Hi-
I pulled the injectors in my '02 F250 to install new o-rings while I was doing glow plugs and valve cover gasket. I was running out of time before the kid's basketball game, so I covered the engine up and came back the next day to do the O rings. The next day something else came up. Two days turned into a week. When I finally got back to the project, I started sucking the oil and fuel out of the cylinders with a Milton S-184 Turbo air gun engine cleaner. Basically a venturi suction thing to hook up to the air compressor. Not fast but does the job as well as a MityVac and I found it in town for $25. I got a little bit of fluid out of each cylinder until I got to #6. Then I got a lot of clearish fluid. Several oz. I came back and did it again an hour later and got the same amount out. A little looking on FTE led me to believe that I had a cracked injector cup. I drove to the next town over and rented a radiator pressure test kit. Sure enough, I could see coolant leaking in the #6 cup. So I ordered cups and rented a tool from RiffRaff. They should be here in a couple days. I decided to drain the oil while I wait for them to show up. When I pulled the plug in the pan, there was a lot of coolant that came out first. Like 2 gallons?? Now I'm concerned about my bearings. The truck did not run with coolant in the oil, but it did sit there for quite a few days. I believe that the cup cracked when I pulled the injector because there is no diesel or oil in the coolant recovery tank.

My questions are- Will the coolant eat my bearings even though the engine was not run with coolant in the oil? What should I do to get all the coolant out of the engine (I drained the radiator already)? Once I get the cups and injectors back in, I'll turn the engine over by hand a few times before I put the glow plugs in to avoid hydra lock. Is that enough to get all the coolant out of the system? Do I need to change the oil, drive 100 miles then change the oil again? Should I dump some diesel into the crankcase to flush it out before changing the oil? Just leave the plug out of the pan and let it drip for a few days until parts come? Something else??

Thanks for your input!

 

Everything should be fine. Oil floats on water, so all the coolant just went straight to the bottom of the oil pan. Having oil in the engine actually helped by displacing all the coolant to the bottom of the pan.

 

Good to hear. I don't want to spin a bearing after all of this! Thanks for your reply!

 

What did you figure out? Did the coolant leak go away with the cup change?

i have coolant in my oil while the truck is running.

you said you pressure tested the coolant system and saw bubbles… just wondering if I could do that some way.

 

welcome to the forum, this probably resolved without further complications. Please start your own thread, and we can help you narrow your issues, and hopefully resolve them.