General Boards > Technical Support
Contaminated Coolant
Keith Moffett:
I am still in the learning curve for Diesel. I could answere this for a gas engine.
I just replaced the surge tank on my Patriot 3126. A previous owner used a 1 gallon bottle of Rotella for the over flow. He also put extended life coolant (CAT) in 4 years ago.
All that said, why would there be a coagulated oil or grease residue in the tank. There wasnt alot of it but enough to foul the cap and the fluid.
There were none of the head gasket type indicators you would find in a gas rig like milky oil and so on. Just what looks like grease build up.
All opinions are appreciated
Thanks
Keith
Gerald Farris:
A slight amount of oil in a cooling system is not too uncommon. The machining oil used in the manufacturing process on the engine castings is sometimes not totally cleaned out before assembly of the engine and it will show up as oil in the coolant. Also sometimes a little bit gets in the cooling system when a mechanic is not careful enough when servicing the coach.
It will usually be very difficult to totally remove it from the cooling system. So if it is only a slight residue on the cap, do not worry about it, but if it gets worse, it could be a porous block or a mechanical problem that needs to be addressed.
Gerald
Keith Moffett:
Gerald
The only flush the engine has had ever was 5 yrs. and 20K mi. ago. The owner did install 500,000 mi. coolant.
The cap was coated inside with what looked like grease but may have been oil goop perhaps from inside the oil jug being used as an over flow. The used coolant from the tank had small ammounts of grease floating in it.
Here's my question and I would value your opinion.
The grease fitting on the water pump drive bearing has been lubed now twice with about 10 pumps each time. No grease is visable. Could this be over greased and the seal inside the bearing is allowing the grease to invade the coolant? Ever heard of this?
Thanks Gerald for spending time that must become a burden off and on.
Keith
Gerald Farris:
If you look closely at your engine drive belts, I think that you will see that the grease fitting that you mentioned is lubricating the fan bearing only. the water pump is located in a different position, and driven by it's own v-belt and not the serpentine belt that drives the fan. So if your coach is designed like I think, lubricating the fan can not cause grease to enter the cooling system.
The oil jug that is being used as a coolant recovery tank is you probable source.
Gerald
Richard And Babs Ames:
You can have your coolent and oil tested if you like. Usually this is done when you change your engine oil. Just about any truck shop or CAT dealer http://www.catrvclub.org/links.htm can assist.
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