Veggie in Coolant?

[GOON924]

As I was changing the (engine) oil in the F250 today and noticed there was (veg) grease in the coolant tank...a small layer floating at the top, maybe an 1/8th inch or so.

Anyone else ever see this?
Where could the contamination be coming from?

I have the standard 51 gallon tank and just finished off my first completely full tank (about 750 miles).

[Marv]

If the tank has the built in heat exchanger, I'd look there first. If I'm not mistaken, there was a batch of tanks that had issues with that.

I checked mine for leaks before I filled it with vegi. If you look in my install thread, there are details about how I went about it.

Good luck!

[Marv]

Here's the link to my install thread.

http://www.dinofuelalternatives.com/...hread.php?t=73

Thanks!

[lancaster,pa]

Goon,
Marv's idea on checking the tank sounds like a good one. Was just wondering if you are positive that the oil in the coolant is veg (reason I say that is because I have had a thin layer of motor oil in my coolant since I began running veg and I never had that problem in the previous three years of running only diesel). I would suggest sucking a small sample out of the expansion tank and putting in a glass jar. Take another jar and put a little antifreeze solution in it and add a little veg. Compare the two samples by sight and smell.

I'm still not sure where the motor oil came from in my coolant, but I took the expansion tank off and flushed it thoroughly. Been running for about two weeks since flushing with no signs of oil in coolant. - Patrick

[GOON924]

Thnaks for advice!

Marv/Patrick, thanks for the advice. I will double check to make sure it's veg. But, like you said Patrick, this was never an issue before the install. Some phenomenon with new V3 install? If it does turn out to be veg, I'll do as you recommend, Marv.

[Jack_Toepfer]

I'm going to check this when I get home. I really hope there isn't any oil in my coolant.. be it motor oil or veggie.

[Clay]

You would be gettting coolant in your vegi too if the HE in the tank was leaking- whick would be far worse than oil in the coolant i think.

[Jack_Toepfer]

You would be gettting coolant in your vegi too if the HE in the tank was leaking- whick would be far worse than oil in the coolant i think.

At that point... not much could be worse.

[Marv]

At that point... not much could be worse.

Yeah, that would be bad...never good to be burning antifreeze.

[Clay]

At that point... not much could be worse.

The Donaldson filter would catch it but you would trash filters quickly.

[GOON924]

The Donaldson filter would catch it but you would trash filters quickly.

Really? How much water you think it could really block?

[skyskijason]

The Donaldson filter would catch it but you would trash filters quickly.

Not true. The 'water seperating' filters DO NOT stop emulsified water in VO from passing thru. It will dramatically reduce filter life, but in no way will it prevent you from 'burning' the coolant.

Either way, this is an extremely serious problem that should be addressed before you operate your truck again, IMHO anyway.

After you find the source of the leak, the fun begins trying to erradicate the VO from the coolant system. Begin by slurping the oil of the top of the degas bottle, then a series of rinses w/water, maybe adding a dash of purple power to one of the last rinses. Likely you'll still not get it all, but a 'lil bit of VO in the coolant won't really hurt much - unlike the other way around.

Good luck and please let us know how it turns out.

[Vegistroke James]

As I was changing the (engine) oil in the F250 today and noticed there was (veg) grease in the coolant tank...a small layer floating at the top, maybe an 1/8th inch or so.

Anyone else ever see this?
Where could the contamination be coming from?

I have the standard 51 gallon tank and just finished off my first completely full tank (about 750 miles).

Just a quick question........ Do you have (HIH) from us?

[GOON924]

Just a quick question........ Do you have (HIH) from us?

Nope...just standard V3 package with 51 gallon tank

[Clay]

Not true. The 'water seperating' filters DO NOT stop emulsified water in VO from passing thru. It will dramatically reduce filter life, but in no way will it prevent you from 'burning' the coolant.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that, i have seen plenty of wet oil put through a donaldson and no apperant injector issure occured. This was not on my truck but a friends and he used to pump oil straight from a dumpster into his tank in winter time (minus 20 degrees) so you can bet it was wet oil.
He would get 800 - 1000 miles and have to change the donaldson. He did this several times with no water related issues.
If i recall correctly, Jason Crawford has done this as well and i believe his stance is also that these filters catch the water and hold it. Maybe he will chime in on this.