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Re: Oil in coolant
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Posted by jsteele [Email] (more from jsteele) on Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:46:41 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: Oil in coolant, Jeff A, Tue, 15 Mar 2005 09:51:35
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I just went through this w/ my '97 900 2.0 turbo, A/T. For me it was the head gasket. The 2.0's had problems with improper head bolt torques at the factory, so they are prone to coming loose w/ age -- don't know about the V6. One test my indy suggested was an analysis of the coolant to see if there was any CO dissolved in it - a sure sign of head gasket failure. The test would have been like $40, IIRC. I think that some cars (chime in here, anybody...) have an oil cooler that somehow passes through the coolant system -- this would be one possible means of non-headgasket failure that could produce the sludge. But my car doesn't have this "feature" so I skipped the test and went straight to the head gasket replacement. I was quoted $1200, tho others on this forum seem to find better prices like $800, I believe.

For me the symptoms were the same -- a thick brownish-black goo/jelly in the reservoir. My oil had no signs of trouble; if it was getting coolant in it it would get foamy. It all depends on exactly which part of the head gasket fails, and the relative pressure of water and oil pumps.

One thing to know is that, although the oil isn't a short-term danger to your cooling system (as in "stop the motor and hitchhike to a pay phone"), the oil *will* destroy the plastic-like parts of your cooling system in time. Look at the inside of your coolant reservoir cap -- mine was kind of puffy and swollen. Also the radiator, as I was told, is part plastic, part aluminum -- definitely something you don't want to swell up or dissolve. When I had my head gasket job done, I included a "power flush" (is that just marketing hype ?). About 2 weeks later, I looked at the coolant, and it was somewhat oily again. I was worried that the head gasket job was faulty, but the mechanic said it was probably just oil that didn't come out w/ the first rinse. So he did a half day of flushing, filling w/ water + Tide detergent, driving it around for a while, then flushing again. Since then the coolant has been minty fresh. Pfwew !

(As it turned out in my case, I discovered the head gasket failure the day before I was going to totally refurbish the cooling system. I bought all new hoses, a new thermostat, new water pump, and also serpentine belt and idler. So I just handed the box over to the mechanic and he put it all in as part of the job.)

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