Oil In Radiator

[Adz2332]

Hey all

Serviced the car today. Found a little oil in the radiator. Not a huge amount but scum up the top of the radiator etc.

Any ideas why etc?

[89CAL]

Obvious suggestion would be headgasket problem or problem with the gasket in the oil cooler (I think these go every now and then)

But cant say for sure thats what it is

[Adz2332]

Thanks mate. Forgot to mention its a 33 gtr...

Will get the tuner to check it out asap then

[Adz2332]

It doesn't appear to be blowing white smoke etc

[jiffo]

Won't blow white smoke unless the gasket has gone across to a combustion chamber too.

If the gasket has only gone oil > water you'll see oil in the coolant.

Not an easy one to test, especially with the stock heat exchanger also a suspect.

[Adz2332]

Whats the best plan of attack?

Juat replace the gasket and see what happens?

[GTSBoy]

Well, yeah.

[StevenCJR31]

^^ bad idea - the hg blew for a reason

he needs to establish why the hg blew in the first place otherwise he could be doing this all over again very shortly

[GTSBoy]

Usually the act of taking the head off and replacing the gasket is the work required to find out what caused it to blow. Assuming it blew. Because it could still be something else, like the heat exchanger, or a cracked head.

[89CAL]

^ Pretty much

Thats why I originally didnt say 'this will definetly be it' but it is most likely one of those things. I suppose if you wanted to test the heat exchanger you could remove the coolant lines, link them together and then run the car and see if the problem gets worse, or if you get oil leakage out of the coolant ports in the heat exchanger. Just let the thing warm up easy

Otherwise if its head gasket/head related then the only option is to pull the head off.

[StevenCJR31]

so you are saying that he should replace the hg in case in might be blown? geez thats an expensive way of diagnosing a problem

[GTSBoy]

Well, if you want to look at it that way, then yeah, it is an expensive way to diagnose a problem. But I tend toward the expectation that people on here who ask these questions need a mechanic to do the work, so they will then take it to a mech with the "oil in water" story. Whether the head gasket gets replaced or not would then depend on what the mechanic finds.

But I take your point.

[89CAL]

You will most likely have to take the head off to check the gasket, and when you go that far you may as well replace it wether its blown or not......

It's just the way it is.

[Tonba]

As the other guys said, sounds like head gasket issue to me!

[StevenCJR31]

there is tests you can perform to determine if the hg is blown or not whilst the motor is intact,taking the(factory) hg off usually destroys it and it maybe harrd to pick up where it blew(thats if it blew at all)

its just the way it is

[Adz2332]

I have a fully rebuilt and forged engine.... i thought they put a metal head gasket in looking back on recipets. that was about 25000kms ago.

So looking at this, things are getting worse for me

[Chris32]

Over the course of a weeks driving does it use much coolant?

Not the same car, but my Commodore had similar issues after I replaced the radiator and thermostat, new fluid etc.

I swore I'd done the head gasket, as after a few days there was little bits of oily crap on the rubber of the radiator cap. Then I checked the overflow, and it was in there too.

It was using around 100ml of coolant a day.

I found a heater hose that was a bit loose, and then dumped the coolant and replaced it. Its been fine ever since! The only thing I could think of was either the new radiator had a bit of crap in it, and the fresh coolant might have dislodged some buildup from the engine somewhere.

Check the overflow bottle to see if its got the same stuff in it

[StevenCJR31]

(to op 2nd answer above )not time to panic yet strongly suggest you get the engine tested before you start tearing the motor down and then having to work out which TAB you can rob to pay for it :-)

Edited July 9, 2013 by StevenCJR31

[GTSBoy]

QUOTE

there is tests you can perform to determine if the hg is blown or not whilst the motor is intact,taking the(factory) hg off usually destroys it and it maybe harrd to pick up where it blew(thats if it blew at all)

/QUOTE

Oil in water and combustion gases in water are two separate things though. I don't think there's a "test" that will tell you that your oil in water problem is definitely HG or not.

Edited July 9, 2013 by GTSBoy

[Adz2332]

Hahah sorry, just GTR and problem = panic to me.

Will book it in asap and see what they think.

Will let you guys know the outcome