Oil in the radiator coolant

[Mustangeater]

OK....the bets are on (metaforicly speaking)

I have oil in the coolant and the coolant is being pushed out of the reserve bottle as well as the new holes in the radiator itself when the vehicle is running for troubleshooting purposes. I'm thinking that it is one of the following: Head gasket blowout, cracked block or warped heads...if anyone can give me any other ideas or narrow it down futher I would appreciate it.

I know ususally if it is a head gasket problem there would be coolant in the oil and not the other way around....so I'm not exactly sure if it is a head gasket issue.

 

[jelloslug]

There is a slight chance that somthing has gone wrong with the oil cooler. Other than that you have named the only other ways that there could be oil in the coolant. Is there any coolant in the oil?

 

[Mustangeater]

There is no coolant in the oil

 

[F-22 Raptor SHO]

YOu have a few things going on here:

1: Leaky radiator
2: Bubbling res bottle.
3: Oil in Radiator.

Start by seeing if you have white smoke billowing out of your exhaust or any trace of coolant in your exhaust.

Does your oil cap have any frothy snot on it?

If no to either of those situations, then you are looking good (well looking better).

Yes it could be the cooler lines or the cooler element in the radiator that is giving away.

The bubbling in the reservoir could be due to a stuck thermostat. I would consider minimum getting a new radiator and a new t-stat along with hoses. You could flush out the system and see what fresh coolant does as the oil (you didnt say how much was in there) could be just a bunch of nasty crap that has built up over time.

 

[qiksho]

How much oil?

When was the last time you flushed your cooling system?

When I bought my 91+ several years ago when I got home I had oil in my coolant. I did a flush and lots of wierd stuff came out. Not long after my radiator died.

I think the previous owner put some stop leak stuff in their and it shure seemed like a small amount of oil and sand came out in the end. I have not had any oil in their since I did 2 flushes and put in a new radiator.

I guess a compression test wouldn't hurt for diagnosing the problem either.

 

[Mustangeater]

Here is the whole 9 yards:

First off the electric fan stopped working..vehicel overheated...the person driving the car didn't look at the gauges to see if it was overheating. Replaced the fan relay above the radiator. Then the water pump went bad...and the lower radiator hose ripped.flushed radiator approx. 2 weeks ago...didn't drive it much since then and thought that the problems were fixed.. until i went driving the other day. There is no snot or stuff on under the oil cap and no white exhaust...and there is alot of oil in the coolant.

 

[93SHO'nOFF]

The only two thing's that really cause that are a blown headgasket or lower intake gasket.With pressure building up in the cooling system and oil in coolant allways usually ends up being an headgasket or cracked head.Compression from cylinder bleeds through crack in gasket (or head)to coolant jacket causing coolant to blow out bottle and overheat,even more so when engine was overheated.It doesn't look to good.Also you will usually find your "snot" stuck to the inside of the valve covers and the bottom of lower intake manifold.

mIKE

 

[AutoSHO]

The SHO doesn't have a lower intake manifold gasket, so that leaves the obvious, Head Gaskets.

Being as the car was severely overheated, It is very possible that the heads are warped.

 

[revhardSHO]

I am also thinking that the heads are warped. Pressure test the cooling system. I think AZ sells the testers, like $10

 

[projectSHO89]

I am also thinking that the heads are warped. Pressure test the cooling system. I think AZ sells the testers, like $10

They will "loan" you one for a $90 or so deposit. If you don't bring it back, they keep the deposit.

Steve