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Used 1 gallon of coolant in 130 mi

B

BrokenTech

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I just Bought a 98 k2500 6.5 liter Diesel that has148000mi. I drove about a 130miles and had to had a gallon of coolant and the oil level is about a inch above the full mark. There is no visible coolant leaks. The oil is not foamy/milky but the oil is thick and smells and feels like coolant is in it. I did a psi test real quick to 13psi (pump Handle was broke) and started dropping real quick, the engine was hot. I did see a white puff when i started it after the psi test. The surge take does not appear to be getting blow by in it. The oil fill cap had droplets and was a little gray in color. I am letting the oil sit for a few day and am going to drain the oil to see if any coolant it there. I will post pics if any thing looks out of the ordinary. Any helpful advice would be appreciated before i start removing parts.
 
sounds like a blown head gasket to me...

if you let the oil settle after the truck has sat for a while...drain the first couple quarts and put the plug back in... and examine what came out...the water should be at the bottom of the pan and "should" come out first...the 6.5 experts can give you more on this and will chime in soon enough...
 
Yep, doesn't sound good so far... head gasket would be my first guess, be sure and let us know when you drain the oil as to what you find and we will recommend your next step....
 
If it's a 98 block, I would be more inclined to think it is a cracked cylinder. 98 was the worst year for cracking in the #8 cylinder. There is a good chance though all it needs is head gaskets, but when the heads are off check the cylinder walls CLOSELY for cracks.
 
WELCOME TO TTS

:welcome2: :welcome5: :welcome8:

New truck + problem = New Member.:cussing:

Welcome to the club/family/cult and, as some will admit, the asylum of 6.5 owners.:85:

Where in WA are you?
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
If it's a 98 block, I would be more inclined to think it is a cracked cylinder. 98 was the worst year for cracking in the #8 cylinder. There is a good chance though all it needs is head gaskets, but when the heads are off check the cylinder walls CLOSELY for cracks.
Click to expand...

I would think a cracked cyl would pressurize the cooling system
 
My guess,...cracked web(s)
Blown head gasket usually causes high coolant pressure rather fast with resulting coolant loss at the recovery tank
 
Welcome. So how strongly do you feel about your new truck? Strong enough to pull the engine? :hihi: You for sure found out why they sold it. Heads gaskets or cracked heads usually blow coolant out the overflow. These engines are known to crack.

So the best advice I can give is start pricing good used engines. Otherwise look at The improved design of GEP Optimizer engines - not cheap.

On the bright side these are fairly simple to change out.
 
Paveltolz said:
:welcome2: :welcome5: :welcome8:

New truck + problem = New Member.:cussing:

Welcome to the club/family/cult and, as some will admit, the asylum of 6.5 owners.:85:
Click to expand...

Now that's funny right there.. We're the only ones who 'Get it'.. lol.

Database via attrition, :hihi:

Some threads turn into diary's.. :rof:
 
Welcome

A quick check for blown head gasket:
When cold, start the truck and check the upper hose, if it gets hard right away you have combustion pressure in the coolant.

If you suspect a blown gasket, you can verify which side with this check:
Remove the belt for the water pump.
Remove enough coolant to remove the thermostat.
Add just enough coolant so that coolant drips from the thermostat housing.
Have someone briefly start the truck, while looking in the thermostat housing, look for bubbles.
The side that bubbles has the leak.
You can verify the cylinder that is causing the leak by removing each glow plug on the affected bank. Briefly restart the engine and recheck for bubbles. Check each cylinder for the bubbles stop or reduce in intensity. This indicates the bad cylinder, check all cylinders because more that one could be contributing to the leak.

Knowing the cylinder that is leaking can be very important in determining what is wrong. Because once your apart, if the head gasket does not show signs of a leak, then you have to start looking for cracks. Knowing which cylinder to concentrate on will save you time and money.


I had a crack head, had it hot pressure tested, they found no leak. Re installed it, still blowing coolant. The driver side head came off 3 times in one month before is was fixed.
Moral: Pressure testing can not duplicate combustion chamber pressures.

Good luck
 
First off Thanks every one for your advice and welcome.

oilfilter.jpg

I let the oil sit for 3 days. When I drained the oil there was no coolant in it. The oil was think and had blobs of sludge on the filter. I change the oil because I only had the truck for a week and wasn't really sure were the oil lvl started and how old it was.
 
The upper rad hose does not get hard when it is cold and didn't build any psi and I drove the truck to get it hot and it had the normal psi in the surge tank. I hooked up the tester and ran it at full throttle for a few minutes. It only went up a few psi so i gave it a pump and notice the gauge was bouncing up and down slightly and the psi slow went up and then dropped back to a few psi. I checked the oil when hot and it looked normal and had the sweet smell of coolant. I remove the oil fill cap and there was lot of condensation on the bottom of the cap
oilcap.jpg
 
If you have a cracked block leaking in to the oil shouldn't it be cloudy/milky?

Is it possible to have a bad head/gasket and not get compression in the surge tank?

Should i still try the remove the thermostat housing and look for bubbles?

Can most of the coolant be getting burned off and that why the oil is not getting milky?

Any one have any ideas why the oil has that sweet coolant smell when it is hot?

Is it normal to have condensation on the fill cap? ( the humidity i was about 47%)
 
506 blocks from 97-early 99 were famous for cracking in the #8 cylinder about mid way down. This crack doesn't let alot of pressure in as it is midway down the cylinder wall, but will spray coolant into the engine when the piston goes past the crack. This was all to common back in the late 90's, and was why I mentioned it early on.
 
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