I have a 2000 F250 and noticed an oil leak at the back of the engine.
I also noticed a little bit of what looked like sludge in the coolant resevoir.
When I took it into the dealership they informed me It was actually diesel not oil I was leaking. (I then asked if it was diesel where did the gallon of oil go I added in the last week and a half?)
They then said oh well you might be leaking oil from the head gasket.
They quoted me $4800 to put new injector cups in as they said that was my problem.
Does this sound fishy? This is my first diesel and have no experience with them.
Also the truck doesn't smoke or burn oil.
I have 333,000 km,s on the truck.

 

oh another quick note. When I got the truck back from ford after they looked at it the coolant resevior was full of what looked like diesel. Way more then when I dropped it off???
I sucked it out and topped it back up with coolant so I can keep a closer eye on it.
Next I am going to clean off the top of the engine with a pressure washer to see if I can get a better idea of where it is leaking from. Top or back of engine.

 

Back her down there cowboy. NO pressure washer for the top of the engine. Just use a good degreaser (simple green, greased lightning, t-49, etc...) lots of it, and let it soak for a few minutes, then rinse off with low pressure garden hose. There are way to many sensors up top that dont like high pressure water, not to mention that you can pierce the silicone boots on the intake spider and intercooler. Make sure the engine is cool, and cover your alternator, and powersteering resevior with plastic bags.

 

and to answer your other question, yes, diesel will get into the cooling system if an injector cup is cracked.

 

And $4800 is a rip off to R&R the injector cups. You can buy cups for around $160 and rent the tool to install them for $100 I believe from site sponsor Clay, aka Riffraff Performance.

 

anyone got a picture of the tool? looking to fab one up maybe for when the day comes i need it.

 

There are several posts on steps/instructions on sleeve replacement. In fact, I am in the process of doing mine! I have 2 7.3's and I ordered a tool from Whitaker tools. Neat little video on the product on youtube...Only bad thing is I WANT NEW INJECTORS!!!!, but dont want to fork the $$$ at the moment.

Need to be very through and patient and follow directions. You dont want to hydrolock the engine by not properly draining the fuel and oil rails!

Most places I have read say it's a 20 to 25 hour job at the dealer and at 40 to 60 bucks an hour labor, thats mighty expensive for a 9 dollar apiece injector cup!

Also, probably will need to do a serious flushing of coolant system and changing of all the hoses due to fuel contamination.

 

First off, welcome to FTE.

I'd agree with the Stealership(read $4800 for injector cup R&R) that it is indeed injector cups. I don't have any experience doing the R&R, but others here have.
As Chase stated, buy the cups from Clay and rent the tool at the same time. Should be under $300 for everything and fairly straight forward job for someone who whenches on stuff.
And, as Brandon said, no high pressure water under the hood, not a good mix wit hall the wire connections under there.

As far as the oil consumption, if it isn't burning it, it is leaking somewhere. Possibilities include(but not limited to) the turbo pedestal o rings, "non serviceable" serviceable plug on the HPOP, dipstick tube seal, rusty oil pan, etc. Clean the engine off good and run it for a bit, should be fairly obvious where the leak is if it is completely clean to start with.


Oh, and 20-25 hours to R&R injector cups????? Holy crap, that seems like 5 times the time that would actually be needed by a trained tech at a dealer, IMO.

 

Are you positive it is fuel in the coolant and not oil. If it is oil, then you are just looking at an oil cooler. Lot easier to do...

 

coolant would also be in the oil if it was a oil cooler.

 

thats the time to rebuild the heads. and i'd pull the block plugs and drain the coolant when you do a complete flush

 

not necessarily... most the time I have seen it, the oil goes into the coolant.

 

Agreed, oil psi should be higher than coolant psi, so the oil would get pushed into the coolant.

 

that is oil psi is high while the vehicle is RUNNING, when its shut off and the oil pressure drops to zero, the coolant is still hot and will have more psi then the oil untill it cools down again.

 

The point is he was LOW on oil. If indeed it was oil in his coolant and not FUEL, then it could be as simple as replacing or servicing the oil cooler. Not injector cups... That is my point, easy fix compared to injector cups.