zogster

Sheesh... this is getting quite depressing.

I've just got rolling again after changing oil cooler seals and the head gasket, which I did because I was getting coolant in oil.

I ran the engine a couple of times, took a couple of quick test drives and all's looking good - except that I think I'm *still* getting coolant in the oil.

Symptoms: water droplets condensed in oil filler cap, though I haven't drained the oil yet to take a look.

So is there anything else that might cause mixing?, Or are the odds simply that I've messed up one or other of the re-sealing jobs? Or could there be water hanging around that's still sort of making its way out?

Anyway, Happy Festivus to one and all. Consider the above my first round contribution to the Airing of Grievances...

Arominus

Water droplets alone does not mean your still getting coolant, i get that from my car as well at times when i've done too many short drives. You may still be burning off some residual crap from the mix as well. Drive it, watch the oil like a hawk and hopefully your good.

Spidey944

Sound advise from Arominus up there. Might need to change the oil after a few hundred miles just to be safe. That will also allow you to inspect the amount of oil/moisture in the system if drained into a clear jug and allowed to settle for a day or two.

kon5t

If you are getting coolant in the oil, you will have a brown creamy like deposit in the oil filler cap, if that is not there, you do not have a problem period.

If you do have some there, this is not necessarily an indicator of problems, cars driven short distances (e.g. on a dealers lot), often have a small amount of this too. It should disappear after the first hundred miles of proper driving.

Dougs951S

As others have said, it can take a lot of flushing to fully clean both the coolant system and the oiling system, precisely because the two are not miscible, so trying to flush out with the proper respective fluids is often a losing battle against the physics of surface tension. Btw, if you suspect you ran the engine for any length of time with coolant in the oil, you'd be doing yourself a favor to change the rod bearings, its cheap and really not that hard, glycol coolant poisons rod bearings and can lead to spinning them, which at the very least will ruin your day, but can also ruin your crank, rod + piston, and/or block.

zogster

Thanks for the wise words folks - I'm probably a bit over-cautious/paranoid having spent so much time on it in the past few weeks, and having so many little issues set me back. I'll keep checking, and maybe change the oil and filter again in a couple of hundred miles.

Doug: I was thinking that I might do rod bearings when I do the oil pan gasket + engine mounts + AOS seals, which I've mentally pencilled in for 'when it gets a bit warmer and the days are longer'. Should probably have done them along with the other recent work, but it all seemed like too much for me to happily get through in one go.

kon5t

Rereading your first post, if you had a cooling/oil issue, you would not "think" you might have a problem, you would definitely "know" that you have a problem. So just enjoy what you have