My fathers 1990 townace SE manual is suffering from a problem of coolant mixed with oil. I know that it is definitely transmission oil. There are no overheating problems and the engine oil is black, I would expect white foam if there are gasket problems.
I need some help in locating where the oil could be entering the coolant. I have read that the oil is cooled in the radiator, could this be causing the problem. We have had a couple of gearbox problems i.e not been able too engage the gears and we originally thought this was a clutch problem. Obviously it is water entering the gearbox ???. There are no other problems except the heater has stopped working.
Thanks in advance for ideas and tips.
Nick.
- (#7218) Nick, 16 Feb 03
tranny cooler is a heat exchanger in the left hand rad tank...
- (#7219) david miller, 16 Feb 03
We've got a contradiction going on here, you say that you have 'had a couple of gearbox problems i.e not been able too engage the gears and we originally thought this was a clutch problem. Obviously it is water entering the gearbox ???. ' this being the case it won't have a gearbox oil cooler as you say it's a Manual. Therefore the oil must be engine oil I suspect. Let us know more. HTH Rob.
- (#7220) Rob Drinkwater, 16 Feb 03
Sorry for the contradictions. After reading more info I realised that the transmission cooler only applies to autos. I know it seems odd but the two problems, i.e not engaging the gears and the oil in the coolant, occurred at the same time. They may not be related, it was a stab in the dark.
Anyways, the problem outlined in my first post occurred a couple months ago during some cold weather. My father started the ace left it running to warm and then when he was ready to leave the gears failed to engage, well apart from 4th. My father noticed there was fluid on the ground, beneath the ace. We were able to get the ace to a local mechanic who replaced a number of pipes, due to rust. He mentioned something about a plate on the gearbox, which he removed and water mixed with oil ran out. He said there appeared to be 2 holes into the gearbox??.
He repaired the pipes and flushed out the cooling system as he found it was black, due to the oil. Recently the front heater has stopped working so we inspected the coolant and again the coolant was black.
We drained it and refilled it, but now the coolant light is on constantly. I followed the guidelines printed on another site to fill the cooling system.
As I mentioned the ace is not using oil, as we check this each weekend. The oil filler cap has no traces of water i.e no white foam. When head gaskets have gone is this not a sign, if not what other signs can we check for to see if it is indeed a gasket.
I am at a lose to why this problem is occuring, but know if it isn't cured it could be terminal. The ace is running fine at the moment, but for how long??
The present oddmeter reading is rough 130000kms
P.S The coolant and oil mixture is very unusual, if it gets on your hands it is very hard to remove.
Hope this helps
Thanks
Nick
- (#7318) Nick, 20 Feb 03
Nick
There are a number of ways that a head gasket can fail. It is true that typically one would find oil and water mixed, provided that the failure was between an oil and water duct.
However, if your coolant is black, it may be that there is a failure between one of the cylinders and one of the water ducts. This will allow exhaust gasses to enter the coolant, and due to the sooty nature of diesel, it will turn it black. As you are not experiencing other symptoms, it is possible that it may be at an early stage of failure, and a minute hairline crack may have opened up, and it will act in a similar way to a valve, only allowing gasses into the coolant, and not coolant into the cylinders.
- (#7319) dave Bright, 20 Feb 03
I'd concur with Dave Bright here, it sounds like the usual problem of a crack in the precombustion chamber in the head, the cooling system runs at just a few pounds of pressure, the compression ration is around 20:1, so lots of pressure to force soot & gasses into the coolant, will also pressureise the cooling system & force it out of the expansion tank. This may give the impression of no coolant loss, obviously diesel is a heavy oil, this mixed into the coolant would give you a real messy fluid, but the trouble is that the only way to confirm all of htis is to whip the head off. Sorry for the bad news, Rob.
- (#7320) Rob Drinkwater, 20 Feb 03
Thanks for the feedback.
Looks like the ace will be returning to the garage for some expensive work. I think it is probably best to get it sorted now, rather than leave it to get worse.
Thanks again
Nick
- (#7437) Nick, 26 Feb 03