Just bulletproofed my 05 F350 6.0, did a coolant flush before starting. I drained all the water in the system after flush using the plug on rad(no coolant, only water in the system due to flush), I left it out while I did my bulletproofing. Before completing the work we had a cold snap, weather below freezing for a few days. I didn't worry about it as I had drained the coolant. After reassembling truck, as I was trying to put water in truck to do checkout run, water was pouring out of rear of block as fast as I was putting it in. Casting/freeze plug had popped out! Had to pull cab again and reinstall it. Seemed odd that it had fell out, but as I had drained the rad, just figured it was my bad luck and nothing more. Reassembled truck and started it, ran great! Let it idle a few min to get temps up and to check for any leaks. Temp suddenly went up, I looked at coolant level and it was low, I figured system had burped some air and I added some water. Temp continued to rise with smoke starting to come out tailpipe. Looked like water.... Tried to rev motor, it wouldn't rev properly. Temps were headed past 210 so I shut it down. Looking things over decided to check oil.... It was full of water, looked like a couple gallons as it was grey and the level was higher than it was supposed to be. Was there water in the block even with the rad drained? Could it have cracked the block in such a way that all that water was in the oil and the remaining water had no oil in it? How do I verify that the block is cracked before spending a boatload of money for a new short block? What else could it be if not a cracked block? Either way, will the water in the oil damage other components? What should I do about it?
Was there water in the block even with the rad drained?
Yes, water will remain in the block unless you pull the drain plugs at the back of the block. There's about 2-3 gallons typically left in the system after draining the rad.
Could it have cracked the block in such a way that all that water was in the oil and the remaining water had no oil in it?
Yes, it could have....in a couple different places. For example, if the block cracked up around the cylinders where there's no standing oil, you would see it leak that one-way.
How do I verify that the block is cracked before spending a boatload of money for a new short block?
Pressurize the system and look/listen for leaks. You could also do a compression test on the cylinders as well.
What else could it be if not a cracked block?
At this point with all the factors you listed, not much, especially with the large volume of water in the oil.
Either way, will the water in the oil damage other components? What should I do about it?
Yes it will...it'll cause flash rusting if it's let to sit for long enough on parts like injector spools/LPOP/HPOP etc.....things that were never intended for water. Don't fill it back full of water, but do fill it back full of oil and run it for awhile, basically flushing the water back out of the oil system.
Only thing I will add to Nighthawk is even after draining the radiator (3.5 gallons) and draining both block plugs (2-3 gallons), I will can remove the large radiator hose at the bottom of the radiator, and seems like an additional gallon will come out of there.
I also think the coolant in the heater core does not drain unless you pull the hoses.
My point is, aside from the radiator drain and two drain plugs, and pulling the large radiator hose, coolant is left in the system after a complete drain. There's a little less than seven gallons (27.5 quarts) total coolant, of which 11.1 quarts is supposed to sit in the engine. I don't know where the extra sits that's missing when we drain the system. I do all this math that says I've drained it enough to be 1% or less of the original left, but the coolant looks like there's more of the original.
Man, just gotta love the "hidden behind the starter" drain plugs..... I will pressurize the coolant system tomorrow see if I can tell anything and dump the watery oil and try to get it to start..... Man, that's a pretty expensive drain plug... [emoji15] Thanks for the answers guys!
... did a coolant flush before starting. I drained all the water in the system after flush using the plug on rad (no coolant, only water in the system due to flush), ... Before completing the work we had a cold snap, weather below freezing for a few days. ... Casting/freeze plug had popped out! ...decided to check oil.... It was full of water, looked like a couple gallons as it was grey and the level was higher than it was supposed to be. Was there water in the block even with the rad drained?
Changed oil, drained rad and started it up. Now she's smoking (oil smoke) like a freight train.... I was hoping it would clear up, but it seemed to get worse the longer it ran. Guess I screwed up some other stuff too. Yay me!
RIP engine block. Remember when water freezes it expands. When i did my coolant flush this past summer i srtarted by removing the plug at the rad that got what i thought was a lot, followed then by both block plugs, wow even more. Then the lower rad hose and about 3/4 -1 more gallon came out. So you didn't have the block drained all the way and cracked the block. I'm so sorry bro.
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