Condensation and milkshake in my trucks valve cover

[RAYZER]

What kind of additive or flush is suggested?

Kerosene works well for engine flush and seafoam for additive.

 

[m-35tom]

if the engine oil is black and not some other shade of grey or cream, there is just no point or reason to flush the crankcase. you will only offend the engine and perhaps cause some other issue. if you have lots of blow-by, there is part of your problem, moisture from combustion going past the rings and into the crankcase. i have to wonder if the seller did not change the oil, how good of a job they did with the rest of it? did they resurface the heads? etc. when you have it running at 180° to 200°, drive it for a couple hundred miles and recheck. if you think you are still losing coolant, let the truck sit for a few days and then loosen the drain plug, do not remove it. see what comes out past the threads, oil or water. water will be on the bottom of the pan until disturbed.

 

[skinnyR1]

Yes, my truck has a lot of blowby, so thats a good point that the water may very well be coming from the combustion process. I dont intend to source the cause of the blowby tho. It starts and runs fine otherwise, down to the teens with no start assists. I cant compare my truck to anyone elses tho, other than threads I read here. Excessive or not for the blowby, not entirely sure.

I pressure tested again today. I put 10lbs on the radiator inlet. The guage didnt budge after sitting for an hour, and there were no leaks anywhere.

 

[rustystud]

How is your thermostat? That milky sludge could indicate the engine is running cold all the time. Does your temp gauge show a good stable operating temperature? IIf the thermostat is working but only holding a low temperature, say 160 deg, I'd go with a higher temp thermostat.

Does the slobbering start as soon as the engine starts to warm up? When the radiator is slobbering, how much pressure is being held behind the cap? If the radiator continues to slobber even with a new cap, maybe there's a damaged seat under the cap, or a crack allowing fluid to bypass the cap.

If the engine is not building up enough heat a hotter thermostat will not help. The standard thermostat for our engines is 180 degree's . I have never even heard of a different one. The thermostat can be stuck open. If that's the case then a new thermostat is in order. If that is not the issue then you will have to look else where to bring the engine heat up. Like using a radiator cover.

 

[skinnyR1]

I dumped the oil a couple days ago. I didnt have the filters, so I didnt fill it back up.
I got the filters today. Before installing and adding the oil, I popped the drain plug off again.
This is what came out. Some antifreeze. A cup or two.
I dont get what is going on here.

 

[RAYZER]

Not good.

 

[skinnyR1]

Could I really be boiling out antifreeze that is going into the oil? Gallons worth out the slobber tube?

 

[RAYZER]

So this changes everything, now it's down to figuring out where all the coolant is coming from.
No oil in the coolant?

 

[skinnyR1]

The 5 gallons that I drained out at first, when it was hot, has no signs of coolant. I then let it sit in the drip pan for a couple days, and poured it off. No coolant.
Coolant in the radiator has no signs of oil.

But what collected in the truck, when there was no oil in the truck, shows what you see above.

 

[dmetalmiki]

if the engine oil is black and not some other shade of grey or cream, there is just no point or reason to flush the crankcase. you will only offend the engine and perhaps cause some other issue. if you have lots of blow-by, there is part of your problem, moisture from combustion going past the rings and into the crankcase. i have to wonder if the seller did not change the oil, how good of a job they did with the rest of it? did they resurface the heads? etc. when you have it running at 180° to 200°, drive it for a couple hundred miles and recheck. if you think you are still losing coolant, let the truck sit for a few days and then loosen the drain plug, do not remove it. see what comes out past the threads, oil or water. water will be on the bottom of the pan until disturbed.

Agree fully. Here is a very appropriate course of action.
Your next step. Take it.
If after the above some water mix with antfreeze comes out first before oil or just antfreeze water salution if you leave the oil out untill this check. there could be a problem with the liner sealing. or A warped head. (should have been skimmed when they did the gaskets.(but then the oil should have been changed also)) After completing the checks you can certainly run the truck and keep it under observation. (as) a good water leak sealent might well extend things for quite a while. Before going totally major.

 

[RAYZER]

These are not wet liners so it's not that.
I think it could be: cracked head (water jacket), or a bad head gasket job.
But if the previous owner did the head gaskets because they were having the same problem, then I would be thinking cracked head.
If it was a bad oil cooler you would probably have oil in the coolant.

 

[skinnyR1]

So not a cracked case then? Any way to verify a cracked head without pulling the heads? Could it be cracked, allowing coolant into the combustion chamber, and thats where it is going?
Any harm running it as is, or trying the sealer approach?

 

[Tow4]

So not a cracked case then? Any way to verify a cracked head without pulling the heads? Could it be cracked, allowing coolant into the combustion chamber, and thats where it is going?
Any harm running it as is, or trying the sealer approach?

At this point you have nothing to lose by trying the sealer. You can't run it with coolant getting in the oil. The best way to go is pull the heads, that's the only way to see if they are cracked or warped. Also check the block is square.

 

[RAYZER]

You could fill your radiator and pressurize the coolant system, then pull the injectors,pull the fuel shutoff and hit the starter and see if any water comes out of the combustion chambers.
If you determine it's not the oil cooler then the heads may have to come off to track down the leak.

 

[Jeepsinker]

It may be worth your time to pull the oil cooler and change the sealing O-rings. Should take less than an hour. At least that way you can eliminate the oil cooler if the problem persists.

 

[mbehne]

I'm surprised it didn't leak down when you pressurized the cooling system. If it was a gas engine I would say run a leak down test(pressurize the cylinders one at a time) and look for excessive leak down or bubbles in the radiator. I have never seen any kind of adapter(would be the same to check compression)made to go in a injector opening to hook up to a leak down tester. Hopefully, with all of the knowledge here, someone will know if a compression test adapter is available and would work like I think it should.

Good luck!

 

[skinnyR1]

I had previously pulled the injectors, pressurized, cranked, and watched for coolant to come out. Nothin.
The oil cooler can put coolant into the oil?

 

[mbehne]

If it had a leak, yes. But again it should have lost pressure when you pressure checked the cooling system. How long did you leave it, the cooling system, on pressure?

 

[skinnyR1]

An hour

 

[RAYZER]

You can make an adapter out of a gutted injector.