Headgasket or oil cooler gasket? or neither?

[BoostedOne]

Ok.. My truck has 230K on it. I don't know the maintanence history of it.. Its a 1997.

Ok, the truck seems to run fine. Still has good power, doesn't have any bizzare roughness or anything. But, at idle speed(around 500RPM) it does have this "pss psss pss pss pss" sound that sounds like an exhaust leak from the manifold(which it could be Im guessing). Its done that since I got it.

But last week a friend of mine was noticing that there was coolant on the ground after it sat for a little while, by the passenger tire. I noticed it for a few days and said its just drippings from the A/C, but his keen eye noticed "Hey, its green"... so much for being a/c drippings. Well I didnt drive it all week anyhow due to a busted drag link, but got it running again Saturday morning. On Sunday afternoon while I was towing a trailer another friend asked about the same thing, so we popped the hood and noticed that the overflow bottle was almost filled, and when I took the cap off noticed it had oil or some other petroleum based fluid in the water. We were about 5 miles from my shop, and dropping the trailer wasnt an option. But when I got back to the shop I took the cap off, and coolant actually came out of the overflow. Not under pressure, but just seemed like it was overfilled and needed a place to go. And it had the petroleum clumpage in it. It was tan if that tells anything. if I start the engine it doesnt seem to pressurize the cooling system with any violent amount.

The truck is low on oil, but it leaks like a seive from somewhere, not sure where yet. So I dont know how much if any oil is going from the crankcase to the oil system because of the oil leak. Its leaked oil since i got it in may.

So how do I diagnose between these oil cooler gaskets and a headgasket? Due to the noise and being a deisel, I wouldnt be suprised if thats what it was, but I also wouldnt be suprised if the noise is just an exhaust leak. And is there a way for diesel to leak into the cooling system? The water drippings smell alot like diesel.

[BoostedOne]

[blowinsmoke4life]

i cant exactly help u but i jus tore my oil cooler out of my 89 and i noticed before i was loosin oil and oil would form a puddle within minutes of shuttin off and sometimes i noticed coolant in the oil puddle and it was the cause of old brittle o rings on mine but thats a 89 so hope that helps out some wat

[Mikes7.3]

Sounds like a HG to me, if you have water coming out your coolant reservoir. That's how I new when mine went. Put some pressure in at your coolant reservoir and see if it drops and if you can see where it's coming from about 16lbs. is all you need.

[BoostedOne]

Well, I think the coolant was actually leaking out of the bottle itself, seeps out from under the cap I think..

Is there any way for diesel to get into the coolant?

[Mikes7.3]

Originally Posted by BoostedOne

Well, I think the coolant was actually leaking out of the bottle itself, seeps out from under the cap I think..

Is there any way for diesel to get into the coolant?

Sometimes when you have a blown HG the cylinder pressure gets in the water jackets and forces water out the top of your coolant res cap.

[dieseldan2005]

Originally Posted by BoostedOne

Well, I think the coolant was actually leaking out of the bottle itself, seeps out from under the cap I think..

Is there any way for diesel to get into the coolant?

Yes, i believe injector cups can leak causing fuel to dump into the coolant. It sounds like an oil cooler to me though. 7.3's aren't known for h.g's going out like a 6.0. If you say you have low oil, drips smell like oil/fuel, and your pushing coolant out the overflow then to me it sounds like oil cooler. At least you don't have coolant in the oil.

[BoostedOne]

Well, I guess i could change the cooler gaskets and see what happens. When the cooler gaskets go, what normally happens though? I read a little on them and assumed it would leak coolant or oil out on the drivers side? Mine is leaking all the coolant out of the passenger side(now known to be coming from the bottle though) and the oil is dripping from everywhere on the pan at this point.

[SuperDirty]

Ya what you said, just changed the oil in my truck and noticed the coolant tank was over full, and definatly diesel smelling. I hope this isn't to serious or expensive as were having a baby this week.

[BoostedOne]

Good luck. Havent replied since because I been busy with a bunch of things.. But it wasnt cooler gaskets. I replaced the cooler gaskets and didnt make it a 8 miles from the shop and it was litterally pissing coolant all over the ground. Figured at this point, either headgaskets or injector cups.

Now stuff is getting expensive. I read that you can replace like 6 cups with the heads on, meaning that you still cant do a complete job with the heads in the truck, which would piss me off to spend all that time on it only to lose another 20 dollars in coolant. So I decided to pull the heads and take them in. So whether its headgaskets or cups, it doesnt matter, its getting both.

Its actually a good thing I did. First, the injectors were shot. I sent them to Ryan at Full Force for rebuild and Stg 1 upgrade and he called me back to ask just how bad the truck ran, if it ran at all. Apparantly one was seized up and not even firing, and 5 more have the barrels and plungers so scored that they would stick in operation. Remanning my current injectors would cost so much in machine work I am getting new ones.. Boom, 1700$.....

Next on the list, the engine has been leaking oil like a sieve since I got it... Looks like a rear main... So instead of pulling the heads in the truck i just yanked the whole engine, tranny, and transfer case at the same time. Plus my 2nd gear grinds and I need to put my donor trans in. So while its apart, the dual mass flywheel is going to the scrap yard. Boom.. Another $600 or so..

Got the heads back from the machine shop. Again, its actually a good thing I had them done. Heads themselves were actually in good shape. Didnt require any guides. But it did require 8 new intake valves. These things were SHOT. I asked the guy if they are problematic and he said about 60% of the powerstroke heads they do require new intake valves. They were a perfect mirror image of the valve seat at the interface point. 8 new intake valves, complete teardown and cleaning, mill surfacing, magnaflux, and new injector cups came out to $780 with tax.

I got the headgaskets from Napa($220ish), I just need to get all the miscellanious o-rings now.

Supposedly though its going to feel like a totally different truck when I get it back together.. It sure as hell better, I could have bought a totally different truck