have to give this some more thought.

 

Washing soda crystals (sodium carbonate) are good for cleaning that out. Though I would check that it is compatible with aluminum. I have only ever used it in cast iron engines.

 

Thanks for the tip.
I got off the phone with the machine shop that I deal with and he suggested a microbial type cleaner that goes after oil.
He's getting some for me and I will post back how that worked.
Won't be until next week when the product arrives and I can do the job.

 

Use dish washer detergent. Calgon works good. I use it at work to flush oil out of cooling systems.

Maybe a cup full, top it off with water, run it till it gets to operating temp, dump and reflush as necessary.

 

dawn works good too. i have used it on the 7.3 before.

 

If this microbial stuff doesn't work, that's my next step.
If THAT doesn't work, then it's pull the engine, tank it, replace every hose, radiator, heater core.
I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

To be more clear, here's my flushing procedure.

I actually use ... frick ... can't remember the name of the stuff.

CASCADE!!! There we go. It's gotta be liquid, non foaming or non bubbling dish washer detergent.

I squeeze in about a cup into the header tank. I then fill up the rest with water, run it up to fan cut in. Dump it, check the situation of the stuff coming out. If it's still oily, I flush with Cascade again. If it's mostly clear, I flush with straight water. Run it up to fan cut in again. Dump it. Check, and reflush as necessary.

Depending on the condition of the hoses, I'll replace them. Oil and silicone hoses don't mix well. Rubber too, I guess, but I deal mostly with silicone hoses at work.

 

Thanks for the tip.