Trace amounts of oil in coolant... but no coolant in oil...Heads redone..Help!

[vigman]

5.4 Triton, 2WD EB auto 186K.... heads " rebuilt " ( by PO ) .....
Truck passed smog with FLYING COLORS last week...
Runs strong, and now getting great milage...

So what's the deal on the "Oil cooler" leaking?

I'm getting small streaks of oil in the rez...
Thought's??

Mike

 

[stamp11127]

If you haven't flushed the system you may be chasing a problem that doesn't exist. Since the po did some work you can't be sure they cleaned up everything. Flush the system and verify the oil mixing with coolant.

 

[vigman]

Actually the system was drained and refilled 1X....Not a POWER flush though.
Mike

 

[IMINYOURCHAIR]

still, flush it again to be sure. a flush is cheaper than fixing a problem without proper diagnosis. I had this problem with a past car. i had to flush it about three times before I stopped getting oil out of it... ('00 lesabre with classic intake gasket failure)

 

[BAD RONALD]

Interesting flush procedure:

2000 Ford Expedition - Coolant System Flush with Degas Bottle - Clean and Thorough - YouTube

 

[vigman]

Bad.... nice piece of super mario plumbing! So I will have to get another Stat & ring to pull this off.... that will be on my list. He's my thought of the day.. ( ooowww brain hurt ). Drain existing coolant, pull the 2 lines off the cooler , U the coolant lines and as I'm flushing... put a cardboard under the cooler area as I run the truck for the flush...The engine is not leaking in that area... so if I get ANY oil out of the cooler lines Bingo problem identified. I assume the cooler is to assist for cooling when towing or hauling many people.. How "bad" is it to run W/O a cooler for normal operation? I've read a few posts spread over the net about the cooler being a " weak point " .. based on the " quality" of the coolant ( read last weeks coffee ) prior to drain & refil... and I do not have proper heating.. odds are rust in the cooling system are high...
Thanks
Mike

 

[BAD RONALD]

I once had an '89 Bronco that I stocked a case of t-stats available for... (insert rim shot here for an old Ford joke).

Hang onto the clipped t-stat with the plumbing for future flushes.

Hope all goes well isolating the oil entry. Even better if you clear the trace oil and it doesn't reappear.

I can remember a post describing a clogged restrictor in the heater core hoses being a source of poor flow. I'll look around for it and repost.

 

[vigman]

For what it's worth.. looks like new engine to core hoses ( not just armor all'ed )

Thanks for the help Bad Ronald....

Do you also have a pix of the power steering hoses going to the cooler, seems I'm missing a bracket that would support the hoses that MIGHT hang from a stud on the front of the timing cover....??

 

[vigman]

Boy am I pooped out watching my son work..... Final score today.... oil cooler bypassed... no evidence of oil seepage out of the cooler....YET. Coolant system flushed.. It was a mess..Belt tension idlers replaced.. heard of mice squeeking vanished... Tomorrow master brake cylinder & replace the factory sub... put rest of interior back together.

Now the weird ..... draining the old coolant there was this reddish, orange, brown film floating on the top of the coolant... not quite ATF... not OIL... but it was " slick " and did float ( so it is petrolium based ) ... I think it's some mechanic in a bottle additive....No water in the oil or tranny. New hose clamps on the power steering hoses stopped that seep.. dry as a bone now...

 

[vigman]

Wow if it's not one thing it's another... Post "flush" report.. Today ( my son & I ) brought the truck in the driveway.which is about a 7 degree incline.. and swapped out the Brake master cylinder,Good thing it JUST starting to weep at the back seal....So bench bleed bada bing bada boom 20% stiffer brakes....Next, we let the car warm up to look for other "Oh by the ways".Like the AC compressor front seal.. and "other gotcha's ". Things ( up front ) are looking much better.....We cleaned up, put tools away and the mail man shows up.. I get the stuff from the mailman.. turn around and behind the D/S rear wheel...about inline with the gas cap.... I have a green drip drip drip.....Sigh...
( Insert face palm here )
I did also build a Dell 9300 laptop to use the new shop manual.. and I can't seem to find the DUAL heater piping layout.....I think another crawl is in my son's future........
.. and a bypass.. at least heat is not needed here....!

 

[IMINYOURCHAIR]

welcome to the wonderful world of coolant leaks. Been there and done that and it's not really fun after you've purged the system three times in one day...

 

[vigman]

A picture is worth 20 pages of shop manual

 

[IMINYOURCHAIR]

rear heater core..it will drip from the condesation drain for the rear ac if that's the problem. could be a hose too.

 

[vigman]

Yep... attack at dawn tomorrow to check it out.....

 

[vigman]

Ok silly question.. are the 2 heater cores in series ( EG the output of one feeds the other ) ? OR in parallel with some restrictor device to control flow ? I cannot find a Super Mario bros hose FULL diagram in the shop manual. And I'm spending MORE time getting my laptop tuned up to read the shop manual…..
( update 12 of 87.. thank you FRACKIN WINDOWS )!!!

 

[toms89]

Ok silly question.. are the 2 heater cores in series ( EG the output of one feeds the other ) ? OR in parallel with some restrictor device to control flow ? I cannot find a Super Mario bros hose FULL diagram in the shop manual. And I'm spending MORE time getting my laptop tuned up to read the shop manual…..
( update 12 of 87.. thank you FRACKIN WINDOWS )!!!

Parallel.

The rear heater core T's off on both the supply and return line under the hood.

 

[toms89]

I would like to point out that when I did my engine swap that I flushed both the rear and front heater cores at the time while the lines were readily accessible. I was surprised at how long it took for the water to come out clear, specially from the rear core due to the length of the lines. It took several minutes, flushing backwards and forwards. Just mentioning this because unless you thoroughly flushed the system the odds are good that there was remaining fluid, debree, etc... in the lines that will circulate with the new.

 

[vigman]

Oh boy found BADNESS ( pix coming )

 

[vigman]

1998 Expedition rear heater core pix

Weeping out the drain… Rust bucket inside….( The HORROR )
So we're just looping the hoses..it's So Cal WHO NEEDS HEAT!

 

[vigman]

I'd like chunky please… confirmed… mechanic in a bottle not iron rust… squish it and it turns into a " putty "…..

Yeah it's been serviced… MY ARSE!