Help! '96 windstar oil in coolant

tmoke · 03-29-2004, 08:17 PM

My windstar with the 3.8 liter has oil in the radiator coolant. No sign of coolant in the crankcase oil. Help me diagnose this please. Where in this engine are the oil (under pressure) and coolant in close proximity to each other? Thanks. Tom

madmax40965 · 03-30-2004, 02:47 AM

Tom,
Hate to say it but, blown head gasket.The 3.8 has
a history of this. Sorry.

JMJEREMIAH3239 · 03-30-2004, 11:05 AM

Tom, How many miles on the van ???? Just wondering.

jim

ModMech · 03-30-2004, 11:15 AM

That issue is exactly why we have a '98 WS with the 3.0L, and NOT the POS 3.8L.

I'm sorry to agree with the others, but it sounds like the head gasket is toast. The REALLY bad news is that the repair is typically $1500 and up!

lewisnc100 · 03-30-2004, 01:33 PM

Could also be the lower intake manifold gasket, which if it is would be less expensive to replace.

ModMech · 03-30-2004, 01:42 PM

No, he said he has no coolant in the oil. If the intake gasket goes, you get coolant in the oil, NOT oil in the coolant.

tmoke · 03-30-2004, 09:21 PM

The van has 93,000 miles on it. If i'm reading you all correctly, this would be a leak between a coolant passage and an oil passage within the head gasket, right? Do you think that this situation will lead to more internal engine damage? I'm planning on having it repaired, but as long as it is torn down should I look at anything else? I assume that since there is no coolant in the motor oil the bearings etc should be OK.

tmoke · 03-30-2004, 09:28 PM

By the way mcdrunky, what IS a good van these days?

rodeo02 · 03-31-2004, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmoke

...Do you think that this situation will lead to more internal engine damage? I'm planning on having it repaired, but as long as it is torn down should I look at anything else? I assume that since there is no coolant in the motor oil the bearings etc should be OK.

This could eventually lead to coolant in the combustion chamber and crankcase which will trash an engine in short order, as well as kill your emissions sytem. You will have to replace all the top end gaskets. This will give you a chance to do a good lower intake cleaning (EGR ports). If you have any seepage at the timing chain cover, you may as well get that done as well, as that is another "problem" area of the ford 3.8L. Like previously said, this will be a time consuming & fairly costly repair, but that takes care of all the major things with these engines.
G/luck
Joel

ModMech · 03-31-2004, 01:03 PM

"What is a good van..?"

IMO, a Toyota Cienna, or *maybe* a Freestar. Ford WORRIES ME. They do not look after customer satisfaction well, and many of their dealers are worse (from personal expierences).

lewisnc100 · 03-31-2004, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ModMech

No, he said he has no coolant in the oil. If the intake gasket goes, you get coolant in the oil, NOT oil in the coolant.

Didn't read the post carefully enough. One question for the forum, since Ford has a history of head gasket failures on the 3.8L in many models as well as lower intake manifold gasket failures in several engine types, does anyone get their oil analyzed frequently? If you have a gasket blowout or a quick loss of coolant you definitely know that it happened, but frequently people just see a gradual loss of coolant before there is really much visible evidence in the oil. These tests check for coolant prescence and would pinpoint even traces of coolant in the oil before it was visible. Anyone try these? Here's a link to an example report:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/auto_report_3.html

tmoke · 03-31-2004, 07:51 PM

I had the cooling system pressure tested today and it was not too bad--1.4 lbs lost in a 2 hour period. No external leaks detected. No coolant in the oil. I'm thinking that I'm going to flush the cooling system and put a can of Mendtite in with the new coolant and keep a close eye on it for the next couple of weeks to see what happens. Sound OK?

rodeo02 · 03-31-2004, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmoke

...I'm thinking that I'm going to flush the cooling system and put a can of Mendtite in with the new coolant and keep a close eye on it for the next couple of weeks to see what happens. Sound OK?

If you can't put money into this van, given the symptoms, this might be the way to go for you. Of course these type of "additives" are not the best way to go. If you have any type of plugging in your radiator, heater core, engine cooling passages, etc.. you run the risk of plugging those things worse. Who knows. It may work!
G/luck
Joel

derffred · 05-24-2004, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmoke

The van has 93,000 miles on it. If i'm reading you all correctly, this would be a leak between a coolant passage and an oil passage within the head gasket, right? Do you think that this situation will lead to more internal engine damage? I'm planning on having it repaired, but as long as it is torn down should I look at anything else? I assume that since there is no coolant in the motor oil the bearings etc should be OK.

I have a 95 3.8 and the head gaskets went so I spent $1400 on the top end and then 7 months later the bottom end went, they are known for have main bearings destroyed by anti-freeze, ended up getting whole rebuilt motor $3200.00 (wish I would of done that in the first place)

nissandro · 01-18-2005, 12:00 PM

This is happening to my 97 Windstar now. What diagnosis did you come with after all? It will help me to find out what to do.

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