Coolant Mixing with Oil -> not headgasket?

[David Bartlett]

Hi All,

History:
-Water pump died (plastic), replaced with metal and did timing belt.
-Girl friend drove the car without pump till overheat

-Bug does not produce any smoke of any kind.

-After waterpump change and timing belt Bug runs fine other then occasional stumble on startup

New coolant (only g12) recently turned muddy milkshake brown. Smells of oil. (about 1000km after pump change). Heart valve has sludge (peanut butter) on the bottom.

-Oil seems normal, only slight orange/yellow/brown sludge on the oil cap. Inside the valve cover its all clean.

-pulled headgasket, no visible cracks. I did make note that one hole in the gasket joins another. I believe its the 4th bolt hole at the front side of the engine. The gap joining the two holes is 3.5mm wide.

-head looks straight and normal (sending it to a shop for inspection)

-plugs look normal (grey not white)

Cylinder head is black and valves are the same.

What could cause the oil to mix with coolant, and not the other way around?


I would love help with this.

David

[vdubbugman53]

either it is the head gasket or your head is no longer flat after the overheat.

[Porkchop]

Originally Posted by David Bartlett

What could cause the oil to mix with coolant, and not the other way around?

Check the oil cooler - it's the aluminum assembly you screw your oil filter into. Sometimes the nut on the filter stud comes loose and it can leak. There may also be a seal inside of there. That's the most likely culprit I can think of - there were even a few posts about it years ago.

[David Bartlett]

The head shop got back. The head is out 60 thou... 10's the limit.

Thanks everyone.

David