I've got a 1997 12 valve Dodge Cummins 2500 4X4. Recently, I've come up with some oil in my coolant. The oil appears heaviest when the truck is allowed to sit overnight, if the engine is running, you can't see it. The majority of it appears in the over flow bucket.
There is no coolant in the oil, the truck is not over heating, and it starts and sounds normal.
With the engine running, there does not appear to be any unusual pressure in the radiator, just normal movement of the coolant by the water pump.
I took the truck down and had the cooling system flushed and within a few days the oil was back, my first thought was: blown headgasket, however, I hesitate to get into that if it is a bad oil cooler. I do not think there is an oil cooler in the radiator, but, I could be wrong, can anyone confirm? Unless I am mistaken, my oil cooler is on the passenger side of the engine block.
Anyone know how to test that oil cooler? If it was bad, would it be leaking any coolant/oil at the cooler itself? Same question for the head gasket, would it be leaking any coolant/oil on the head?
The truck has an automatic transmission, I can't recall seeing any transmission lines going to the radiator, do these trucks have an external transmission cooler or is the cooler in the radiator?
Anything helps guys, this is my first dodge diesel, I've had an old Chevy diesel and an old ford diesel but no dodges until now. For the record the Chevrolet was junk, never again...LOL. As for the Ford, well, having been through two crashes, a hail storm and several farm hands, it was the ugliest truck in three counties but when nothing else on the farm would run, you could hop in that old power stroke and go to town.
So far the dodge has impressed me the most, the only thing that this dodge is scared of is running out of diesel, LOL.

 

You're right on the oil cooler. On the passenger side of the block behind the oil filter.

I betting on head gasket. Oil coolers normally aren't the culprit.

As for the auto cooler... I'm not for sure.

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How many miles are on the ole girl?

Any mods to the engine?

 

The oil cooler is part of the oil filter housing.I'm also thinking the head gasket is blown.As for the tranny,it has an externaly mounted cooler.It should be located in front of the radiator.

 

She's still stock, no major mod's anyway. She has 221,000 miles behind her and still runs/drives strong. This oil in the water is only the second major mechanical in all those miles, the other was the transmission. That's not bad really, she's averaging a major mechanical failure every 110,000 miles. I can think of some newer trucks that can't make that claim!

 

Well, the cummins motor is unbelivalvly tuff and can take a woopen, also the dodge pick ups in my opinion are the most reliable and tuffest trucks out there. Get that head gasket fixed and the bottom end of that motors good for a million miles if you take good care of it and don't mod it. Good luck and glad to see your up beat attitude about the issue. Gives us an update on the truck when you get it fixed

 

its definatly a blown headgasket for sure, same thing happened to me back in november, cause was from my pacbrake exhaust break and 260,000 miles with 45psi of boost

 

It was without a doubt the head gasket. Water got into the number 4 cylinder, burned the cylinder, scored the cylinder walls and burned the valve. I'm thinking about dragging the whole thing across scales and taking what I can get for the metal.
Anyone got a line on a 97 5.9 liter head or maybe a good used engine?

 

i replied to your other thread, i got a good o-ringed head laying in my shop, just needs valves and springs

 

yeahhh... don't put the girl to an untimely death 1 cylinder out of 6 isnt bad i know you siad it's your first dodge and so far your impressed with it... put a little work into it and see how impressed you are with it. the head and valve isn't a big deal; it's the repair to the cylinder. the only flaw to the cummins is it being a parent bore and you can't just drop another sleeve or piston pack in... good luck with the repair i'm sure you can get more out of the block selling it to one of the members than for it's weight in cash... its only $3 per 100 for loose steel around here

 

nope just bore it out and add new pistons, shouldnt cost more than $200 for machine work