Oil in Coolant

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phil02
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Oil in Coolant

Post by phil02 »

The dear old AX gave me a new problem to consider today, although I am hopeful someone can come along and tell me to stop being paranoid.
Firstly, some background info I guess might be helpful:
Last April the head gasket went, very suddenly and severely with a pronounced "pop" from the exhaust, lots and lots of smoke, coolant dribbling out the exhaust etc etc. Compression was subsequently lost and a few days later on trying to nurse it to the garage it refused to start. It was towed away and fixed.
Since then I've always noticed the guy who did it (who I no longer use) didn't seem to flush the coolant system out, although the fluid was replaced, as it's always had droplets of oil floating in it ever since. My current mechanic has identified a small oil leak which is coming from the gasket as it wasn't sealed properly, although not big enough to worry about.
However, last week the oil was quite low (about half, I normally keep it fairly well topped-up) so I added more. This week it's back down to half and there's a milky sludge (your typical "mayonnaise" from oil/water mix) on the coolant cap, quite a bit of it, which there wasn't before.
The oil cap is perfectly clean of any traces of mayo, it puffs a tiny bit of blue smoke sometimes when started from cold but I accept this as normal for age/mileage.
It's hard to tell if there's any more oil in the coolant than normal but it doesn't look too clean in there. Coolant drops a little every few weeks but again I accept that's normal - it doesn't leak coolant at all, nor oil in any significant quantity.
So, is this worth following up - does it signify something serious or am I being paranoid?
Cheers for your help
Phil
jonathan_dyane
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Post by jonathan_dyane »

Phil,
Drop the coolant and refill. Add a tablespoon of automatic washing powder and run until hot. Drop the coolant again and refill.
This will clean out the cooling system beautifully. If it goes manky again I'm afraid you've got head troubles.
phil02
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Post by phil02 »

Thanks for that - I will try cleaning it out. How easy/messy/time-consuming is it to change the coolant? I've never tried to change any fluids on a car before so any helpful suggestions appreciated!
Do I need to raise the car at all as I would for oil changes or can it be done on a flat surface?
Many thanks
Phil
jonathan_dyane
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Post by jonathan_dyane »

Moderately easy and messy...
I would put the car on ramps and drain it by removing the bottom hose and block drain bolt (on the front face of the engine, about 6 inches up from the sump flange).
Make sure you bleed it properly: Open all bleeds, (check Haynes for location, I'm more familiar with diesels there will be probably 1 on radiator, one on head and another on a hose at the rear of engine), heater on hot, and insert in the radiator filler a 2 litre pop bottle with the bottom cut out. It will be necessary to build up the area of the bottle where the cap fits with duck tape or similar so that it is a snug (and reasonably water-tight) fit into radiator.
Pour in water slowly, closing each bleed when bubble free air emerges from each. Fill until about 4 inches from the top of the bottle/funnel device. Start engine and run at fast idle until 'stat opens (top hose gets v. hot) and bubles and belches cease. You may need to top up to maintain level. When hot, stop engine and again open *slightly* bleed screws to let out any trapped air. Remove funnel. Job done!
CITMAN
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Post by CITMAN »

Had the headgasket changed on my zx 1.4i due to the fact that it was leaking oil from the headgasket and a bit of oil was getting into the coolant, this is a common problem with the TU engine. But know the leak is back and ever since gasket change i have still had the oil in coolant problem. So I have driven it for the last three years and left it, and clean the oil out of the tank every so often.
I have heard that the problem could be due to the fact that the cylinder liner seals could be the cuase of the problem. Your could be also if the mechanic that did the job didnt take care when lifting the head and moved them.
Id leave if the oil contamination is light, but if the coolant has gone brown and thick and is using loads of oil and coolant get it done.
phil02
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Post by phil02 »

Thanks for your suggestions. The car's going in on Wednesday for starter repairs so I'll get him to have a quick look at it then, but I'm not going to have time to do the coolant before then so I think for now I'll leave it be.
It's not thick & brown, which is good, there's a lot of oil floating around in it but it doesn't seem to be too dirty at the moment, just minor contamination.
It's only got to last til June next year when I'm going to sell and get something newer and less hungry for parts (something with two windscreen wipers and proper door handles! Ooh the luxury!)
so I'll see how it goes. I think citman's signature just about sums it up!
Thanks for your advice.
Phil
bxbodger
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Post by bxbodger »

As a matter of interest, I once bought a nice F.I.R.E. enginged Uno very cheaply because of just this fault-it had boiled up at some time and had oil leaking into the coolant,most likely from a failed head gasket or crack somewhere, but I never got round to doing anything about it, and it was still going well a year and a half later when a Discovery wiped it out!
CommY
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Post by CommY »

Hi Phil Mk2. you could try a bit of radweld, Barrs stopleak or similar ('stuff') in the coolant this may plug up the leak. To make sure you get pressure in the water system (as the leak is happening the other way - oil into water) disconnect the radiator fan and let the engine get nearly up to the red before reconnecting the fan, do this a few times and hopefully the 'stuff' will work it's magic and seal the leak.
If you are fussy isolate the heater matrix (connect the inlet and outlet pipes together with a bit of suitably sized metal or hard plastic tube secured with jubilee clips) before you add the 'stuff' then after a week or so flush out the system and reconnect the heater matrix. This is in no way essential but will stop the 'stuff' blocking up/lining the matrix and degrading it's heating ability. But as you plan to sell it's probably not worth the hasstle.[}:)]
Also make sure that the crankcase breather pipes are free from obstructions as the lower the pressure in the crankcase the lesser the chance of oil being forced into the water system.
I suppose you could remove all the oil from the engine, this will stop it getting into the water[;)]
phil02
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Post by phil02 »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">I suppose you could remove all the oil from the engine, this will stop it getting into the water <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Yes, I think that's the best solution. Thanks for that. Hopefully I'll get at least another week's worth of use out of it then.[|)]
CITMAN
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Post by CITMAN »

believe me you will get more than a weeks use of it, in fact I think you will find it will keep going.
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