Vjgtrybno1

The car is an 86 NA. PPI showed some oil in the coolant - adjusted the price to cover costs of replacing the oil cooler seals and had the job done by a reputable shop. Included flushing/cleaning the cooling system and changing the oil. Drove approx 150 miles with no performance issues. Checked oil this morning - down a quart. Coolant was a little lower than last night - and - there's some of that oil froth in there - again. Any thoughts on what's happening? Thanks.

jonnybgood

Is this oil leak rate more than before? Was there a pressure test of the oil cooler? Perhaps the cooler is leaking. Coolant could be down due to air pocket elimination after the new coolant was installed.

Vjgtrybno1

JohnnyB - thanks - love your screen name BTW! - I've got my fingers crossed that you are correct about the air pockets. Also hoping that the mechanics flush was not at operating temperature and we are just seeing residual oil from before that is finally working its way through. No coolant has appeared in the oil as of yet, so maybe this will all work out fine. Sounds way too optimistic though!

nine-44

Keep an eye on it, if more appears, it may be an issue, depending on how much more. Probably just the film of oil in the cooling system cooking out after being run.

Bri Bro

Try putting some dish washing detergent in the overflow tank. It will place the oil in suspension and then you can flush it out of the system in a couple of days.

Vjgtrybno1

Merry Christmas everyone! I've also heard that Shout or SprayNWash is the way to go - non-foaming detergents - only a little - 2-3 oz., correct? Any need to use a radiator flush product?

nine-44

Radiator flush type stuff is not really meant for oil contamination. More for metal conditioning and corrosion prevention. I'd do the ole soap trick if it persists. Be sure to get the soap out good, it may react with the coolant, probably 2 good flushes with clean water after the soap. Good luck

Vjgtrybno1

Andy, thanks, Are you saying to totally close off the cooling system each time and run it with clean water up to operating temperature vs. leave it open - the two plugs at the radiator and engine block - and run a garden hose in the expansion tank until the liquid draining out is clean? Or maybe leave it open until it looks clean and then close it off twice with plain water to flush that soap?

The good news is that the oil level has been steady after two more trips at operating temperature. There is the tiniest glob of coolant/oil at the bottom of the oil filler tube, but it has not changed since we discovered this mess. The coolant expansion tank has oil in it, but the amount has not increased since we first cleaned it out. Fingers are still crossed.

Now the good news cloaked in bad news - I took a peek at the S2's oil filler tube and coolant tank and - surprise - a small blob in the filler tube and a very tiny amount of milkshake in the coolant tank. I would've never checked had the 86 not had the problem. My question - do you get a little of that in normal operation or is this the harbinger of oil cooler seal failure? I mean - where do you draw the line? Do you wait until there is alot of the gunk in the wrong places or do you react at the first sighting? Went back 6 years in service records and found no evidence that cooler seals were replaced. I think the S2 has a different set up for the oil cooler than the 86 NA, but not sure if that matters.

Kevin Baker

Time to do the S2!!! As for oil in the coolant, think about this. Oil pressure when the car is running is about 60 psi. Pressure in the cooling system is around 16-20psi. When you shut the car down, the oil pressure drops to zero, and the cooling system stays 16-20 until it is cooled. There are 2 places where the coolant and oil could come into contact with each other. One is the oil cooler where the cooler is full of oil and the chamber around the cooler is full of coolant, only thing that keeps them apart are 2 orings on the cooler itself. Second is the head gasket. If you are still getting oil in the coolant, and are relatively certain that you got all of it out with the flush, you may have a ruptured cooler, or when the shop installed the cooler, one of the o-rings were nicked, and thus allowing some oil (under a higher pressure than the coolant) to mix. Or you could have an issue with the head gasket. Most major autoparts stores will have a kit that you can use to "block test" for the presence of exhaust gasses in the cooling system, which would lead you to further diagnose a possible head gasket problem.

MM951

This is intresting to read, as I suspect my 85 N/A needs its oil cooler seals replaced. I have a slight flim in the oil (havent flushed it, didnt drive the car long enough before the clutch toook a dump) Would oil cooler seals leaking cause oil pressure to go down steadily( the gauge at least ) after the car is driving for ~20min?

Vjgtrybno1

You know, I wish I would have paid more attention to the 86 oil presure guage, but now that you mentioned it, I remember the 86 operating at about 3 bar vs the 89 close to 5. Given the age of the cars though, who knows if it's sending units or what.

Bri Bro

Normally, if the preasure drops will driving, it is a sign that the rod and main bearing need to be replaced.

Vjgtrybno1

The story is getting better for Tenacious G. We flushed out the old new coolant with the Spray-N-Wash in it after running it over the past day or so. Really hard to get it all out - didn't help that we couldn't locate the engine block drain plug. Took out the overflow tank and cleaned it out. Ran clean water through her, then closed it off with water only and ran it to operating temperature, then drained it - twice. Finally added 5 qts. new coolant and 3 qts water and off we went. Tank looks very clean so far - checking again in the morning! By the way, with out you 'listers and your advice and encouragement, I would never have tackled this job alone - thanks!

Maciek

Seeing as I am about to do my oil cooler seals and have to flush my cooling system I want to be certain I understand what you did. How much Spray-N-Wash did you put in the car and what did you mix it with? Did you then run this mixture as coolant for a day? Just want to be sure I understand what is going on. Thanks!

Vjgtrybno1

The Spray-n-Wash went right in the overflow tank with the exisiting coolant mix - about 2-3 oz. Ran the car for a day - probably 10-15 miles. Then flushed with water twice and then refilled with a coolant/water mixture. Looked today and there is still a slight film in the overflow tank. I'll give it a few more days and then remove and clean the overflow again.