I just picked up a 96 f250 heavy duty 4x4 with a 460 an e4od and am trying to make it road worthy. I flushed out the coolant today and everything is nasty black and has a sheen to it. I know that the tranny cooler cracks sometimes and leaks into the cooler but this stuff looked black and not red.

Tranny fluid looks good, No milk or anything. Does this truck have a oil cooler or some thing that could be leaking? Thanks

 

What about the engine oil? Is it discolored/milky?

 

I see many neglected cooling systems with black or rusty looking coolant . If oil or Atf were in it , it would be milky . I think the po just never serviced his coolant .

 

Probably the original coolant. Be ready for a "random" water pump failure....

 

And random heater core , radiator , freeze plug , gasket failures ....

 

Its had a water pump at some time and I just put in a new heater core today that came with the truck and that's what I flushed it to try to keep as much crap out of the new core as possible.

So is there any way oil could get in coolant and not get coolant in oil? Maybe because they have different pressures

Every one seems to think its just a neglected cooling system which I totally agree but I do not know why the water would have a petroleum sheen in it. I think it will have a radiator in its future regardless. Thanks

 

If you have the supercooling there is a oil cooler mounted on the block and the oil filter screws to it. Something else to look at

 

Yep, those type coolers have a bad reputation.

 

thanks guys

 

Morning, I got up and looked for an oil cooler and this is what I found. Is this a coolant oil cooler?
I hooked up my pressure tester and it leaked at the area above the the oil filter so I am guessing I found the culprit and the area looks rust/water staind. Looks really fun to replace LOL. Any good tips?

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That would be the oil cooler! I just removed mine today. It won't be too hard to remove as long as your cooler to water pump hose isn't seized on like mine was. It's pretty cramped if it is seized though, I really had to yank it out.

The actual removal process isn't hard though. Remove the hoses(if you can) and then one 3/4 inch bolt, then tap ita little to break it loose. Should pull right out afterward.

Also, you can't really "replace" it. The part is no longer for sale so you're stuck with junk yard parts. Which given the reputation that this cooler has, they won't be in much better shape. You'll have to find a way to bypass it.

 

I have been searching all night and only found a couple of threads about this. Looks like my choices are do a remote filter mount which I do not like or find an old one with out the cooler on a 80s 460 and get the adapter or do the ford racing one there all about $100 solution except for the junk yard one.

I looks like you can use a lower radiator hose from a 90 250 with the 351. what method are you using?

 

The little adapter you need is available and cheap, but I can't find the number either!
Someone help us!

 

I personally don't like the remote mount solution either. It seems janky. What I'm going to do is walk the junkyards till I find a 460 without the stupid cooler and copy the way it's done. Before I do that though I'm going to gut this cooler and see if there's anything I can work with. I wouldn't mind reverse engineering it and getting this part back into production. Maybe improve the design a little.

 

The cooler is easy to delete if I could just find you the number of that !@#$#$%^@#$ stupid adapter!