DallasDodge2500

I seem to have a knack for bringing big issues upon myself and this one is a doozie!

Last week, it got into the low 20's in Dallas and I usually don't use anti freeze due to a radiator leak that has me adding water daily. Well the coolant system froze up and then I drove the truck without knowing it had frozen. I didn't go far but, the temp was running warm but, not over heating.

I noticed a green foam slop coming out of the hose that connects to the crankcase hose bottle (Puke bottle?).

One of the block plugs on the side had popped out and I found a leak on one of the metal coolant lines. I fixed those two things and filled it w water and drove it a few blocks and back. It ran ok but, water was going everywhere!
I took the hose off the crankcase and started it for a few seconds and it shot the green foam slop EVERYWHERE!

Nothing was leaking around the water pump and I replaced it less than a year ago.
The two places I could see water coming out (with the oil mixed with it) hink are coming from the drivers side. Gasket leak? One leak seems to be coming from the seal on the same side where the temp warning thing is (round thing that screws in and relays to the computer the temp - see pic).

And.... I think its possible (but hoping a bad seal or gasket could be the reason) that there is a crack inside of the engine.
I checked the oil dipstick and its coated with the green slop. So, the water is leaking into a part of the engine where oil is and the two are getting mixed together and creating the green foam slop.

So... My question is..... How screwed am I? lol

Is this something that is going to need the engine to be replaced to have it running again?
Head gasket possibly?
I took the valve cover off to show what it looks like with the foam oil slop.
The last pic in the center and to the left is where one of the leaks is coming from.

patdaly

You really don't want to hear this, but you are pretty well hosed.

That is classic milkshake from coolant mixing with engine oil inside your crankcase. There is a VERY remote possibility that all you did was pop a gasket or the oil cooler, but the significant probability is that you have cracked castings.

The only way to be sure is to pull it out, pull it down and magnaflux everything......... It might be easier and cheaper to source another engine and replace it.

The milkshake isn't doing your engine any good, so you don't want to run it, and the quicker you can get it out and cleaned up, the better off you will be.

patdaly

On your last picture, right under the ECM, it sure looks like it is cracked........

SIXSLUG

Head gaskets don't usually freeze....

That just does not look good, to have that much mixing of oil and antifreeze is probably going to be pretty major.

HOHN

That's most likely a water jacket crack.

It is easily repaired.

Just swap in a new long block.

DallasDodge2500

Hohn.... I plead Ignorant! lol
I don't know what a water jacket is or what a long block is?
I have one of those Haynes manuals. I'll see if I can find anything there.

I should add this:
One of the reasons it is such a mess is mainly because, the puke bottle was where it first was leaking. I shut the truck off while I looked for leaks and patched them. I took the bottle and hose off and started it up for about 10-15 seconds. I had the hood down so when I opened it back up.... There was the big mess. Not sure if that explains why it was that messy or not.

I appreciate the advice.... Regardless of whether or not it is good news

DallasDodge2500

I did some google searching after your comments and I came up with this.....

http://www.cumminsdieselspecs.com/cummins-53-block.html

This is a pic of one of the freeze plugs that popped out and I put it back in with JB Weld. Its a mess because i was harder than hell getting to it.c
Not sure what is in front of it.... Where I think a major leak/crack is located.

SIXSLUG

53 block?

DallasDodge2500

(shrugging shoulders)

I don't know. Apparently they (cummins) get pretty specific with variations of that engine. I still need to go look to see if I can find out if there is a "53" anywhere on mine?

Tallguy67

A Series 53 doesn't USUALLY cause that, usually they leak coolant to the outside and usually they crack under the transmission heat exchanger. I would strongly suggest this engine is a victim of having frozen and there is now a crack between the water jacket and the crankcase (I am no technical wizard - but that seems like the most likely scenario)

Dr.Dizzle

I believe this is a case where you continually added water to cooling system to the point that the system froze up. A block can crack if the coolant (antifreeze and water mixture) freezes. An engine block has many coolant passageways and if the cooling system does not have the correct antifreeze to water mixture, then the coolant is more susceptible to freezing. Coolant that freezes expands. If the force from the frozen coolant inside the engine is great enough, then the block could crack. I believe you will be best served by replacing that engine with a long block.

gorms

Need to pressure test the cooling system to find out where the water is going, but yes if this happened after a cold snap there's a good chance the block is cracked somewhere. I guess you could get lucky and it's in the head somewhere (never seen that) but it needs to be torn down to see.

PS long block refers to replacemen engine with head/crank/pistons etc.

lovinCTD59

Do not run that engine! I have never seen a 53 block cause that. It needs to be torn down and checked out. That's a lot of oil/water coming from the crank case breather. Along with the interior water leak, your getting A LOT of blow by if its pushing that slime out that hard. could be a number of things, none of them any good. I'd start looking for a used or reman engine..

DallasDodge2500

Based on the replies to this problem, it is pretty clear to me that it is considerably over my head and the cost to change engines doesn't make sense to me.
I might be better off selling it to a parts dealer or keeping it and selling it for parts.
Either way... I don't see it running again... Unfortunately.
My own fault it happened.

Thanks for weighing in.

SIXSLUG

You may want to contact member Redlinear, he deals in wrecked Cummins trucks and may have a connection or two,,,,