There is oil on my coolant.

[blackbetty]

Okay, so here is the story.

Last week, I was leaving my college campus to make the ~10 mile trip home.. and I lost all oil pressure while sitting at a stop light. I gave it enough gas to get going, killed the engine, and coasted into an empty parking lot.

The hollow bolt that the oil filter screws onto (and fastens the "oil cooler sandwich" to the oil pump housing) had backed out of the housing for some reason. The next day, I removed the oil filter and the hollow bolt and drained the very little oil that remained. I wiped oil off of all the parts that I could reach, applied some lock-tite to the hollow bolt, and screwed it back into the housing. After inspecting my work, I put on a new oil filter and filled the engine up with oil. I drove the Talon around the block a few times and parked it to check for leaks.. There were none... anywhere.

Last night, I was backing out of the driveway, and I noticed a puddle of what seemed to be oil, about six inches in diameter. The puddle was directly underneath the transaxle, and I was stumped as to where it was coming from... I drove the Talon around a little bit this morning and parked it on top of some cardboard.. to see that the oil was pouring out of my coolant overflow bottle.

The car doesn't smoke, and it never has. This engine has about 8,000 on a stock oem rebuild. I am ruling out the headgasket as an issue at the moment, I am pretty sure my stock oil cooler sandwich has just kicked the bucket..

Any ideas/questions/comments?




cliffs:
all my oil leaked out around the stock cooler sandwich thing.
re tightened the hollow bolt that holds the cooler to the housing.
replaced the oil filter, refilled the engine with oil. no more leaks.. anywhere
about a week later, my coolant bottle is full of oil.



-Jared

 

[knochgoon24]

You assessment sounds right. You'll need to swap the sandwich, flush your coolant, and change the oil, run it, and change it again (or at least I would).

 

[Mike G]

So all your oil is ending up in your cooling system and no coolant (or oil) is getting into the oil pan? I am not too familiar with your model so bear with me. Is there a place where the coolant and oil are in the same location other than in the motor? Do you have an oil cooler that is cooled with coolant (ie radiator combo), or air? If there is no place other than the motor where the two fliuds are together, then you are looking at a head gasket. You said that your "sandwich" is no longer leaking, why would you not rule that out as a problem too?
Just thinking out-loud. --Mike

 

[gbradley]

I had this problem a few years back on a '92 and it turned out to be a cracked oil cooler @ the oil filter. Since oil pressure is greater that cooling system pressure @ operating temp the oil would leak into the cooling system.

 

[Hcaruso4]

could be a cracked oil filter housing i had a first hand experience with this and i had the same symptoms

 

[blackbetty]

I finally got around to draining my oil today, and there is no coolant in it. I have not lost any oil whatsoever since I tightened up my oil cooler.

Was there any way for the oil to come in contact with the coolant when the oil cooler was loose? I thought the cooler was a closed system so that this couldn't happen.. unless it broke.

I am reasonably stumped now.. I am not leaking anymore oil into the coolant, and there is no coolant in my oil. The car still doesn't smoke and it ran strong the last time it was driven.

 

[djalogik]

It's also common for oil coolers to get crushed by places like jiffy lube. However with this problem you will only get oil in the coolant but no water in the engine due to the higher oil pressure compared to water pressure..

 

[BkzProblem]

I agree with the guys above... your cooler probably crapped out our your sandwich plate is damaged... but it looks like you fixed it so we will see...