Oil contamination in coolant?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
Oil contamination in coolant? I have this foamy/frothy brown stuff that is in my radiator its always at the top about the depth of the filler cap neck. It looks to me like oil contamination.
My car did overheat a while back but ever since then the car has ran fine perfect running temp and everything, i pressure tested the system and it does seem to drop but its extremely slowly and it could possibly be the seal on the pressure tester to the filler neck. I also used a 5 gas analyzer to see if i had any CO coming out of the radiator while it was running and nothing came up. I havent added any coolant/water to the system since it overheated which was approx. 4 months ago. I flushed the cooling system with dexron about 30k ago and it was dexron previously as well.
Any ideas? i was thinking there might be an internal oil cooler in the rad. thats leaking but im pretty sure there isnt one in it. It might be an exteremly small leak in the headgasket but i think after driving it for months in the 110+ heat it would have gotten worse and been more severe problems.
If you guys have any ideas let me know- I plan on doing H/C soon so i wanna make sure its nothing serious b4 i dump all this money into the motor
BTW i would try a search but it hasn't been working for me latley
My car did overheat a while back but ever since then the car has ran fine perfect running temp and everything, i pressure tested the system and it does seem to drop but its extremely slowly and it could possibly be the seal on the pressure tester to the filler neck. I also used a 5 gas analyzer to see if i had any CO coming out of the radiator while it was running and nothing came up. I havent added any coolant/water to the system since it overheated which was approx. 4 months ago. I flushed the cooling system with dexron about 30k ago and it was dexron previously as well.
Any ideas? i was thinking there might be an internal oil cooler in the rad. thats leaking but im pretty sure there isnt one in it. It might be an exteremly small leak in the headgasket but i think after driving it for months in the 110+ heat it would have gotten worse and been more severe problems.
If you guys have any ideas let me know- I plan on doing H/C soon so i wanna make sure its nothing serious b4 i dump all this money into the motor
BTW i would try a search but it hasn't been working for me latley
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 23
Likes: 0
From: Michigan
Sounds like oil contamination to me. This is embarassing, but I put some synthetic through my cooling system while doing a flush and oil change at the same time. I was tired and we'll just blame it on that. Water pump runs alot quieter now though. Anyway, I have the same frothy brown stuff going on in my reserve tank. Best of luck finding the root cause.
No oil cooler in rad - only tranny cooler if you have an A4. Most likely you have a head gasket leak - you might have warped one or both of the heads when the car overheated (depending on how bad) did you get a MIL code for 'excessive metal temp'?
This could possibly have caused a small leak in gasket area. If you end up removing heads to install new gaskets I would definitely suggest that you have the head surfaces checked for straightness and fix if necessary. When you re-install, go with ARP Head Studs for extra reliability and peace of mind over stock TTY bolts.
-Jay-
This could possibly have caused a small leak in gasket area. If you end up removing heads to install new gaskets I would definitely suggest that you have the head surfaces checked for straightness and fix if necessary. When you re-install, go with ARP Head Studs for extra reliability and peace of mind over stock TTY bolts.
-Jay-
there is also the possibility of the power steering fluid cooler leaking into the radiator as well. check the fluid level in there. this happened to me as i was driving from Cali to Fl a few months back.
Originally Posted by cookba
there is also the possibility of the power steering fluid cooler leaking into the radiator as well. check the fluid level in there. this happened to me as i was driving from Cali to Fl a few months back.
some models do have the PS cooler in the upper radiator hose. it is the metal pipe that runs parralel to the radiator, in between the hose ends. it is the likely culprit here. look for loss of PS fluid in the resevoir and look for bubbles in the PS resevoir when doing the cooling system pressure test. it happened to me. Search will show posts on the subject. Oily coolant contamination will also make coolant level sensor give false low warning light.
Trending Topics
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Awesome K5 Blazer Restomod Comes With C7 Corvette Power
Verdad Gallardo
10 Camaros You Should Never Buy
10 LS Engine Myths That Refuse to Die
Verdad Gallardo
