Fordracer Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I have a 2003 Excursion with 190,000 miles on it that I did head gaskets on 5 years ago. Right after I did the head gaskets he said there was oil on top of the coolant in the degas bottle. I thought that was strange since I did the flushes with VC-9 there shouldn't of been any oil in it. I told him to suck the oil out of it and see what happens. He's never mentioned since and I have worked on it a few times since then and forgot all about it. Now I have it to replace the rear A/C lines and I noticed the upper radiator hose was swollen and soft. I looked in the degas bottle and saw the all to familiar gray slime. I drained the coolant expecting it to be all slime but it was straight coolant except the last little bit so only the degas bottle had slime in it. He said since I did the head gaskets he skimmed the oil off a few times and it was never more than a couple inches in the degas bottle and then it would come back. He hasn't skimmed it in a long time and it's still only a couple inches slime in the bottle. He didn't want the oil cooler replaced when I did the head gaskets so it still has the original oil cooler in it. I was wondering if the VC-9 might of cleaned a crack in the oil cooler but if so why doesn't it keep filling the cooling system with oil after it gets two inches of oil in the degas bottle? Has anybody heard of something like this or what it might be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_twig_187 Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 you had the turbo out, everything removed, intake manifold off, cylinder heads off and he DID NOT want to do the oil cooler... hahahahahah pay now or pay later 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Yeah, I found that odd too, that he would opt to do the head gaskets (which by itself is already an expensive repair) but NOT the oil cooler? Something doesn't right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 There has always been a sore spot concerning VC-9 flushes and oil coolers. Most oil cooler failures make it impossible to flush the system before replacing the cooler, so when the chemical starts to break down the build up in the system it will inevitably end up in the oil cooler. If the cooler is new or not being replaced you have just accelerated the failure of that cooler. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about that. Most customers will understand this and replace the cooler anyways. Your customer learned the hard way. Nothing you can do and it's not your fault if he declined the replacement of the cooler. FWIW we also have a look at the HPOP STC fitting while we are into big jobs too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordracer Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Since this one is a 2003 and it had over 100,000 miles on it when I did the head gaskets I recommended the HPP, oil cooler and injectors but the cost was adding up to much for him. A couple years later I put injectors in it. Believe it on not it still has the original HPP in it. People don't understand how much money they will save in the long run to do everything at once. Now he just wants me to replace the radiator hoses and flush it. He can't see how the oil cooler wouldn't keep filling the cooling system with oil after the degas bottle gets a couple inches of oil in it and quite frankly I can't either but it has to be the oil cooler causing it. He thinks it lasted 5 years this way so it should be good for another 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmorris Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Flushing it would make it worse I would think. Although, it could be a good lesson for the guy, if you think he won't come un-glued when it happens. "Oops, did I do that, damn, never saw that coming." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fordracer Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 He shouldn't come unglued since he's not doing what I recommend. I'm only going to flush it with Simple Green and not do a VC-9 flush afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.