Dougs951S

Changed my oil today, and noticed a bit of coolant in it, and a bit of froth on the oil cap. I've also been noticing some loss of coolant, which lead me to believe that my radiator was leaking. I pressure tested it and found some leaking hose clamps, but no leak in the radiator. Would blown oil cooler seals cause coolant to get eaten up, so to speak? No external leaks, no oil in the coolant. I thought that since the oil was under much higher pressure, that one would find oil in the coolant well before you find coolant in the oil if the cooler seals failed. The car still runs smooth, 18 in mercury vacuum at idle, no overheating and no loss of power so I don't think the head gasket let go. Something is obviously wrong here, I'm guessing its time for me to do the oil cooler seals. what do you guys think?

Crackership

yes, you can definitely loose coolant into the oil with failed seals in the oil cooler plate.

Dougs951S

so it is just the 3 seals that need replacement, or could the actual cooler plate assembly be leaking? I also have no idea how long coolant has been in the oil. I will park the car till I can fix this, but how much damage could I already have done to the bearings? Do they need to be replaced? I am really not equipped to do it myself simply for lack of space to work in. ( an apartment )


is this what I need?

http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/ASI...key_1106098651

Crackership

you may need the oil pressure relief valve o-rings too.. I can't remember if they are in that kit, but I have a vague memory of them not being there.

Don't know on the bearings.... I had the cooler seals fail on my old NA, and didn't replace the bearings (mostly because I didn't know at the time that coolant could damage them) - it ran fine for another 40k miles or so - then someone hit me with a big truck and killed the car .

FWIW, replacing the cooler plate seals is not a job I would undertake in a parking lot at an apartment complex.. it's not exactly easy.

Dougs951S

hehe, I did the clutch on jackstands in a parking lot in the dead of winter. THAT wasnt fun or easy. If I had to estimate I would say that the coolant has been in the engine for an absolute max of 3k miles, since it was not present at my last oil change. I'll roll the dice I guess with my bearings and if something lets go...2.85 stroker time i guess? I feel comfortable that I can take care of the seals though. Seems like a 2 hour job max to me.

Dougs951S

I changed the oil in the dark, what I thought was coolant in it appeared as a "sheen" under weak flashlight. I just took the spent oil into my house and examined it under strong light and now I am not so sure the oil cooler is actually leaking. The oil has a certain "strangeness" to it in the sense that when its swirled, it becomes homogenous, but when it settles it has shiny streaks through it of something that is not the same density as oil. I am thinking now it might simply be gasoline from a misfire that was present before. Also the color of the oil is off, almost too light but not at all the color of oil and coolant mix. I should note that I always ran light levels of coolant, usually ~20% with the rest being distilled water. I would think though that in that case, the water would be obvious in the oil, and there is clearly no water that I can see. So, is it just gasoline and my oil cooler is actually fine? doesnt explain where my coolant is going though, or the crud on the oil cap.

Crackership

If there's enough gasoline in your oil to discolor it, I would think you would be able to smell it. You're right though, it doesn't explain where your coolant is going.