[RESOLVED] Coolant Reservoir Full Of Oil

[spyderturbo007]

Can someone help me track down a problem? I was getting ready to install my ported exhaust manifold and O2 sensor housing when I noticed that my coolant reservoir was full of what looked like oil. The dipstick is only showing that I'm missing 1/2 a quart, and the oil is still clean.

I know that it could be any of the following, but I'm not sure the best / cheapest way to find out:

1.) Head Gasket
2.) Crushed oil cooler
3.) Crack in head
4.) Shot turbo

Is there anything I missed?

I know I can check the HG with a compression tester and I'm guessing that the turbo would have excessive shaft play if that was the problem. As for the crushed oil cooler, I'm not sure the proper way to make sure that isn't the problem. I know that the spline can loosen up and leak oil into the coolant, but other than that, how do you check and see if the cooler is cracked? I can't imagine that it is, since I have only driven the car about 150 miles this year and haven't changed the oil in about 3 months.

The car isn't smoking, or running rough, so I'm kind of stumped. I guess the easiest thing would be to pull the intake and check the turbo first and then move onto the HG.

Can anyone offer any additional help. Thanks!

EDIT -> I noticed that for some reason I only lost 1/2 quart of oil, but the reservoir has gained a significantly larger volume of liquid. It's actually almost full, and maybe only about 2" from the top. Where could the extra coolant have come from? My only guess is that the HG is blown and pushing gas into the cooling system and thereby displacing the coolant back to the reservoir?????

EDIT -> I guess the biggest thing I forgot, was that the car is running fine. Boosting 21psi and holding to redline. No stutters, CEL's or anything like that. My WBO2 is acting a little funning, but that's most likely a problem with my pre-sensor exhaust leak. I had the timing belt done about 100 miles ago, but I can't see that being the problem either.

I pulled all the plugs and they look fine, I'm running up to get a compression tester right now. I'll post back with the results.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Here is an update on the problem:

The turbo is fine. Spins freely, no damage to the fins and no in and out shaft play.

Plugs look normal.

Compression is, from left to right, 180psi, 174psi, 185psi and 192psi. Nothing even close to the service limit, but I see that there is more than a 15psi difference between cylinders. I also left the compression tester hooked up and pressurized for a minute or two after checking each cylinder. Nothing was bleeding off.

Why is there a stipulation between cylinders, i.e. why aren't you supposed to have more than a 15psi difference? Is it possible that on cylinder has more of a carbon build up and is therefor causing the more than 15psi difference? Keep in mind that I just installed the MeOH injection kit and have only run it for about a tank of gas, so it still might be cleaning off the pistons.

Any thoughts?

 

[AKGEN1DSM]

I would check for a crushed oil cooler, just because that sounds like the problem. How are the temps staying?

 

[spyderturbo007]

Temps are fine. I'm actually trying to get the damn oil cooler right now. It looks like it's held onto the oil filter bracket with just the stud??? Have to do some searching around here and see if I can find any posts on the subject.

 

[diablos991]

You could get a Hydrocarbon test done on your coolant. Some radiator shops will perform this service free of charge while others will charge up to $5 since it is an extremely simple test.

This tests for exhaust fumes in the coolant which could be caused by a leaky head gasket.

 

[spyderturbo007]

It looks like it's the oil cooler, but I want to run this past you guys/gals. I pulled the cooler and tried to find some way to pressurize it and see what was going on. Here is the picture I used:

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Looking at the cross sectional picture, it looks like the coolant only flows around the top of the cooler. So, if I fill the coolant area up with water, by dumping it in one of the coolant hoses and then run pressure through it with the other line capped, nothing should happen, right?

I found that when I did this, water started leaking out from what I'll call the "honeycomb area". So, is my assumption correct that the oil flows in the honeycomb area and the coolant ONLY flows in the area at the top???

If so, then the cooler is shot and my mechanic is buying me a new one since he changed the oil when he trashed my oil pan.

EDIT -> After further inspeciton of the picture and the oil cooler, it looks like the coolant occupies every other level of the honeycomb area and oil occupies the other levels. But either way, the point seems moot, since the oil and water are not designed to mix. Therefore, if I fill up the coolant lines with water and pressurize them, I should get no response at all. Is my logic correct? I just want to cover all the bases before I go tell my mechanic he has to buy me a $405 oil cooler.

That's right boys and girls, the oil cooler is $405.....Keep that in mind the next time you let someone else change your oil. Now I know why I did it myself all these years.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

Yea i hate how our oil cooler is. This is prone to happening, esp, those who over tighten the filter.

Now you have an excuse to upgrade to the earl oil filter housing with external oil cooler.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Well, I talked to my mechanic and he agreeded to pick up the cost for the oil cooler.

I started working on the snapped exhaust manifold stud and was able to get that out in about 2 hours. As for the manifold to turbo bolt that snapped off when removing the manifold, that's a different story. 15 drill bits, 1/2 a can of PB plaster, and 4 hours later I was able to get a hole drilled through the bolt. Then I snapped off an extractor in the bolt. Now the machine shop is telling me it could be a couple hours and they might not even be able to get it out.

Any ideas???