2000 crown victoria PI oil in radiator

[1996Chreokee]

Hi I am looking to buy a 2000 CVPI with 100k miles on it. It is really clean and he wants 900. Problem being there is oil in the radiator. No coolant in the oil. He said a ford tech told him that is was the oil cooler, so he said it cost him 400 and he changed it but there is still the problem of oil lose into the radiator. are these cars prone to head gaskets? Are the a real head and expensive repair? Is there a way to check to see if it is a head gasket without a pressure test? bubbles in the radiator??? or running real rough?

[way2old]

You can get a kit that checks for exhaust gasses in the coolant. Usually when the 4.6 loses a head gasket, it leaks outside not in. Not saying that is not your problem, but it is not really common.

[Blue)(Fusion]

The oil cooler does not have any point where the oil and coolant can mix. If oil got into the coolant, than it is a high probability of a head gasket issue.

I just started noticing my driver side head gasket leaking a bit of coolant into a cylinder based on the white smoke out of the exhaust on occasion. Prior, it only weeped coolant from the head gasket to the valley.

I'm not sure of the model year or manufacture date range but I'm pretty sure the MY2000 is affected by a problem during the manufacturing process where metal particles got between the head gasket and mating surfaces and can cause the weep and premature headgasket failure. But like way2old said, these engines mostly weep externally unless it was severely damaged such as in the case of being overheated.