Oil cooler issue
 

Hey guys. Just replaced my oil cooler in my 2004 f450 6.0(Had a 30 degree Delta). I watched diesel tech Ron's 1.5 hr video a couple times, and followed his procedure.
When I finished I took it for a test drive and noticed oil in the coolant. There wasn't any oil before I did the change. Any advice on what I could have done wrong. Maybe a bad oil cooler?
Thanks for the help
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Where did you get the cooler?

Richard

Auto parts warehouse.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sk...EPF311114.html

Also, Im still showing an 8 degree delta on normal driving and 12 -15 on a hard pull. It is alot better then it was thou.

How much oil? Is it a chocolate milkshake?

Cheap oil coolers are pretty hit or miss, so it's pretty likely yours has a bad gasket, causing the oil in coolant

I had the same issue after replacing my oil cooler. I don't think my problem was the cooler, but was in my procedure. There were several things I didn't pay enough attention to when I reassembled.
*Where the cooler mated with the block there was some corrosion on the block itself. I cleaned it up a bit, but probably not good enough.
*The egr cooler outlet on top of the oil cooler had a lot of corrosion. I just wire brushed it and thought the o ring would seal ok.
*The oil cooler cover had some corrosion on the two big connections. Again, I dressed it up with a wire brush, thought it would be ok.
So, two months after the first oil cooler change I had a milkshake in the degas bottle.

For the next oil cooler change, I bought a new Ford oil cooler (300), new oil cooler cover (125) and a new egr outlet cover.(65) I also dressed up where the cooler mates with the engine block, made it nice and shiny.

One caveat, don't use a rag to clean out the oil reservoir under the cooler. That is a rough surface in there and lint will stick to it and you won't be able to see it unless you shine a really bright light on it. The lint from where I wiped it out on the first cooler change wound up on the IPR screen. It looked like a clothes dryer lint screen.

After hours of flushing before the second oil cooler change and hours of flushing afterwards, I finally got it. Knock on wood, it had been 7 months and all still looks good and I have deltas of 2 - 6.

Regarding flushing, I tried all kinds of stuff but mineral spirits worked the best for me, but it is a real pain to get it all flushed out. To test effectiveness, I'd put the sludge from the truck in a clear jar and see what would cut the crap. I tried auto dish detergent, radiator flush and purple power among others. The only thing that actually cut the goo was mineral spirits. Just remember, your mileage may vary. I am sure this is not a suggested procedure, but it worked ok for me and I did not leave it in long enough to damage any hoses.

I feel your pain, good luck getting it sorted.

Do youself a favor, pull that oil cooler out, go buy one from Ford.......

Replace it, flush & flush some more

Its not alot. Just alittle milky not as bad as Ive seen in the past on other projects.

The truck sat last night and there was alittle oil on top of the water in the degass bottle. I just flushed the whole system (excluding the engine drains there pretty rusted.)

Bad gaskets?? There pretty simple O ring. How can they mess that up? Anything is possible

what I've noticed in the parts world since owning a 6.0 regarding seals is this:

Aftermarket = "will fit".

genuine Ford/International part = it's going to fit

Especially regarding the seals on injectors, not sure if the aftermarket seal designers have to "modify" the ID/OD size due to any Ford/International patent, also have to consider if some aftermarket designers utilize an inferior material grade compound . However, not all aftermarket parts designers fit in this category, there are some that make a "better product" than that of OEM. For example, those that make the silicone CAC boots, much better than OEM, in my opinion and others as well.
I think what a guy has to consider is this; does the cheaper aftermarket part outweigh the labor it will take to do the job over again in order to replace it?

You likely didn't mess anything up on the actual procedure, simply a result of an inferior product offering.
The picture in that link looks like the same crap sold on ebay. I'll bet there are at least ten threads in the past year of guys that bought the cheap junk and ended up going OEM.
Nothing against you or using aftermarket parts. We all do for some things, that said with a 6.0......things like injectors, filters, oil coolers.....OEM is the only way to go.

My buddy did the same thing cheap oil cooler, coolant was a milk shake, replaced the oil cooler with a FORD cooler.....no issue since

Saw you flushed with mineral spirits. What you may be seeing is some of the residue left over from the flush. Just keep a close eye on it.:-X22

Edit; sorry that was 53jimc post not yours.

navistarnut, I wasnt able to find any threads on this topic.

That being said, guess its time to go to ford and get an OEM.

I am really curious thou, where do you guys think the oil could be entering the water since the water inlet and outlet stick outside the housing. Isn't that the only place?? It must be getting past those two Orings??

Thanks for all the input

Two ford dealers in my area, called both, $439.00. It must be gold plated

Go to ficmrepair.com he has a lot better price for genuine ford cooler

Pretty sure that is the same as the $30 coolers you see on eBay. They often come bad with holes between the plates.

Get a OEM one or you will be doing it again and again. Automation bear lake or ficmrepair will have the best prices for the kits.

You will also might have to do a dawn/cascade flush to clean the cooling system.

Richard

Richard