This is used by allowing the two liquids to come close in a part known as the heat exchanger. In modern cars you will often find oil coolers which are cooled using the coolant system. Faulty Heat Exchangerįor the most part oil and coolant systems are kept as separate as possible but both do need to circulate the engine. This is very bad for the engine so if the issue is the head gasket this will need to be fixed quickly. If this gasket wears out or starts to leak then the oil begins to escape ending up in various places it should not be including the coolant system. This serves to prevent the combustion air pressure from firing-up and keeps the engine oil where it belongs. The only purpose of this gasket is to keep a tight seal between the head and engine block. This part can develop leaks and when it does it can be a costly and tricky repair job.īetween the head and the engine block is a rubber or metal seal which is called the head gasket. The rather ominously sounding blown head gasket deserves to be feared and it can be the most common cause for oil being in your coolant system as well as other places it shouldn’t be. As soon as you determine why the oil is there you can fix the issue and get your car running properly again. There are a few reasons that this could happen so in this section we will look at some of the more common causes. Bad news, that’s not where it is supposed to be and you have yourself a problem that needs fixing straight away. You are planning to add coolant to your car's cooling system so you open the tank and you see engine oil floating on the surface. What Causes Engine Oil in The Coolant Tank? Simply put the engine would not be as well lubricated and the coolant would not be cooling as it should. The point is neither can do the other's job so if they mix in their respective systems it will impact the effectiveness of each fluid. You would not be able to lubricate the engine with coolant and oil would do a poor job in the coolant system. These two fluids are very different, oil being thicker and used to lubricate engine parts while coolant is thinner and helps cool the engine. This is most definitely the case with engine oil and coolant. Why Is Mixing Automotive Fluids Bad?Īll of the fluids in our cars have their own jobs and are designed to serve those specific purposes. We will answer questions such as why this is bad and what can actually cause this to happen. Specifically we will look at the problem of engine oil making its way into the coolant system. In this article we will be looking at what happens when some of these automotive fluids mix in the car. This can damage the transmission to the point where it needs to be replaced.What Can Cause Engine Oil in the Coolant Reservoir? The bad news is that the coolant can make its way to the transmission. This causes the coolant to be pink and foamy looking. Cracks can develop between the radiator and the cooler that allow transmission fluid to get mixed into the coolant. Often, the transmission cooler is part of the radiator. Many cars with an automatic transmission have a cooler for the transmission fluid. Another Coolant Problem – A Leaking Transmission Cooler And the cooling system will need to be flushed and refilled. The oil cooler and it’s gasket will need to be replaced. If the oil cooler leaks, the engine will still perform normally.įortunately for the customer, a leaking oil cooler is a much less expensive repair. However, a blown head gasket usually affects the engine’s performance. This can cause many people to think that the head gasket is blown. If the oil cooler leaks, the main symptom is oil in the coolant. But turbocharged engines usually have them. Oil coolers are not very common in gasoline engine vehicles. Pushing cold oil through the radiator and water pump may damage them.) The radiator and water pump should be inspected for leaks or damage.The entire cooling system will need to be flushed.The head gasket, of course, will need to be replaced.If the head gasket is bad, several repairs may need to be done: This will result in a white cloud of sweet smelling exhaust.Ī blown head gasket can be verified with a compression test. Coolant can also leak into the combustion chamber. This results in the brown sludge that can be seen in the top of the radiator, and the coolant reservoir. When a head gasket fails, oil can leak into the cooling passages and then end up in the coolant.
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