I am flushing my coolant today because I looked in the reservoir to see a decent amount of sludge build up inside. I have got everything to do it. I am going with the CAT EC-1 approved stuff this time. But does anyone think something else is wrong causing the sludge, or should I just flush it and not worry so much? Thanks for your help. Oh and I also have a coolant filter installed already. I will be changing the filter today.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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The degas bottle does get nasty over time. Especially if you've had high heat situations-HG, Egr failure, or a oil cooler failure in the past. I'd do a complete flush with distilled water then add your ELC and you'll be fine. If the bottle bothers you go buy a new one they aren't very expensive. Just be careful with that plastic Y under the bottle. I changed mine on the road one time in a parking lot and broke that Y had to take a taxi to a dealer 40mi away to get one.

 

Did you have an oil cooler blowout in the past that has been fixed????

Sludge in the coolant bottle is not normal and I would think you have other problems like a blown oil cooler

Have you checked your oil leval if its low the oil cooler is suspect especialy with the sludge

have you monitored your temps???

 

I don't think I've had an oil cooler blow out. I bought the truck at 85,000 miles. It now has 108,000. I don't have a scan guage yet to monitor temps but will soon. I am a bit nervus about the residue in the coolant. It is oily. I am almost done with a good flush. and it is looking nice and clean. I just think I might be waisting my time bec. I think something else is wrong. I did notice when I started my truck today, it blew out a small amount of white smoke for just a quick moment. I think I also may have an injector going bad.

 

I have never seen sludge in my coolant system.

Fuel can look oily also. Oil will form a pudding as the pump emulsifies the oil into the water - most people look for oil, but it is almost always seen as this pudding.

Both fuel and oil in the coolant are bad news and shouldn't be ignored (oil cooler failure can cause major damage quick and fuel in the coolant is a cracked block most of the time). If you didn't save a sample, or take a pic, or figure out what it was by smell, then we probably can't help you much.

Blackstone can do a coolant analysis - highly recommended IMO.

 

I didnt know that they also checked coolant thats good to know.


I am thinking if you had Fuel in the coolant it would be getting to full in the coolant bottle and may puke some out when to full. Would also have a Diesel fuel smell toit. And this is definatly more costly to fix this kinda issue

How was your oil leval low or anything like that?????????????.

It couldbe that the oil cooler just has a pinhole and is just cross contaminating alittle bit. Compared to a Oil cooler blowout where it dumps alot of oil in the coolant and is obvious whats up.

 

Here's a link to TSB 08-23-1 about flushing a contaminated 6.0 coolant system.

http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/ap...sb08-23-01.pdf

Good info in here with pics. Hope it helps.

 

My mistake Benny, it is MRTLabs that does the coolant analysis - not Blackstone.

http://www.mrtlaboratories.com/Labservices.htm#Coolant Analysis

and so does Butler (I have used both of these companies):

http://www.butlermachinery.com/servi...OS_pricing.asp

 

Well.....I'm happy to say that my truck is nothing like that one in the pics. There is very little residue in the coolant. I am flushing the system today not just because of what I had seen but also because I flushed the system incorrectly before by using water out of the hose (not thinking at the time). My city water is no good. Lots of minerals. So it has been about 2 months since then. When I did the flush then, I did it with simple green. This time I have used the steps mentioned in the tech folder. I am wondering if I did not get all the simple green out. I don't know. What are your thoughts on that. I think I will send a sample in. Thanks for the advice.

 

Ok....So I should have done this first. I just took off the EGR valve and there is evedince of moisture. It does not seem like much. But the first time I took the valve out to clean it, There was nothing but poweder. I stuck a tool down in there to see if what I was seeing was powder....and it's a bit like a paste. So what should I do now. I belive this means my EGR cooler is bad. That also means if I'm replacing my EGR cooler I should replace the Oil Cooler. Is there anything else I should do to prevent this from happening again. I am looking into Bullet Proof Products. If I am thinking correctly, should I go ahead and do an EGR delete kit, or go with the BP EGR cooler. I live in Texas so a delete would not be leagal but I am sure plenty of people do it. BP claims there EGR cooler is as good as the delete but leagle and will not fail. Thanks for the help guys and any added advice would be great. One last thing. I have not driven the truck yet with the new coolant. Do you guys think it will be ok to drain it in a clean bucket and save what I can. It was $$.......oh well.

 

Yes save your new coolant its still good filter it if you want

and has your coolant leval been going down as in your losing coolant???
poor combustion will leave gooey soot mess too
You really need a scangaugeII

Any moisture under the EGR valve means egr cooler sprung a leak and would be best to park the truck untill you fix it

It also means time for a new Oil cooler

Its a Great time to change it now that you have cleaned the coolant system out and is cleaner. Just make shure you flush until the water going in is as clean as the water coming out.
I also pulled block drain plug and pulled the thermistate out when I flushed set the truck to high idel for an Hour with the vc-9 in and the thermostat out and that seemed to work the best.
Also would be a good idea to put a coolant filter on it now

Are you planing on changing the Coolers out???????
Its not to bad if your mechanicaly inclined a bit with everyones help here we could walk you thru it

The best place to get an oil cooler is www.partsguyed.com its like 215.00
as far as the egr deleate I went with that and gained maybe 1-2 mpg since not recycling spent air anymore plus the intake stays cleaner you will see what I mean when you get into it. Or get the BPD EGR Cooler its a solid part just depends what you want and feel comfortable with

 

Thanks Blade for your help. I agree with you. I will be changing the EGR and Oil Coolers out. I will also be buying a scangauge2 as well. I had to fill my coolant for the first time ever the other day. I did not think much of it. I hope I have caught this early. That is also when I noticed the slime in the coolant. I have also noticed a lack of black smoke. When I get on it, there is not a lot of smoke at all. Today I had seen some whit smoke come out of the exhaust when I first started it. This might explained by the EGR cooler. It also seems to be a symptom of a bad injector as well.

 

Thats a pretty good indicator the EGR Cooler has sprung a leak if you have to add coolant. The slime might just be from exhaust gases and soot getting into the coolant under high boost pressures.

Its good you caught it early when folks dont notice and the leak gets worse is when they get Hydrolocked and thats what you dont want. Even though alot of the trucks keep running after that point when they get fixed I still think its put a ton of pressure on the wrist pin assemblys and tweeks them a touch and more than likely causes premature wearout.
So dont drive it untill you get it fixed.

You will also want to replace the SS screen under the oil cooler
Also get a turbo hjardware kit
Intake gaskets are reusable if they dont get knicked upon removal I put new intake gaskets in when I went thru it just cause Im anel that way but I did knick an intake gasket when I removed the intake manafold out of the truck