Using diesel to flush coolant from engine

[michalowsky]

Hey guys, coolant has leaked into the engine and I was wondering how to go about flushing it out before putting in the new oil and filter?
The head gasket shite itself and have now been changed and retorqued (110 nm in three increasing tensions following workshop manual specs)

The rocker covers are still off and thought I would ask opinions before chucking the poor old girl back together.

$450 Nh Paj
$185 filters oil plugs leads coolant
$20 nuts n bolts from wreckers
$215 recon injectors
$100 gaskets Assorted
$135 Idle air sensor
$100 head gaskets
$75 oil and filter 2nd time round hooray

$1280 Nh Paj

[Pauly Faulkner]

Did you add 90degree after the 110nm? If not then you'll have to retorque at next oil change.

Don't put diesel in, just replace filter and oil and just use cheap oil. Once upto temp remove oil filler cap and drain oil leaving both open for any moisture to evaporate out, also undo oil cooler lines at oil filter and let it drain out. If there was lots of water in oil then repeat again but go for a quick drive this time.

For oil in water you need to flush the cooling system right out with the hose and then use rad flush (alkalyne salt variety), I just use kenco degreaser from bunnings as it's the same thing but costs $9 for 4ltrs. This can take numerous flushes to get it all out.

[Downunder35m]

I had to fix a few water intrusions back in the day and it is quite easy if you follow the rules.
Never use any oil based stuff - so no petrol, diesel or even acetone.
Water does not mix with the stuff and gaskets can suffer badly, apart from the problem that these solvents will kill the good properties of the oil, even in small quantities.

To get the water out use a few liters of methylated spirit.
Simply fill the eninge with it and let it run out again.
Catch it and fill again.
The alcohol will bind to the water, diluting the alcohol a bit.
Water trapped as an emulsion with oil will be removed too.
There will be still some dirty oil and water elusion left after this but once the engine reaches operating temps with the fresh oil the alcohol will simply evaporate - so make sure to let the engine idle to temp and don't fully close the filler cap
The next oil change should be a bit sooner than usual, after about 500km, so usecheap oil and don't rev to high in the meantime.
After that all should be back to normal.

Problem with water and engine oil is that the oil is designed to emulgate small quantities of water, which usual come from condensation.
These tiny amounts do boil off with time, but after a failure and a lot of water in the engine your oil won't be able to get rid of all the water.

[Pauly Faulkner]

Metho will just attack the rubbers and sealants. Avoid any kind of alcohol.

Just repeat drain and flush method with cheap oil and new filter and it will come good after second flush.
Had cracked heads a few times and it doesn't take long to get water and moisture out.

[schnitzel]

dont see replacement head bolts in your list, the diesels use torque to yield bolts which are not reusable. biggest cause of failure in rebuilt mitsubishi diesels is reusing old bolts.

as for coolant dont worry about flushing it will boil off in the first 100k of driving, just let as much as possible drain out before refitting sump plug. As has been said, do a change after 500k and 99% of the residue if any will come out with the oil.

[Bogger]

Just for interest bang some pure glycol and oil in a jar and watch the result ?
Had all sorts of troubles years ago when I got a brainwave to run pure glycol in a cooling system ................. it can solidify to the point it blocks oil galleries plus it also hates metal heads gaskets as it creaps thru them

[pajeroman3lt]

[QUOTE=schnitzel;359539]dont see replacement head bolts in your list, the diesels use torque to yield bolts which are not reusable. biggest cause of failure in rebuilt mitsubishi diesels is reusing old bolts.

V6 magna engine not diesel.

[Pauly Faulkner]

Yeah glycol is a lot thinner then water Bogger. Can be water tight but still able to leak pure glycol.

He has the 3ltr Schnitzel, the title I think meant "using diesel to flush out water in the oil system"....that's how I read it anyways. Being he said 110nm torque on head bolts as per the manual he's not talking about a diesel engine.

Do not just fill it with oil and drive it, the water still present in the system takes time to boil out and it will emulsify the oil and you'll cause enormous wear on sheer load components.
Do a flush with fresh oil before you drive it.

[schnitzel]

All good, I read diesel and gasket ( not gaskets which is further down the list) .didn't realize it was petrol which is as stated whole different scenario

[Pauly Faulkner]

Diesel oil with all it's detergents would do a better job of cleaning it up I imagine?

[schnitzel]

It would, problem is nowadays most diesel oils aren't suitable for cars with catalytic converters so can be a minefield, better off using something like gtx 20 w 50, cheap but reasonable quality with a detergent included to help cleaning.