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Oil in coolant?

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sethkirk_2005

15+ Year Contributor
49
0
Mar 28, 2007
Cincinnati, Ohio
I just replaced the head gasket and I checked my fluid and this is what I found. Its almost a redish tint which leads me to believe its rust but I have a bad feeling that its oil. Let me know what you think. How could oil be getting into my antifreeze when I just replaced the head gasket? I checked my oil and it doesn't seem to have antifreeze in it.
 

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I had low compression in a couple cylinders, so I replaced it compression is better but one is low 150,150,140,150. I did not have the head resurfaced I checked but didn't seem to be warped.

What do you think of the picture? Ever seen coolant that color?
 
Oh I put a cometic MLS head gasket in. If by somehow the head was warped wouldn't the mls head gasket help compensate for the unevenness?
 
I changed the oil after replacing the head gasket and I just drained the oil, there is no coolant in the oil. The head was torqued in steps just like the manual advises, it was then re torqued after several heat cycles.
 
Did you replace the anti-freeze after you replaced the headgasket, also did you look at the antifree before the head gasket. The other thing is have you ever looked at the anti-freeze. I made a mistake of trying to seal up a head gasket leak with so Bars Stop Leak,and that stuffs a orangest red color, and stains everything like none other. But wondering if maybe the person before you put some in to hide hte bad head gasket.
 
I replaced all fluids after replacing the head gasket. The stop leak is a possibility sense the guy who had it before me was an idiot... so that could be it. The inside of the coolant housing is stained the same brownish color. I'm in the process of flushing the system, the water is coming out the same color. Just an idea if I were to fill the system with water only and then drained wouldn't the oil and water separate.

The car is a manual by the way...
 
It don't think it has the oil cooler on it... when I put my oil filter on it screws directly to the oil filter housing. There isn't anything to crush... Ill take a picture of my oil filter housing in the morning and post.

Has anyone ever experience first hand oil in their coolant? If so can you tell me what it looks like.
 
If you have oil in your coolant you should see it in your oil pan too. To me it honestly doesnt look like coolant and motor oil. Im guessing its stop leak since you have a stained housing, this stuff stain almost a orangish color, its nasty stuff, it will take a will to get it all out, and i honestly have neer got all mine out. You might have to pick up another radatior. With the stop leak in it you will also have a higher chance of over heating, do to the thickness, and how the stop leak, clogs the radatior cooling passages.
 
I'm pretty sure that this gunk is stop leak. I let the coolant sit and this redish/brown stuff is sitting at the bottom. I took some pictures but you cant see it very well. I decided to post them anyways though. Let me know what you think.

By the way Ive now flushed the system 3 times and its still coming out this color!
 

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My friend had a similar problem with his 95 GS-T. The oil cooler had a crack and let oil in the cooling system. He had overtighten the shaft where the oil filter goes which caused the crack
 
Well I'm almost 100% sure its not oil. The reason I say that is because Ive been flushing the system with water. Whatever this stuff is it always goes to the bottom if it were oil mixed with water the oil would float to the top... Does this make sense to anyone else?
 
The second time I flushed the system I used the Prestone radiator flush. It worked pretty well it got a lot of gunk out of the engine but I think there must be a whole lot of it in there because after the third flush its still coming out brown... I guess I'm just going to continue to flush it with water until it starts to get better.

If I were to take it to a shop would they have a better way of cleaning it out or would they do the same thing I'm doing?
 
A shop will do the same exact thing and keep flushing it. After a couple flushes they will move on and

give you the bill for the flush and theres a chance they haven't completely cleaned the system out.

Unless you know the shop well id say keep flushing it your self and go from there. Next like said before just

replace the radiator it might still be the original if the previous owner was a dummy, replace the

overflow tank, all hoses. That def. looks like stop leak and it will cause damage that stuff is for

temporary fix when you want to sell your car quickly LOL. Good luck
 
Well looks like ill just keep flushing it my self. I can't justify paying someone to do the same thing Ive been doing. I guess ill just start looking for a good cheap radiator. Surprisingly Ive been hearing decent things about the aluminum radiators on ebay. I guess they are the same radiators that Punishment Racing is selling.
 
The ebay radiators are not that bad, i had used one for a while and it never gave me a problem. Get a new radiator cap while your at it along with hoses.
 
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