thick milky residue in coolant reservoir possible Causes?

NRHX2009 · Jan 1, 2013

A friends 6.4 with 86k has a thick residue in the coolant reservoir. Its consistency is like pancake batter. Color, thickness and texture. I drained the rad and reservoir into a tub and the stuff stuck to the side of tub. Oil contamination? I will post up a pic soon.

Wemoy1 · Jan 1, 2013

Oil possibly mostly when oil is in the coolant system it will black most of the time, ive never worked on a truck that had that color in it.

Snake · Jan 1, 2013

Sounds like oil.

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 1, 2013

Oil cooler has packed its **** and left town.

Dzchey21 · Jan 1, 2013

I agree most likely oil cooler

TyCorr · Jan 1, 2013

How often do you cr guys have to rehab your oil coolers?

Mine is getting its.third rebuild at 265k.

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 1, 2013

That seems a little excessive.. Why are they being replaced, plugging or leaking?

Dzchey21 · Jan 1, 2013

Just depends on quality of the coolant more than anything.

Seams like they are about a 100k cooler tho...

Dzchey21 · Jan 1, 2013

Big Angry Hillbilly said:
That seems a little excessive.. Why are they being replaced, plugging or leaking?

All of the above...usually clogged but some leaking

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 1, 2013

Buck twenty miles on mine still lookin good.

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 1, 2013

Dzchey21 said:
All of the above...usually clogged but some leaking

I meant the guy that's on his third one lol

Dzchey21 · Jan 1, 2013

Im still answering that from experience

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 1, 2013

I'm gonna chalk the plugging up to the coolant. Ever see the oil cooler on a maxxforce 11? Same ****. Different antifreeze. Never see them plugged and we have tons of em at work.

NRHX2009 · Jan 1, 2013

Here is a pic of what was left after dumping coolant out.

Farmrod · Jan 1, 2013

Yep that's oil contamination

NRHX2009 · Jan 1, 2013

thats what i figured just wasnt really sure where the possible "leaky spots" could be.

TyCorr · Jan 2, 2013

Big Angry Hillbilly said:
I meant the guy that's on his third one lol

My trucks 13 years old, lol. If I.wasnt maintenance whore it'd be more problematic. Its a totally different truck, I read a lot of.threads outside the 7.3 tech and I was curious if oil coolers are any better in newer trucks. Problem with the setup on mine is the orings get old and brittle and the cooler will get leaky or if not that you'll find milky sludge in the coolant. I did my water pump and coolant and found said crap so I ordered the rebuild "kit".

Big Angry Hillbilly · Jan 2, 2013

Figured in the 6.4 section you'd be talking about a 6.4

TyCorr · Jan 2, 2013

Big Angry Hillbilly said:
Figured in the 6.4 section you'd be talking about a 6.4

Nah, we have to rebuild alot. Wondering if you guys had the same issues? Apparently, so. Given the information in this thread that oil cooler failed, at a fairly low mileage. Id like to see the coolant that was in that truck.