Oil in my coolant...HG or oil filter housing??

[TuRBoTaLooN]

Last week I changed my oil and flushed out my cooling system. When I changed my oil, I noticed nothing different. Oil was pretty used after 3K and I didn't suspect any problems. Finshed up, car ran great. Next day I drain my coolant and notice its pretty black and oily. I flush everything out, and go to replace my T-stat when I realize there was none in the first place. I thought this was weird because before I flushe the cooling system, my car would begin overheating when it idled for too long. I would give it gas and then it would cool down to slightly above normal operating temps. So I threw in the T-stat and filled it back up with coolant. A week later I notice the coolant in the overflow tank seems a little dark already. Only drove it 80 miles since I flushed the coolant. After I flushed the system, I noticed the temp gauge seems to stay right in the middle at what appears to be normal operating temperature. I also noticed after flushing the system that I smelled coolant. Havn't had a chance to investigate much, but I havn't seen any coolant leaking on the ground or in the engine bay. I also noticed that my oil pressure gauge seems to be giving me some weird readings. Some days the press seems fine, while other days the gauge points all the way down towards low. Other days its somewhere in the middle. Also, when the pressure is good, and the car is idling, the pressure goes down much quicker than normal. I checked the oil levels, and they are fine. After doing some research I am come to the conclusion that it is either a head gasket or a possible leak in the oil filter housing. A friend of mine told me her 99 gst had oil in the coolant and she just had a bad seal in her oil filter housing due to over torqueing the oil filter. Apparently this can also happen if the oil cooler goes bad I've heard. It could also be the head gasket. I am getting a leakdown test and a compression test this Friday hopefully, and I'm assuming that should give me signs of a bad head gasket. Just wanted to see if anyone had any similar problems or ideas on what is going on here. My 95 TSi AWD has 116K and is lightly modded with a stock T-25.

 

[Import_Chic98]

Sounds like a head gasket, had the same problem... but your compression test should give you the results - let me know what happens

 

[olmytsi]

If you suspect the oil filter housing, remove your oil filter, grab a 24mm deep socket and see if the shaft where you filter screws is loose. If it aint loose, you could have crushed it but since you say your oil level is constant, i suspect the oil filter housing is not your problem.

 

[ddavisaf]

Are you having to refill any of your fluids? Are you smoking out of your exhaust? Do you notice any coolant leaking either in your engine bay or underneath the car?

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

there is no smoke coming out of the exhaust. oil level is steady, havn't had to add any. in fact i havn't had to add any fluids. coolant level seems fine, but is getting darker by the day. temps seem to be steady too, no overheating. compression test is coming tomorrow after work. that should be the key.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

i did a compression test today....not sure what these results mean. from left to right i recorded 160, 155, 155, 130. The right most cylinder (if looking at the car, standing in front) has low compression. I was assuming if two adjacent cylinders have low compression it is the head gasket. i only found one low compression. i also noticed that the gauge needle stayed at the highest reading and did not go down. i thought it would go down after each stroke. i think this means i have sticky valves? also thinking that maybe one cylinder has a bad piston ring? any ideas??

also when i took the plugs out, they were semi-black and only put them in about a month or so ago. went to put them in and the plug in the left most cylinder had a little resistence while threading. turned the car on and it ran like shit. took that plug out and realized it has 0 gap. i gapped it and cleaned it, put it back in and car ran fine. any ideas??? please help!

 

[renovatio]

You can presser test your cooling system. All you need is coolant system presser tester.
any parts store should have one (make sure it has the small radiator cap adapter. Or if you know any one who works in repair shop ask to borrow one. I goes on in place of your radiator cap and has a pump. Pump it up to 15psi
and wait for at least two hours. If you see a drop in presser you have a leak possibly a head gasket leak. If I suspect a head gasket I'll remove the spark plugs. If the leak is bad you can here the aircoolant pissing into the cylinder. Other wise reinstall the plugs crank the engine a few times (pull the ecu fuse to keep from starting). And then check you plugs for coolant. You should also be able to smell the difference between Burning antifreeze and burning oil. I love to huff tail pipe. A blown head gasket in most case will not cause an engine to burn oil as the oil galleys are far away from the cylinder (relatively).

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

well definatley didn't notice coolant on the plugs (althought it was late...i dunno) but they were somewhat black on the ends. looked like carbon buildup stuff. when i turn the car off, there is air going into the catch can along with coolant that looks dark. could it just be a bad carbon buildup? maybe its just me, but i also seem to smell coolant every once in a while when i'm driving. i'm going to throw a teaspoon of oil in the low compression cylinder to try to help seal the pistong ring if that is causing low compression. i will report back in the am.

 

[renovatio]

Compression gages are designed to stay at the highest reading until you relase them. And a blow headgasket can occur any where on the circumference of the cylinder. It sounds to me like cylinder #1 the 130 psi is bad. More than likley the head gasket, seems like a slight leak try the coolant system presser test.

 

[TuRBoTaLooN]

Ok, so did another compression test this morning and from left to right i got 160,155,155,165. probably got low compression in the last cylinder last night because the battery sucks. i checked each cylinder at least 3 times and got the same readings. so i have determined it is not a head gasket. however, i still don't know why i am getting oil in my coolant?? could it be my oil cooler or my oil filter housing? or should i just pressure test my coolant system for leaks?

 

[1993eclipseGS]

It's been over two months now, Did you ever find out what the problem was?
Thanks.

 

[iboostdoyou]

he sold the car about a month ago. The compression was fine all the way across the board, but the oil filter housing was cracked from an overtightened filter.