So a buddy of mine has an issue with his radiator of oil built up on the front. He has an '01 24v 2500. Some background info on it, is about a month ago he had the water pump replaced due to a coolant leak. Before that he's had oil splater/spray all over the engine compartment, mainly near the front of the engine. He's had it looked at before and they've told him it's his draft tube, but he's not convinced.

There is a build up of old grease, dirt and grim on the front of the radiator and it gets hot when he tows up hills and off road. (dirt bikes and camper).

My question is, could the water pump issue he had before be the cause of the oil spray build up everywhere? I'm guessing there is an oil seal that may have failed before the pump went out and caused his oil leak, and not the draft tube as he's been told is where it's coming from.

Also what would be the best way or recommendations to clean the grease. grim and oil build up off the front of the radiator? He took it to a hot steam cleaner washer, but the wand/nozzle could only reach so far down there between the inner cooler and radiator.

Thanks, looking for any suggestions/recommendations you may have.

 

The only way to really get it clean is to pull the radiator out and then use hot washer, but be careful not to bend up all the fans from too much pressure. It's not very hard to pull out, just a few bolts and I think you have to take washer fluid bottle off. On my 02 I took off the oil catch bottle and just put on a longer hose to drop down and get it away from radiator.

 

See if this will convince him that the puke bottle can cause problems. It's doesn't take a huge amount of oily vapors to get dirt and dust to stick to the fins. Keep in mind that this picture is the FRONT of the radiator.

 

Sorry to say, but it is caused by the crankcase breather bottle. Reroute the breather with PVC towards the back of the engine and the radiator clogging problem will go away.

 

The more it clogs the more the oil will spray around the engine compartment because the airflow is disrupted through the radiator. I would tend to think that the clogged radiator would have more to do with the pump failure than the other way around. If it is always running hot that is tougher on the pump.