I have an 04 f-350 that I did an EGR delete, new Ford oil cooler, new radiator (not ford), new thermostat (not ford), coolant filter, glow plugs and harness, MBRP theoretical 4in downpipe (was 3.5 to converter) flushed cooling system with lots of tap water before the delete, replaced coolant with Cat 1 ELC and distilled water, fresh T6 5W-40 and filter, several weeks ago. Was troubleshooting a wireing problem and found what looks like oil sludge in the degass bottle while under the hood.

Possible that while doing EGR delete I clipped a gasket? Truck runs great, no smoke out the tail pipe. There is what looks like about a cup floating on top the coolant. Oil level is down about a 1/2 quart and clean, no water in it.

Where do I start looking?

 

First I would get something to suck the oil off the top the coolant and then see if it comes back in a few days. May just be some that got into the coolant from working on it. After that I would start looking and turning wrenches but not before. The front cover is often a prime suspect. The cover forms the back side of the lpop and there are several oil passages passing thru that cover that a leaking gasket can cause oil/coolant to mix. After that the oil cooler itself is also suspect. Oil pressure is greater than water pressure.

 

I'll pull the degass bottle and clean it out and reinstall it and see what happens.

 

You have to rinse and flush your coolant system with simple green.

Make sure you pull your block plugs too when you are rinsing and flushing.

Same thing happened to me after a oil cooler install, took me 8 hours to get the system flushed clean.

 

I pulled the degass bottle cleaned it out put it back in and got oil in coolant. I'm going to try the simple green flush to get the oil out, and hope that there is no leak between the systems.

 

You might want to catch what you drop out while you're flushing to see if the oil amount is getting less or staying the same every flush. Does that make sense?

 

Untill you find and stop the leak flushing at this point is a wasted effort and $$$ you will just contaminate the system again if oil is still leaking in.

 

The amount of oil in degass bottle is less than it was to start with. I'm going to drive it today and check to see if more oil gets into bottle. Has anyone else that did the EGR delete and new oil cooler had this problem?

I understand the don't throw money at it. I'm hoping that in the next day or two I won't get more oil in system. If not, then simple green and new red ELC. If more oil then?

 

If you are still getting oil in the bottle then it is time to pick up the wrenches and find out why.
I am thinking whatever oil leak it is a smallone if the oil and coolant stays seperated.
Once oil and collant start being agitated by going thru the pump it starts turning into a milkshake.

 

OK, I drove about a 100 miles today. Got more oil in water, pink milkshake more than a liter in degass bottle. However, while reading a post about who's radiator people are using a thought came to me. Is it possible that I'm getting trans fluid in water but not in tranny? I checked the trans fluid ECT at 165 and EOT at 168 in park, fluid not registering on the stick, but no evidence of water on stick also. What do the guru's think?

 

Yup, pink sounds like trans fluid. Radiator/trans cooler is the prime suspect.

 

Awesome catch!!!

 

Talking to Rusty Axlerod about what the trans cooler pressures are vs water 16 PSI. Anyone have any idea? He thinks higher than the 16, if so then I may have a leaking trans cooler into the water side.

 

I would think the transmission pressure would be quite a bit higher than coolant pressure, but maybe Mark K. can weigh in on this. I'm like KDavid--I think you made a good catch with it being the transcooler.

 

Well here is the closing chapter. PM'ed Mark K., he advised that pressures could reach 60 PSI. Pulled the radiator, hooked up the trans cooler to a regulated air pressure source, and at 25 PSI the cooler started loosing air pressure. Took the radiator back to O Reilly's auto parts where I bought it 5/22/15 and they replaced it (not very happily). Asked the store manager if they had any problems with this brand, he said it was new to them, but no reported problems. Hope this one lasts longer. 3 gallons simple green, new degass bottle cap, 3 gallons Rotella ELC, 1 gallon Mercon V, and how many hours to replace and flush? Priceless.


Thanks to all that helped with advise. This forum rocks.