You might want to check the junkyard. I ALWAYS have on hand a complete oil cooler assembly ready to bolt up in case mine fails.

 

Where is this oil cooler located at? What does it look like? I just started getting coolant in the oil just yesterday. I really don't think it's a head gasket cause it still huffs jet black smoke and runs like a brand new engine. I've been reading this can be a common problem on the 7.3. I'd rather do the oil cooler then head gasket replacement. What can I look for to make sure this is the problem?

 

Old thread ... You should start your own!

The oil cooler is located on the left side of the motor under the exhaust manifold, it's a long cylinder thing thats about 2-1/2" in diameter.

Got any oil in the coolant ???

If it huffs black smoke then it definitely does NOT run like a "brand new engine" and is in dire need of intelligent tuning!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

What I mean by huffin black smoke is when you press the gas to the floor it makes a good black cloud not grey or white like a head gasket normally does. Found the oil cooler and man oh man is that a job and a half. The back part that has the filter on it the gasket looks like it may have been leaking back and forth. Also an extreme concentration of milkshake was in the tube and on the ends. And of course chunks of metal in there too. The O rings are pliable and not cut that I could see but when I took it all apart they were not tight at all, almost fell off the tube so I'm hoping this is the problem, I really want to avoid head gaskets. I think this was simpler to try first then pullin heads that weigh the same amount as a VW Bug lol. I went to OReillys and they have never heard of an oil cooler that wasn't like the after market radiator looking kind. So I'll have to look up an International/Navstar dealer close tomorrow, or maybe the local diesel shop.

 

Both o-rings are Viton.
One o-ring is a Ford or International item only!
The other o-ring is a #334.

You can get the gaskets at most local parts stores. Napa has them.

However, (and I just HATE saying this) you might as well get them all at Ford or International, the price difference is negligible.

You seem to have gotten that out pretty quick!

Have fun pressing that assembly back together, Use a lot of Vaseline and ensure there are no burrs to cut the o-rings on assembly.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

It was about a 5 hour job with a lot of cussing/smoke breaks. I tried my best not to have to raise the engine but there was just no way around it. Only had to go 1" on the drivers side. I thought really hard about changing just the gaskets but my luck the way it is I'd been doin it again tomorrow night cause it didn't fix it so just bit the bullet and took it all the way out. I just really hope this is the cause of the oil/coolant mix only drove it 2 miles like that so shouldn't be any damage to anything else. Sucks cause I just changed the oil a little bit ago, why couldn't it have done it then lol. I kept my old oil so I'm gonna spin on a new filter and put the old oil in for a week then do another oil change to try and wash it out. Theres an International dealership about 18 miles down the road so thats where I'll go tomorrow I guess.

 

take the oil filter off, drain all the coolant and you will get minimal leakage. you do not have to lift the engine to get it off, i did mine 4 times without having to do any of that mess. 4 bolts front, 4 bolts rear. taking it apart is easy, just slide a rubber mallet along the shaft and hit the end. work it back and forth. as far as putting it back together....... make sure you use assembly lube on everything to help it slide without tearing the O rings. dont bang on the caps to seat them, use pressure. it doesnt take too much. if your a big enough fellow like i am you can just put a 2x6 ontop of one cap with the second on the ground and just sit on it to press the ends together.

 

you just have to remove the steering shaft and scoot it over.

 

What did the "metal chunks" look like?

That is not a normal thing to find in there.

Be aware that all of the oil from the oil pump goes straight into the front of the oil cooler.
So if the chunks were on the front end, it was something the oil pump picked up from the oil pan or something out of the oil pump.

The pickup tube screen should have caught anything from the oil pan unless it was rather small.

 

They were in the back where the oil filter goes on. Also small small metal in the oil filter outlet. Some of them were even big enough not to fit through the tubes of the oil cooler. Kinda concerned about it but it's gonna have to last till spring at least one way or another.

 

Well that might be good news.

As I said above the oil pump picks up the oil from the pan.
Once the ol goes through the pump, it exits the block into the oil cooler.
From there it goes through the oil cooler, through the oil filter and then back into the block to the oil gallery.

So if the metal chunks were at the back of the oil cooler and to big to go through the oil cooler tubes, then they were not picked up from the oil pan.

Did they look like they could have been casting imperfections from the oil cooler headers?
Those are one of the few aluminum parts on an IDI diesel.

PS coolant flow takes the same path through the oil cooler.
Front to rear.

If the chunks were against the end of the cooler bundle, that would be in the coolant passages, not the oil passages.

 

you can look up my post history to see how this "newb" ended up doing it. looking back it is not as bad as it sounds as long as you have the proper work area, lighting, tools, keep things clean and have a person to help you!

also i would suggest flushing the coolant system out a couple times with calgon/dishwashing soap, then replace all your coolant hoses, then do it again a couple times, then finally a couple more with plain water, then a final time with some distilled water a couple times before finally filling up with new coolant.

that is just based on my experience with mine, oil was in the reservoir, radiator, thermostat.

you should probably take off the thermostat housing to clean it all out and check out the ball bearing in there. i had to take a pick tool to mine to do surgery and get the gunk out of the ball hole, preventing it from freely moving.

i am not sure how long it takes oil to break down the coolant hoses, but i know it is not pretty or reversable once it has, i learned the hard way

i also installed a coolant filter mod many people around here talk about. that completely gunked up one filter and into a second before i felt ok with everything being cleaned up. then a third went in with new coolant.

 

I have a spare oil cooler here that, when I took it off and apart, I found bits of metal at the front end of the tubes. Was trying to figure out the source when I realized what it was, they were little pieces (almost like *****) of solder, there must have been a rad repair at some time that wasn't flushed before reinstalling.

 

I had to do it and found Dave Sponaugle's directions invaluable. Had to use the rear bumper for a press, and YES, It was the messiest job I've had to do so far. But I was doing it under a tree and in the puddle of sh** that was draining onto my face. I gotta get a house with a garage!

 

Well it took 3 days of throwing wrenches to get that thing back together, problem after problem. Napa had the gaskets for $6, Ford wanted $30, Ford did have the O Rings in stock for $35 for all 4, sounds like I got a deal on that then. Thus far no leaks that I can see, I drained the oil and put new filter on. Gonna put about 10 miles of drive time on the old oil I had layin around from the last oil change to try to 'wash' out the engine. Then I'll be putting new 20-50 in it and of course new filter. Then after a few days I'll know if I've fixed the problem or not. Got some engine noise that sounds like it's in the bottom end so we'll see what happens. A local diesel shop says it might be a bad injector, it's not a constant sound. But I goofed and put 10-30 in it once and it sounded like all the rods were knocking so I changed it quick. I'll prolly start a different post on that one since the oil cooler problem is prolly fixed. Thanks everyone for your advise and input it was a great help.