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Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix?

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Discussion starter · #3 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (VRsuper6)

ok so I opened up the oil cooler and both seals appear to be in perfect condition?? does the oil cooler fail internally? i was under the impression that it's the seals that fail.
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#4 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (meeow_mixxx)

Yeah it's normally the seals that fail. But you may just have remaining coolant in the oil system from the head gasket repair.
 
#6 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (meeow_mixxx)

When oil and coolant mix from a bad oil cooler, it's not from failed seals. It's from an internal breach in the oil/coolant boundary.
Replace the oil cooler and see if that fixes it.


Modified by VgRt6 at 10:35 PM 1-8-2009
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (meeow_mixxx)

well i removed the oil cooler and the only thing that came out of it was water. safe to assume that the milkshake is being made elsewhere?
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#9 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (meeow_mixxx)

Depends. Water may be getting into the oil, but not oil into the water. Is there any oil residue or milkshake in the coolant expansion tank?
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (VgRt6)

Nope. only the oil is being contaminated. When I had the head off I noticed that there was normal looking clean coolant still sitting in the coolant passages in the block. No oil whatsoever.
 
#11 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (meeow_mixxx)

If that's the case, then the breach must be in a place where coolant is at a higher pressure than the oil. When the engine is at operting temperature, the entire cooling system is under high pressure, but not all of the oil lubrication system is. These places are in the head and block, and a breach would result in water getting into the oil, but not vice versa. I'm not positive if the oil in the oil cooler is under hgih pressure, but it makes sense that it is. Assuming that is correct, the most likely causes of your problem, at least that I can think of, are a breach in the headgasket or a crack in the block or head. Unless you didn't have sufficient antifreeze in the coolant and the water/coolant in the block or head froze (and created a crack), my guess is that you have a bad headgasket.
I'd like to hear what others think of this theory. Am I missing something?
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
Re: Is there anything except a blown HG that would cause oil & coolant to mix? (VgRt6)

Thanks so much for your input, really appreciate the help. The head gasket is brand new as are the head bolts. I torqued them all to spec and in the right order. I have pics of the head, block and old gasket if you think they'd help I can post em..
 
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