oil jelled up

01excursion on stars · #1 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 03:44 PM

took it to ford and they are saying we never changed the oil. The truck has 58000 miles on it. I heard that it could be cuz water got into the motor. they did have to change the radiator 2 times cuz the re call and the one they put in was broken.
any ideas lmk
thanks

ZeroOne · #2 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 04:58 PM

Is this on a 6.4L? What type of oil and change interval were you doing?

01excursion on stars · #3 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 05:34 PM

yes its a 6.4 and we used rotila synthetic every 6000miles

ZeroOne · #4 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 05:50 PM

A while ago, there were a couple of threads (and a big debate) about amsoil and extended drain intervals. A couple of guys running it had their oil gum up, and I think it trashed some pushrods or something, and caused a cascade of valvetrain damage. Ford even denied warranty coverage saying the oil was not approved.

Amsoil (and rotella syn) may be great oils, but something is obviously causing them to gum up in a few rare situations. The idea of fuel in the oil (from the dpf regeneration cycle) was thought to be the cause. Extended drain intervals were also in question, but you're changing every 6k which seems fine.

You mention that water can be the cause of oil gumming up? I was not aware of that fact, but if true, and coolant made it into your oil, it seems like that could be a likely cause.

You mention that you've had 2 radiators replaced. How quickly was that issue caught each time? Did the coolant level ever drop? If so, check out the image below about cavitation and the mixing of oil and coolant. Going out on a limb here, but it may be related to your issue, and we may have another thing to watch, for those with failed radiators.

Credit to "BushPilot" on TDG.

ZeroOne · #5 (**permalink**) 10-07-2009, 06:27 PM

Wow... so after the hot debate a LONG time ago on amsoil and the gelling up issue.... months down the line, the truth finally starts to come out. Coolant contamination.

Check out this thread:

6.4 F450 oil sludge - Topic Powered by Eve Community

Quote:

I recently had failure on a truck I serviced, F450 2008, high speed turbo failed, exploded and turbo drain seal burnt off.
Ford dealer refuses to honor warranty due to the discovery of oil sludge in engine.
I had to go to the dealer and pull a UOA and wait for the results.
The dealer says oil sludge from lack of oil changes.
UOA results came in with a 450ppm sodium and flagged for coolant contamination.
Ford dealer says that is not the cause of sludge.
They say the use of non CJ-4 oil caused the sludge.
I see the game here but fact is the oil condition is still good with 10.4 visc@100
and a 5.86 TBN reading, just no good due to coolant contamination.
why do I have to school the experts at Ford?

If this really IS from the front cover failures (which seem about as rare as the oil sludge problem itself), I think it may be time for the mother of all stickies on this forum regarding radiator failures and the cascade of problems that can develop.

sawtooth1 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 06:15 PM

Have you checked your coolant level? Loose some in the engine and it will definitly change the viscosity of your oil. Makes it much thicker.

01excursion on stars · #7 (**permalink**) 10-22-2009, 04:46 PM

ford is looking into it and doing a bunch of tests they took samples of fuel and oil. it has been sitting down there for 3 weeks and has had the ford rep and engineer has been looking at it