I have oil in my coolant and believe it is due to the oil cooler. Should I replace just the oil cooler seals or should I do the whole oil cooler? Should I also do a new overflow tank? Also how challenging is it to fix it? I would like to do it myself and avoid the repair bill.

 

I'd do the rebuild. It's pretty easy, only 4 o-rings, and you'll have it off already.

I'm not sure what the recommended removal procedure is but I did mine while replacing the water pump. With the belt off, it was 4 bolts and set alternator out of the way. Then 3 bolts and the power steering bracket and all lays in fender well. Made accessing the cooler very easy. I took it out and installed as a whole assembly. Used a floor jack to press it back together. 3 weeks still no leaks.

 

I haven't done one yet but it seems to be a medium difficult, tedious job. You'll need to flush your cooling system out when you're done too. My understanding is that you pull the cooler heads off the block, pull the assembly apart and clean it all up, replace the O-rings and push it back together and remount it. Of course you clean up the block mounting surfaces as well. Do not use Dorman parts, use genuine OEM, and I believe that Riffraff has them, possibly in a kit. Getting the heads back on seems to be a little tough and requires some effort and ingenuity and some have reported mounting the front head to the block and forcing it together with a pry bar.

 

Okay, thank you! I’ll get the OEM kit and with some research I’ll try to do it myself. Thanks!

 

I have had several apart and not bad at all. You don't have to pull or remove anything extra. I have leveling springs so mine sits slightly higher than stock, if yours is stock height use a jack to raise the frame in the LF. By doing this you can access all bolts for the cooler through the wheel opening on the LF. You will need long extensions and a swivel socket but it avoids pulling a lot of of other stuff that is not needed. If you use a silicone valve lubricant it will slide together with new o-rings, you need to force it together but it can be done with body weight as opposed to all the different ways I have read on here. Good luck, you can do it and it is a lot cheaper than buying one.

As far as cleaning the tank that can be a problem but I cleaned mine by going real old school and using a cleaner that has not been recommended for years, gasoline. I capped off the fittings, put in some fine mesh sand (used for my blast cabinet, people will freak and say how you don't want to add silica into the system, DUH, just take the time to clean it with soap and hot water after this step) and poured in some gas. The sand was the scrubber as your hand won't fit in and tools won't work either and the gas broke down the oil so that it poured out. I was just under the hood the other day and my tank looks likes it is only a couple years old as opposed to 19. It has gone cross country a couple times and I have never had a problem. But if you want to spend the money and buy another one that is your choice, me if I can fix, or modify or custom build something in my shop that is what I do before I buy a replacement.

 

Thank you, mine too is leveled so that is useful. I will try it myself I think.

 

Is there a way you can take a pic of your DEGAS bottle with the oil and post it up?

 

Yeah, sure I can tomorrow hopefully. What do you want to see?

 

The oil part, I can't distinguish if mine has oil or fuel. Looks black but smells like diesel but this ELC I used has kinda of a diesel smell so it's very hard to distinguish.
Thanks again.

 

Oh okay, I should be able to get some tomorrow. I’ll try to get a few to help. You’re welcome.

 

 

Thanks man sure looks Identical to the crap that's floating in the Degas bottle. How does it smell?

 

How's it taste?

 

I wouldn't recommend it

 

[QUOTE=z31freakify;19586195]Thanks man sure looks Identical to the crap that's floating in the Degas bottle. How does it smell?
Yeah, looks oily to me. My pickup had fuel in the coolant once too and you can definitely tell that it’s diesel. I’m kinda sick right now and cannot smell it so I’m hoping it’s actually oil 😂.