motorr oil in coolant resevoir

[gym]

Hey! How do I troubleshoot where the oil is coming from when it shows up in the coolant reservoir? I have no sign of coolant in the engine oil, only oil in the coolant.

[tblake]

trouble shoot? well you can do a cylinder leakdown test and listen for air escaping into the exhaust, intake, or watch for bubbles in the radiator. More than likely you have a blown head gasket, and you might as well fix it before you cause more damage to your truck.

[gym]

Originally Posted by gym

Hey! How do I troubleshoot where the oil is coming from when it shows up in the coolant reservoir? I have no sign of coolant in the engine oil, only oil in the coolant.

Thanks for the advice. It wasn't what i wanted to hear, but i was hoping for something good!

[gym]

Thanks for the advice! It wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I figured it was not good. Jim

[tblake]

yeah, I really cant think of any other way oil can be getting into your coolant. If you say your engine oil always looks clean, is it always full? Could there be a possablilty that the oil in your coolant is tranny fluid? I'm not sure if jimmy's have tranny coolers in the radiator. Maybe check the tranny fluid. Anythings better than a blown head gasket, right? good luck.

[rlith]

Actually coolant in the oil pan would be a sign of bad intake/head gasket. Oil in the coolant "typically" denotes a bad radiator. The wall between the oil cooling portion of it and the coolant portion ruptures. Not saying Tblake is wrong mind you, just looking at it from a different angle.

[gym]

Originally Posted by tblake

yeah, I really cant think of any other way oil can be getting into your coolant. If you say your engine oil always looks clean, is it always full? Could there be a possablilty that the oil in your coolant is tranny fluid? I'm not sure if jimmy's have tranny coolers in the radiator. Maybe check the tranny fluid. Anythings better than a blown head gasket, right? good luck.

Thanks! I like this answer better but....I'm still trying to figure out how to solve it.

[tblake]

Originally Posted by rlith

Actually coolant in the oil pan would be a sign of bad intake/head gasket. Oil in the coolant "typically" denotes a bad radiator. The wall between the oil cooling portion of it and the coolant portion ruptures. Not saying Tblake is wrong mind you, just looking at it from a different angle.

yeah, I actually didnt know that there was an oil cooling portion of the radiator. I know some cars cool tranny flid with the radiator, right? Is the jimmy the same way? I just threw out an idea. I actually dont own a jimmy or blazer myself, but hope to real soon. I'm just trying to find out as much as I can about them, and help out as much as I can. I'm sorry if I led you in the wrong direction gym. I was kinda iffy about a head gasket blow too because if your oil is always clean it would make no sense as to why the coolant would have oil in it. Would it be possable for you to do a presure check on your radiator?

[rlith]

Originally Posted by gym

Thanks! I like this answer better but....I'm still trying to figure out how to solve it.

Replace the radiator and flush the cooling system is the only way to fix it

[rlith]

Originally Posted by tblake

yeah, I actually didnt know that there was an oil cooling portion of the radiator. I know some cars cool tranny flid with the radiator, right? Is the jimmy the same way? I just threw out an idea. I actually dont own a jimmy or blazer myself, but hope to real soon. I'm just trying to find out as much as I can about them, and help out as much as I can. I'm sorry if I led you in the wrong direction gym. I was kinda iffy about a head gasket blow too because if your oil is always clean it would make no sense as to why the coolant would have oil in it. Would it be possable for you to do a presure check on your radiator?

No biggie bud... Our trucks use the rad to cool both the oil and the trans...Passenger side lines are the trans lines, driver side are the oil lines coming from the oil cooler.

Pressure check probably won't help....

[gym]

Originally Posted by tblake

yeah, I actually didnt know that there was an oil cooling portion of the radiator. I know some cars cool tranny flid with the radiator, right? Is the jimmy the same way? I just threw out an idea. I actually dont own a jimmy or blazer myself, but hope to real soon. I'm just trying to find out as much as I can about them, and help out as much as I can. I'm sorry if I led you in the wrong direction gym. I was kinda iffy about a head gasket blow too because if your oil is always clean it would make no sense as to why the coolant would have oil in it. Would it be possable for you to do a presure check on your radiator?

I did do a pressure check about a week ago and only found leaks around external hoses. I am thinking that if my pressure drops slightly and can't see any visable leaks, then the HARD TO FIND LEAK might be in the radiator pushing anti-freeze into the oil. Ya know, I am gonna have to check that radiator out because I can't imagine that there is engine oil cooling in it. Only tranny oil cooling I thought. Anyways, it makes sense to me that if I am getting oil in the coolant ONLY, then the oil side has more pressure behind it pushing the oil into the coolant.Right thinking? Jim