Oil in the coolant
#17
Three Wheelin'
Lex and Brian your 87 and 88 S4’s with the Automatic transmissions has an Engine oil cooler and Trans cooler in the radiator (I’m using the word cooler here quite loosely), plus an additional transmission cooler that is mounted just above the A/C condenser in front of the radiator.
Lex your 87 S4 with the Manual Transmission has an Engine oil cooler only in the radiator.
Lex your 87 S4 with the Manual Transmission has an Engine oil cooler only in the radiator.
#18
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
My car has a manual transmission, does that still apply?
Also, I was curious as to where the coolant was going. Should I be ltrying to locate a leak? When the car is not moving and sits (idling), there is no overheating, and no visible loss of coolant. The tailpipe is dry. When driven, however, it overheats in a matter of blocks, with clouds of steam coming from the area between the engine and the firewall. Everything is wet, so I'm not able to sort out exactly what is going on.
Also, I was curious as to where the coolant was going. Should I be ltrying to locate a leak? When the car is not moving and sits (idling), there is no overheating, and no visible loss of coolant. The tailpipe is dry. When driven, however, it overheats in a matter of blocks, with clouds of steam coming from the area between the engine and the firewall. Everything is wet, so I'm not able to sort out exactly what is going on.
#20
Rennlist Member
With that info, it's even a better idea to do a coolant pressure test: Try it (cold) with the air box off so you can see what's going on behind the engine. If that indicates little, run it and look for the leak source before replacing the air box. The rad and coolers may be OK - but something else is lurking .....
#21
Range Master
Pepsie Lite
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Pepsie Lite
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
To Garth's point, the real scary symptom is the over heating......just losing the amount of fluid as you describe, with no other "issues" should not induce overheating that quickly.
To be sure, have you checked the heater core valve under the air box on the pasenger side, for a leak?
Do a cylinder leakdown test....it does sound as if the culpret may be a blown head gasket. If it is, serious engine damage will ensue if you keep driving the car.....
To be sure, have you checked the heater core valve under the air box on the pasenger side, for a leak?
Do a cylinder leakdown test....it does sound as if the culpret may be a blown head gasket. If it is, serious engine damage will ensue if you keep driving the car.....
#23
Three Wheelin'
Are there any issues re: the fitment of the Devek radiator? I thought I saw some posts in the past where people had to do some mods to get it to fit, which seemed puzzling to me...
#24
Three Wheelin'
Lex, Gretch is spot on, sounds like the heater valve or one of the small hoses went south.
I have one of the DEVEK rads and if I remember right, I did have to trim the top two rubber hold downs due to the fact that the end tanks are a little taller and have a little differant angle than the OEM. I would call the guys at DEVEK, I think they have had a design change since than.
OEM 89 S4 Auto radiator
If anyone wants a low mile OEM Rad. I have one out of my 89 S4 Auto. It was leak free and in good condition. The car had somewhere around 45-48K miles on her when I replaced it for a fancy DEVEK rad (she has 50.5+K miles on here now).
928 intl. sells them used for $600.00 usd, I'll take $400.00 + shipping.
I can take Payment via Paypal if that helps, drop me a PM.
I have one of the DEVEK rads and if I remember right, I did have to trim the top two rubber hold downs due to the fact that the end tanks are a little taller and have a little differant angle than the OEM. I would call the guys at DEVEK, I think they have had a design change since than.
OEM 89 S4 Auto radiator
If anyone wants a low mile OEM Rad. I have one out of my 89 S4 Auto. It was leak free and in good condition. The car had somewhere around 45-48K miles on her when I replaced it for a fancy DEVEK rad (she has 50.5+K miles on here now).
928 intl. sells them used for $600.00 usd, I'll take $400.00 + shipping.
I can take Payment via Paypal if that helps, drop me a PM.
#25
Rennlist Member
Bolted right up on my 78... only issue was the rad hose fittings are an american standard size, so I replaced them with the ones that Devek supplies.
#26
Rennlist Member
Devek radiator bolts right in. Nice to have if you have to replace the stock radiator. definitely has better cooling capabilities if you need them!.
mk
mk
#27
Rennlist Member
Are you sure?? the 1 bar coolant is under this constant pressure, anywhere you find in the system. (acting on headgasket passages all the way to the heater core) however, the oil is 5bar out of the pump, but i dont think the system is pressureized this way. there are lines feeding the top of the engine , etc, but after they reach those areas, there is no pressure and the oil just falls to the pan. (this is why you can pull the dipstick and oil doesnt fly out!)
I have a friend with this exact issue and he thinks its head gasket. (oil in water) but im trying to figure out, if its not the radiator oil cooler, then how does oil pump into the water jacket if the water is under the greater pressure? (back to my assumption above ) when i had that coolent leak out of my heads into the center of the engine, it was big pressure that pushed the water out, but no oil ever cam out of those leaking areas. Barr's Stop Leak fixed it for a full race season by the way.
Mk
I have a friend with this exact issue and he thinks its head gasket. (oil in water) but im trying to figure out, if its not the radiator oil cooler, then how does oil pump into the water jacket if the water is under the greater pressure? (back to my assumption above ) when i had that coolent leak out of my heads into the center of the engine, it was big pressure that pushed the water out, but no oil ever cam out of those leaking areas. Barr's Stop Leak fixed it for a full race season by the way.
Mk
Originally Posted by Garth S
Just a slight addition to Marc's good call - the 5 bar pressure oil leaks to the 1 bar pressure coolant when running; however, when shut down hot, the coolant remains pressured and can migrate to the oil loop - so also do as Ernest notes - drain the sump: a precaution is to toss a rag over the 'rad' cap and release the pressure.
A toffee coloured gel or foam under the oil filler cap is a result of emulsified oil/water - check there as well.
bd0nalds0n - is this the stuff you're seeing?
A toffee coloured gel or foam under the oil filler cap is a result of emulsified oil/water - check there as well.
bd0nalds0n - is this the stuff you're seeing?