Well, I guess it's my turn for problems. Here's the story to this point, On friday morning I was checking the oil and noticed that the Dregas bottle was low so I topped that off as well. Drove to work and back (100 miles) I got home late (10 pm) and when I shut the truck off I could hear running water! I look around and find that the heater core bypass valve's diaphragm must of failed because coolant is leaking out of it.Since I had to work on saturday so I topped it off with water and filled a few gallon jugs and threw them in the bed.

Saturday morning I make it to work no problem and at the end of the day top it off and refill my jugs. I only make it about half way home and the temp gauge starts to get high, so I pull over and once I got the pressure relieved (It seemed to take longer than it has in the past, but can't say for sure) I add 2 gallons and continue driving. I then get off the highway and as soon as I do the temp light comes on. I pull over and by the time I do I can tell the engine sounds different at idle so I turn it off and start to add the rest of the water (3 gallons) to top it off. I could tell it was hotter than I have ever had it before. It started back up (but a bit harder than normal), and make it home. Sunday I remove the bypass valve and fill the system up with water and go for a drive. It puffed a bit at startup, but my glow plugs are needing replacing.

Today (monday) I drive to work with no issues and the truck seems to be running well once it warms up (again it was cold out this am). At the end of the day I start it up and it puffs smoke again (70* out) and it puffed for 2 minuets of idling, and the first 5 min of driving. I stopped at the store around the corner from the house and when I come out it puffs again for a few min. I get home and there is what looks like oil and fuel in the coolant, so now the question is did I blow a head gasket, or maybe over heat the oil cooler, crack an injector cup (I am needing to replace a few injectors because a couple are failing the contribution test and the truck is down on power a bit for the past year) or ???? I am not going to drive it to work tomorrow, but I need to get this fixed kinda quick, yet not drop $3k. Any Ideas?

 

what does your oil look like?

 

any idea where the water is going? Is it just getting blown out the degas bottle?

 

I was losing coolant because it was leaking out of the heater valve. I may have some coolant in the oil as well, but can't tell for sure.

 

I dare say it is injector cups, pressurizing the system and your heater valve is a weak point.

 

no milky oil under the filler cap, no milky oil dripping off dipstick... oil is just black?

 

Dale, buddy, how the heck are you?
Truck woes? How bout a wrench a thon??
take it over to Ron @ HMP

 

i hate to say it, but the only problem the older 7.3 powerstrokes seemed to have as far as coolant here were i'm at seems to be pits in the cylender walls letting coolant seep in!! rick croft runs a machine shop here, and says he has sleeved countless 7.3 blocks the last few years and the problem seems to stem from a slight loss of power to fuel and oil in the coolant!!! sorry man thats all i got!! hope i'm wrong for your wallets sake!!

 

Fuel and oil in the coolant can be oil cooler or injector cups as well. I have had both happen.

 

i've never owned an older power stroke, i hope you are right cause the other route hits the pocket book pretty hard!! i help rick at the machine shop all the time, and thats the only thing that stopped me from buying a 2002 powerstroke truck!! he said he has done atleast 200 hundred of the 7.3 blocks with seeping cylinders!! i was shocked!! he said it is just a bad casting for the block and its not every one, but enough to scare ya!! i will find out what years seemed to have had this problem!!

 

That's mainly due to not adding SCA (Supplemental Cooling Additive) to standard coolant. Without SCA in the proper ratio to form a protective barrier on the cooling passage walls implodng bubbles cause pitting and that is cavitaion erosion. Although not completely avoidable cavitation erosion can be mitigated. OAT ELC comes to mind.

See this LINK for further explanation.

This cavitation erosion can also happen to the front cover behind the water pump. This pitting allowed coolant to seep through the front cover and mix with the oil.