Welcome to FTE Karen.
Oil in the radiator could come from an oil cooler.

White smoke is rather visible unless it was dark.
The sweet smell of antifreeze would mean you had to be close to the exhaust while it was running.

The oil cooler is a pain to change in the truck, but it is way cheaper than an engine.

 

Thanks for the welcome and the info Dave. I called Rig Builders in Mineral Wells and talked to them a little this morning, cause the service shop at the dealership only wants to talk about 'dropping' in a replacement engine. I even offered to let them hunt forever on our property if they gave me a deal! Anyhoo, they have the machine to check for cavitation if we want to have them do that. But I did price out the replacement oil cooler at around $260 (from Ford and ShopDiesel) plus labor if the hubby won't have the time (make that patience - the first time he replaced the starter...well it WAS NOT pretty!).

Now, hubby is very confident that the head gasket's gotta be replaced. But, if there is no water in the oil pan would that indicate that the head gasket is still good?

To be honest, I think the days of this truck running up and down the highway are over. Who can afford the fuel and with the winter additives it's not gonna get cheaper til at least spring I imagine. But it is still a great looking truck and we have use for it if for no other reason than the 4 wheel drive.

Hoping Zed has or gets some reasonably good news..I'm anxious to hear....

 

Mineral Wells, where are you located?

It is kinda like this....
If the oil cooler goes, the oil is under higher pressure than the coolant while the engine is running so the oil goes into the coolant.
But as soon as the engine is turned off while it is warm, the oil pressure drops to zero.
Now you are at some pressure between 0 and 14 PSI on the coolant side till the engine cools enough for the pressure to drop to zero. At this time the coolant will go into the same hole that let the oil out while it was running.
So the oil cooler will let coolant and oil pass through the same hole in different directions at different times.

So if you have coolant in the oil pan, it does not mean the head gasket is shot.
The oil that passes through the head gasket is not under pressure, it is draining back to the oil pan by gravity.
The coolant passing through the head gasket is under pressure when the engine is hot.
So I do not think the head gasket is the problem.
Cavitation would not put oil in the radiator, it would put coolant in the oil pan.

I think the problem is in the oil cooler or the oil cooler gaskets or the O rings in the oil cooler.

The oil cooler can be changed with the engine in the truck, but the person doing it is usually speaking Portugese before they are 1/4 of the way done.

 

Dave
I am in glorious Ritchie Co, WV
Well my dad was a diesel mechanic - working on dozers, etc. for a number of years and I've been running stuff by him. Although, I like doing a lot of research for myself so I can talk to him, hubby and the repair shops intelligently (I was a Powertrain buyer at GM a few years ago- so I have some basic knowledge to help me along) He said this oil cooler is like the ones on BIG diesels and once I sent him the diagrams I found on autozone.com - repair manual section - he said it could very well be a bad o-ring causing all this. I just assumed that o-rings come with the new oil cooler, but I'd better check. I doubt the hubby is going to be doing this himself. I may have said, but he's working in DC now, but that doesn't leave him a lot of time to do much when he is able to come home. But I think I have my hubby talked off the ledge at this point anyway. My dad thinks we should fix the radiator and oil cooler and immediately put a FOR SALE sign on it. We are right about in that mileage that is going to require another tranny rebuild. First rebuild we were told that they are only good for about 120K and we are past that now. The freakin moron that we bought this truck from in 99 hauled horse trailers in overdrive and wreaked havoc on the torque converter.
We just had the injector pump adjusted a few months back while he was in Vegas. Trying to get a little more umph out of her...like I said he has a patience issue! Plus he had ball joint work done out there too. He had picked up a gear box but didn't end up having to do anything with it, so he brought it home to save it for when we do have to have it changed..

You know I think the high altitudes and heat going to and coming from Vegas - not to mention being there for almost a year may have helped create this problem. Hmmmmm....

 

Howdy neighbor, Just down the road a piece from me. I am right outside Clarksburg.

Lots of times there is nothing wrong with the oil cooler bundle, it is the O rings that are shot.

Towing a trailer did not help the tranny, but you really don't have to do anything special to toast the automatic with overdrive transmission.
I have a friend here in town that went through 4 torque converters in his while it was under warranty. He got rid of the truck before the warranty ran out.
I spent to many years driving tractor trailer, automatics belong in cars not trucks.

The heat out west may have cooked the O rings a little faster than it would have here, but I really don't think that was a big factor.

Is the truck a turbo charged one?
If he wants more zip, that is the ticket.
How many miles are on it now?