Found my coolant FULL of engine oil today! (No water in oil though.)
1. Any hope it might just be oil cooler failure? Or am I just fooling myself? We're talking a LOT of oil in the coolant here...
2. If it's the gasket - is it a practical proposition for DIY replacement?
Can it be done with engine in situ? Is there enough access to the rear of the engine for instance?
It is quite a common thing for oil to water coolers to fracture and cause this problem. Quickest way to check is to take the coolant pipes off the cooler and join them together, effectively isolating/bypassing the oil cooler. Obviously you'll also need to give the cooling system a good flush though as well, to stop oil damaging hoses etc. (I've recently been recommended Liqui-Moly radiator cleaner for this, although I have "got away" with using laundry capsules before now). Once all the oil is out of the system and the cooler is bypassed you'll get a better idea of the true cause. (clean out and dry the coolant stubs on the cooler as much as possible, if it's cracked then oil will start dripping from the stubs).
Sorry I can't really advise on whether the head gasket job is a viable DIY proposition or whether the engine needs to be dropped at all, but I guess any job is DIY'able depending on how much time/effort/skill/tools you have to offer. (I've just changed the roof skin on our Escort cabriolet recently and while that kind of thing scares off a lot of people and personally, while I'd have had it done professionally if I could afford to, I didn't find it that bad of a job).
Good luck with it and I hope you find it is only a cooler fault.
I'm not too afraid of tackling the head gasket as I've got some mechanical experience - but I don't have an engine hoist, so the deciding factor for me is: can it be done without removing the engine?
Thank The Lord! ( :
Mr Bick and ekjdm14 knows their stuff! Oil cooler failure it was.
Fantastic news - saved me £1000 I don't have. My lucky day, phew!!
