Engine Sludge and Coolant Loss
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Engine Sludge and Coolant Loss - 3/23/2007 11:26:53 PM
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PawNtheSandman
Posts: 49
Joined: 4/20/2005
Status: offline
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1998 V6 4.3 Vortec just hit 80k mi.
Did an oil change, transmission flush/change and differential oil change.
Over the last 2 years I've noticed that I go through 1-2 gallons of coolant a winter, yet I can't every find any leaks in the hoses, radiator or anything else. Tried replacing the rad cap thinking that was the problem, no improvement.
Changing the oil, it had horrible sludge, and it was only about 2000mi since my last oil change (but it was more than 6 months ago).
Any general ideas on what is causing the sludge? Is it possible my coolant is getting mixed with the oil or is this 2 seperate unrelated problems?
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RE: Engine Sludge and Coolant Loss - 3/24/2007 2:50:18 PM
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pilgrim
Posts: 192
Joined: 1/5/2006
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My bet is that you have a bad intake manifold gasket and it's leaking coolant. This is a typical failure on the Vortec V6 and I wrote a fixit procedure that's in the DIY section.
If you walk past the front end and smell antifreeze, then it's probably leaking outside the motor. That's good, as you can ignore it for a while.
Pull the dipstick immediately after you've run it and see if your oil looks grey or frothy. If so, it's leaking into the motor and contaminating the oil, that requires an immediate gasket replacement.
I'm not sure about the reason for the sludge, but it makes me suspicious of an internal leak. OTOH, I don't think antifreeze would cause oil sludge. I'd reocmmend using an engine cleaner and changing oil 2-3 times at 500-10000 mile intervals to clean things up.
If you can't find the leak, go to a radiator ship and have them use a pump to pressurize the system - that often forces the leak to appear, or to become audible through bubbling noise.
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RE: Engine Sludge and Coolant Loss - 3/25/2007 12:51:37 PM
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EuroGoldLS
Posts: 3121
Joined: 2/9/2007
From: Princeton, NC, USA
Status: offline
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I have had that problem too, but its not just on the V6 that its common. The gasket was made of the same material from 1996 to 2004. Replace the gasket with a cutout gasket, it'll never fail again.
The sludge problem is probably from the coolant mixing with the oil. That's from the rule of not mixing orange coolant with green coolant, green coolant has petroleum oil and orange has mineral oil and when they come in contact with each other they make a very acidic jelly that will cause interior of radiator to rust.
As for the sludge, I suggest adding ZMax or Marvel Mystery oil.
If your problem isn't the gasket, drain the system, get a smoke machine and seal the tip of the hose inside the reservoir in a few minutes youll see if there is a leak. Doing it yourself always saves money.
< Message edited by EuroGoldLS -- 3/25/2007 12:57:11 PM >
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