Test before you replace.. Always good to know for sure..

Knowing if there is oil in the water/water in the oil may have been something the first guy could or should have spotted since he first did the safety check for you. It crossed my mind, and the reason I asked about oil pollution question..

Water in the oil pollutes/dilutes not only the bottom end oil, but the crank mounted oil pump feeds oil on up to the high pressure pump (HPOP) to supply the hydraulic 'push' or injection oil pressure for the fuel injectors to work. Milky or aerated oil could greatly affect the needed 500lbs (minimum) to get the engine to start, and, may have been the reason the guy had to empty a can of explosives into the intake to get it to run.

The oil cooler does need to come of to be air tested. If the crank case emptied into the cooling system, it should have been easily seen in the reservoir prior to missing on the stick. Being the engine didn't stall, probably not completely empty, but hope it wasn't run to that point of any further/future damage, more so with a large volumes of water in the oil.. The cooling system and engine will need to be 'completely' flushed out. ..Completely..

If the cooler proves to be bad, then given the needed flushing, if it then runs ok, no white smoke, then you may have dodged a bullet. If the cooler test ok, time to roll up your sleeves..

 

Well he's pulling the cooler tomorrow....he said he,ll test...crossing my fingers...do I need to do both cooler and egr valve...is the oil cooler and the egr cooler the same thing

 

No EGR, or EGR cooler on the 7.3..

EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation, and is part of the emission system. Wasn't used until 2003 on the 6.0 diesel..

Sounds like the cooler leaked, but be sure everything is flushed clean. Water left in the oil can destroy the injectors, as well as a lot of the engine hard parts. Any oil left in the cooling system will soften/swell and anything made of rubber, hoses etc.

Keep us posted...

 

Thanks again for the correspondence ...I'll let you know what happens

 

Had to change the radiator ad well....any idea what I might be looking at $$ wise....certainly cheaper than the head....I'm just not that knowledgeable on these things....sounds like he's thinking 1700 - 1800..... Seemed high...but what do I know

 

Let me add my 2 cents here: I'd bet the oil cooler is fine, and the large amount of ether probably blew an injector cup out of the head, or at least loosened it up. I've seen this quite a few times.
The 7.3L would usually start and run fine with just the block heater; the old "starter relay" looking glow plug relay was always troublesome (I replace them just about every winter to avoid problems).
One other thing to mention is that 1) the mechanic who used all this ether is really lucky the entire block didn't blow apart and kill him; and 2) ether tends to 'mushroom' the glow plug ends, making them really hard to remove.

 

Certainly could be a bad cup/s, and should be polluting the coolant with fuel if so, but it was running fine until it emptied the pan. If it would bleed oil, it should have spilled the reservoir with fuel :/