Oil in the coolant
Asked by Jeremy Nov 02, 2014 at 08:53 AM about the 2000 Ford F-150 XLT Extended Cab SB
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
1200 miles from home with truck running hot, missing and oil in the coolant. 4.2v6
manual transmission. I have the skills to fix almost anything but I have nothing but basic
hand tools with me now, no garage to work in, no help and no access to another vehicle
for parts store runs. Truck runs for now. Just needs to last me a couple more weeks.
Any suggestions?
6 Answers
Is there coolant in the oil? If not and you just need to get home . Go to church and pray. And if you want to increase the odds. Do a compression test and replace the head gasket that is leaking. Go to YouTube and watch a video on how to do it. See if you have the tools and knowledge.
Yes sounds like blown head gasket. I don't advise this a a perminate fix but in a situation like yours you might want to try one of the "fix in a can" (for head gaskets) products in your cooling system just to get you home. Now be advised that this stuff normally ends up causing other issues like stopped up heater cores and such but if you lucky it will at least get you home. Again in a normal situation I would not ever use this stuff.
At a hotel right now and draining the oil or coolant are not an option. Still no sign of coolant in the oil (knock in wood) no gooey build up on the oil cap, oil level going down and not up. Put another 150 miles on it today with no performance issues but it did start to run hot, never actually overheated. Gonna find an oil change place and an auto parts store tomorrow. Gonna try sealer on both sides along with an oil change and coolant change. If I were home fixing it would not be an issue, I was an ASE certified & Chrysler certified tech years ago. So used to doing things the "right" I was unsure how to do an effective bandaid. Sounds like I was on the right track. Going to be a month or 2 before I can fix the truck right but only a week or two to replace the truck entirely. Hate to scrap a truck I was going to pass down to my kids but if she doesn't make it through this buisnes trip she's gonna need to go. Wish me luck!
BTW In Texas for work. Plugged heater core wouldn't be a big deal until I return to Ohio. Then my hands will freeze to the steering wheel.
Use caution flushing the cooling system. I would advise not to flush it in your case due to you could break other items loose and may cause other issues. Just drain the coolant. Then I would try k&w block seal. Using it requires that you run it in vehicle for certain amount of time(till heats up and circulates thru out all areas. Then to drain cooling system again to allow sealant to cure properly with no pressure on it. For best results do just as can advises. I used it once with a cracked head.(20 something years ago) it worked well and got my truck going.(I was a broke a$$ young adult). I drove it for three more years gave to a buddy of mine and he drove for another five years without any furthers issues from that leak. But as stated above I only advising this to you cause of your situation. You must be heading down for the refinery and chemical plant construction starting to ramp up in Texas. If so drive safe and work safe.
I know this was an issue from several years ago, and Jeremy said OIL IN THR COOLING SYSTEM, not water or cooling in the oil. If there is oil in the cooling system, The problem could reasonably be an internal leak on the oil cooler, which uses the cooling system to cool the oil. this is usually can be checked by looking at the resevour tank, if theres 2 hoses running from it, 1 hose runs to the oil cooler, a ruptured gasket, or faulty cooler would most likely be the culprit...….just sayin !