[fixed] DW8 oil in coolant

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nginmu
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[fixed] DW8 oil in coolant

Post by nginmu »

Does this engine have an oil cooler that might leak oil into the coolant?

If so where is it?

This DW8 is in a 2005 Dispatch van.
Last edited by nginmu on 10 May 2010, 21:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by spider »

The oil cooler / exchanger is fitted to the block, actually the oil filter itself screws onto it. :)

I think its theoretically possible for that to happen but its more normal to have a coolant leak or an oil leak (not that common) , not really heard of it mixing internally there...
Andy.

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nginmu
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Post by nginmu »

ok thanks for the info :wink:

I am going to try the dishwasher tablet in the header tank, followed by overfilling & changing the coolant a load of times to try and get rid of the existing oil. Then see if it comes back.

Losing about 500ml of coolant per 100 miles at the mo, wondering where it's going.. but the oil seems uncontaminated & a garage pressure test revealed no external leak.
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Post by leigh »

Have a look around the bottom right hand corner of the radiator as youlook into the engine bay. My Xsara had developed a pin hole in the rad which only showed its self when the engine got up to temp
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Post by nginmu »

Thanks Leigh will do :)

How idiotic of an idea would it be to link out the oil cooler with a bit of 15mm copper water pipe, having read elsewhere, one guy's theory that the oil cooler on these engines is more used as a coolant warmer?

Also came across this clicky link

I was thinking if I did that, then gave the cooling system a real good detergent flush, then looked for oil in the header tank after a few hundred more miles, that might help me determine if the contamination was coming from there or not.

Or would that be a real silly idea, cause engine damage etc.
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Post by mark230678 »

Just had this on my xantia,
did as you suggested and bypassed the cooler.
Try to gauge how much oil you are using as well.
mine was terminal eventually being a cracked block.
Had water in oil and oil in water, and lost 3 litres of oil into coolant.
Have the cooler if you require it as am in the process of breaking car
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Post by nginmu »

Thanks Mark. Sorry to hear that, hope mine isn't the block :?

How obvious was the water in the oil?

I haven't looked real closely as in taking any measurements but it doesn't seem to be using oil at any great rate.. it just keeps 'turning up' floating in the header tank, you can feel it on your finger

there doesn't seem to be any large amount of mayonnaise around, and the oil seems clear of water droplets on the dipstick
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Post by mark230678 »

Jet black engine oil, and the expansion cap would blow it self off and over flow.
There was no obvious maonnaise in my oil till right at the end.
I dropped the oil out of the sump and there was plenty of water in there.
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Post by nginmu »

Just linked out the oil cooler, both oil cooler stubbies themselves seem clean as a whistle inside & after running for half an hour or so with the hoses off, there's not a hint of anything coming out.

I think the head gasket's gone, because there's oil and gas bubbling from the gasket on the right hand side. Just hope it's just the gasket and not a crack in anything.

Been quoted £600 by local garage to take the head off, skim it, replace the gasket, torque the head back down with new bolts and redo the timing. Hope I can get that figure down a bit :x
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Post by Peter.N. »

The only substantial saving you will make is by doing it yourself :D
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Post by nginmu »

Had a nice chat with the local dealer, very pleasant guy, very knowledgeable, knew exactly what was involved in detail, and wanted over £1000.

How do you get the engine out of these vans? do you have to lift the vehicle over the engine, or can you pull the engine out from above. I have a decent portable crane but lifting the whole vehicle over the lump is probably beyond me..

I've done a couple of heads before, one was a triumph acclaim & the other was a ford orion but I don't really fancy attempting this one myself with the engine still in the van, because it looks like it'll be real tight

If I can get the engine out easily enough, I might well do the job myself. Looking at the head bolts, they appear to be torx-headed or something similar.. what special tools would I need beyond a decent socket set, breaker bar & torque wrench?
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Post by nginmu »

Been running for a while now with the oil cooler linked out. Still losing coolant.

Weird though, have noticed it only loses coolant when the van is used for short runs.

I spent a few days in Fleetwood just bobbing round, few miles here, few miles there, shopping trips etc. Checked the coolant tank on day 1, it was up to max. By the end of day 3 it was almost empty. Total miles? 30 tops?

Refilled coolant then did a 150 mile trip back home, flat out all the way down the M6 non stop. Didn't lose a drop as far as I could tell :shock:
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Post by nginmu »

Rounding off this thread with the final fault found case it helps someone down the line - lower radiator hose was slitted in several places by the rubbing action of the plastic wheelarch grille.

The slits were opening up only on harsh acceleration or deceleration hence, little water loss on long motorway journeys, but lots on short runs in stop start traffic!
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