| WrenchGremlin |
During the oil change today I noticed that the antifreeze reserve container had a dark film on the inside. A finger wipe and it looks like oil. The oil was also very low on the engine for the first time. I change my oil on a 5000 mile cycle and the engine has 151000 miles, a compression check at 135000 miles was as good as new. Gas milage and performance are still great, no noises or smells.
At first I was thinking it could be a bad head gasket, but no smoke is in the exhaust and since the coolant is at 25 PSI and the oil is in a low pressure zone in the heads, I would expect the opposite to be happening.
After looking at the plumbing diagrams I noticed that the oil cooler has an antifreeze line running trough it. This is the only place I can see that oil is pressurized (up to 65 PSI at 6000 RPM) well above the coolant pressure of 25 PSI. The loss of oil can be two-fold, there could be small crack in the oil cooler and since this is an '03 MO the gasket which seals the oil cooler to the engine block could be leaking under pressure.
Thoughts anyone?
And does anyone have any advice on what to flush the coolant with to get rid of the oil residue?
-WG |
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| mgthe3 |
It sounds like you have a better idea than I do on where it may be coming from.
Simple green for the flush? |
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| Gonzo |
How old is your MO? Has you oil level been steady? That might not be oil that you are seeing but rather gunk/dirt/grime build up. I would do a simple flush at the dealer and specifically mention to be sure that they give the container a good cleaning.... or you could yourself before they do the flush.
I think you will find that you are OK. |
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| zebelkhan |
quote:
Originally posted by Gonzo
That might not be oil that you are seeing but rather gunk/dirt/grime build up. I would do a simple flush at the dealer and specifically mention to be sure that they give the container a good cleaning.... or you could yourself before they do the flush.
I agree. It is worth a try. You can also look inside the radiator cap(after it has cooled down) and look for oil residue or a thick oily white film. If it is clean, then you should be okay. A blown headgasket, or worst, a cracked head, can indeed cause oil and water to mix, but it also causes high water temp and water loss. Unless you have all of these elements present, I would not be thinking of the worst case scenario. |
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