Well. How many thick liquids are there in the engine? There is only one that I can think of.... Oil coolers can leak internally only. I have never seen diesel look like that and if it were diesel it would point to cups and not injector o-rings.

The only other possibility that I can think of is: Where do you take your truck for service?

Did some bonehead put something in your coolant reservoir without you knowing about it? If so, then what?

 

Okay, since I'm probably the one who mucked up your troubleshooting and advice, let me try to straighten it out

1. No one can say with absolute certainty if it is the injector cups, oil cooler, cracked head, head gasket, or something else.

2. The most "common" trouble and easiest to tackle would be the oil cooler, pulling it and cleaning it and replacing the orings with a specific kit from a trusted supplier. I believe others provided links.

3. Caution was given about oring suppliers as one other member just recently (most likely) had a problem where it is believed that his orings were out of spec and he broke his oil cooler trying to reassemble. None of us want to see that repeated

4. I have not worked on the 7.3L oil cooler yet. I have done a 6.0L cooler. Because I that, I am yielding the floor to our fellow members who have more knowledge and experience with this specific procedure and part.

5. It seemed your one post was asking if I was disagreeing with the diagnosis from others. I was attempting to say the above and probably used too few words or didn't write clearly. Sorry for any confusion that might have caused
6. Oils and water (coolant and oil, water and hydraulic, etc) often have a similar looking emulsion. I made a comment about that, but instead of simply saying it is a familiar site when troubleshooting various types of equipment, I may have distracted from your current problem instead. Again, not my intent to confuse.

7. We are trying to stay engaged with your problem. From experience, many of us understand the hesitation when it comes to an unfamiliar procedure and we all try to support and encourage each other. That often means sticking with a thread, even after a pretty certain conclusion has been drawn about the situation.

8. At the end of the day, the decision to act on any particular suggestion is your call. Even if we were standing beside you looking at your engine, it's not usually to know with 100% certainty what the exact problem is- not until we find the actual problem. (one of the big reasons we all like pics and follow ups). Could it be one of the less likely problems? Sure, but that's not as likely

I know first hand how helpful it is to get some encouraging words when struggling with a problem or procedure

Does that sound better? I tried to put my words in a better order this time, LOL.

One thing I would suggest you do right away, though, is to check your oil dipstick for any yellow or other junk. If you have it, STOP DRIVING your truck until you fix the problem!

We're fortunate that usually oil goes into the cooling system, not the other way around, but it's wise to take the 30 seconds to rule that out

Hope this is "better" not worse

 

Ex threw out some good advice. Check your dipstick, like Ex said if there is water in the pan (milky on the dipstick) stop driving it immediately.

If your still unsure it is oil, take some oil whether it's clean or dirty put it in a clear jug and just add water. Mix it and watch what it does. The dirtier the oil the darker the color.

 

LOLOL I appreciate all help and ideas . I was more or less talking to myself trying to figure out which route to take.
No blame on anyone I just think if I think it through better Ill make a better decision on what to do.

 

Engine oil and transmission have no water in either one they are as clean as you are going to find in any diesel.
Engine oil was changed a few days before whatever happened.


Did anyone notice I said my check engine light came on and that's what alerted me to a problem
What to do with any of this would that have?
I don't think it would come on because I had water in my engine oil or visa versa?

 

The cheapest way to figure out what caused the check engine light to come on is to read the code that was stored when the check engine light came on.

 

I though you were still confused if it was oil or fuel in your bottle, my bad. The oil and water test in a clear bottle would just show the same in the degas bottle thats all.

I also though you were unsure that your engine oil was contaminated and just wanted you to make sure there was nothing in the pan but oil.

Your check engine light could be a number of things as you probably already know. Someone close to you might have AE and is probably willing to help.

Good luck bud.

 

As was stated above, the oil cooler can leak internally without any obvious external signs. Your coolant is pressured to about 14 psi if everything is normal. Your oil pressure should be higher than that. Guess which pressure wins in the infiltration contest initially. It also happens to be the most logical/least expensive place for the issue to occur. It is also good PM to rebuild it at a time that is convenient to you prior to failure when it more than likely won't be.

Yes! We did notice that there was a CEL. What code was stored?

Not entirely accurate. It would depend upon what you were doing with the truck when the light came on and the code was stored.

We look forward to you providing us with the code....

 

Ok I have another thought................
Could get anyone to come scan it today but I was checking a few things out.


A young guy that was with me , looked at the sticky stuff and smelled it and said it smells like power steering fluid.


Check power steering res and its empty.
Is there any way power steering fluid could get in the water system?

 

I don't believe our trucks use power steering fluid, ATF is used in lieu of power steering fluid. They can have a similar appearance to each other though?

 

yes its ATF but whatever its called can fluid from the power steering get into the overflow res anyway?

 

No way at all.

 

How long was the truck sitting before your first post in March. It maybe be possible that the coolant wasn't mixed correctly and separated in the overflow tank and the sticky stuff is algae. My reasoning behind this is we have a trailer mounted pressure washer with a 300 gallon water tank at work that didn't get used much and the water that was left in the tank had a layer of what looked like plastic wrap floating around but when you would poke it with a stick it was real squishy. I would pinch off the hose on the bottom of the degas tank and then drain the radiator you should get 3 - 4 gallons out. If at any time it stops flowing you have more "sticky stuff" and will need to unclog it at the drain valve. If the radiator drains and you have atleast 3 gallons you may not have to worry about a clogged radiator. After the radiator is drained remove the degas hose from the bottom of the radiator and drain the degas bottle as not to introduce the sticky stuff into the radiator. Now that the radiator is drained it would be a good time to do the oil cooler orings just as a PM measure. Then find gooch's radiator flush procedure and fill with ELC coolant.

 

And it finally made it to the shop.
Oil cooler lines it is. O-rings

 

Actually it turned out to needing a new oil cooler.
$1500 bucks and down the road she goes.
Drove it home , I forgot how good it goes I havnt driven it for nearly a year.


It was missing and popping a bit like it had some air in it but hopefully its nothing serious.
Ill take it for a long run tomorrow.