Engine oil in radiator

shopforman · Nov 5, 2019

I've come to wits end and need help. I am working on a three cylinder Ford diesel engine. The owner brought it to my shop for him to change the engine oil and filter. He did that and we discovered a anti freeze leak at a hose, tightened the clamp and fixed that. When checking the level of anti freeze we discovered it was full of motor oil. I thought it had to be the oil cooler so we bypassed it flushed the system and thought it was done. Next day I started the engine to get the new anti freeze moved around so I could check the protection level. I had to add anti freeze as it was low. I also checked the oil level and found a crank case full of anti freeze. Now we had run the engine the day before and the oil level was check several times, all was okay.
Does anyone have any thoughts on how this could happen?

Sean in PA · Nov 5, 2019

Two possibilities are blown head gasket or pinholes in the cylinder walls from cavitation

Dieseltech · Nov 5, 2019

Neighbor had that happen on a three cylinder diesel ten hours after engine overhaul, his sprung a leak from the oil gallery into the coolant..

MikeJM · Nov 6, 2019

Not the first time I ve heard about the oil galley having a leak into the coolant. I know of two for certain, one in a 7700, had a hard life and eventually crack inside and pushed oil into the cooling system. The other happened to my local automotive machine shop buddy who unfortunately discovered it after all the machine work had been done. He was able to successfully install a sleeve in the oil galley to seal the crack.

Engine oil in radiator

shopforman

New User

Sean in PA

Well-known Member

Dieseltech

Well-known Member

MikeJM

Member

Similar threads