Archived Oil in Radiator

[TStinson]

HELP!! Oil in Radiator

Symptoms:

218000 miles on mildly BOMBed 1999 engine.

Engine seems to be (and has been) running fine.

During my daily 100 mile run home, oil pressure is showing a little below normal pressure @ highway speed. Still showing over 40 (factory gauge) so I did not really think much about it.

Engine temps normal.

No unusual noises.



As I slowed to less than 10mph to get off I-10 to go home, suddenly, without any help from a hard run @ high boost or any other similar reason: oil pressure gauge goes to 0, red lights come on and before I can react, pressure comes back up to where it was.

When I got home, I found 1-1/2 gallons oil missing from the crankcase. Appears to have gotten into the coolant system because - LOTs of oil on passenger side of engine compartment - apparently blown out of radiator into coolant recovery bottle - then out of bottle and all over everything.



I've read all the posts - looks like there are at least three likely causes:

1. Oil cooler leaking oil into coolant

2. Bad headgasket letting oil get into coolant passage

3. Warped head doing the same.



Any good way to determine which is the culprit? (Besides rolling the dice & doing one or the other first to see if it fixes the problem).



Looks like Murphy is indeed Alive And Well!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

You can pull the oil cooler and have it pressure tested at a radiator shop. I'd try that first.

 

[GAmes]

I looked thru your profile and saw no reference to KDP fix.

 

[TStinson]

Steve: Thanks for the idea - I'll try that and see what happens. I have not found much info on the construction of the oil cooler - Can it be repaired sim. to a radiator/heater core?



GAmes: Don't remember where it came from, but I thought I read somewhere that the KDP did not involve the 1999 24-valve.

 

[TStinson]

Steve: I pulled the oil cooler and had it pressure tested at a radiator shop. No leaks were detected... soooooo... Off With The Head!

BTW. . info for anyone having similar problems... the construction of the oil cooler does not lend itself to repairs. It appears to be made of multiple pieces of sheetmetal and pressed together with bent tabs to hold it all together. Does not really look all that substantial.

 

[GAmes]

Sorry my post was so brief. What I meant was if you haven't looked already check the gear case for the leak. You may have a new enough engine not to worry about the KDP but it only takes a minute to look.

 

[guava]

I recently had a valve guide dissintegrate on my cessna and several things happened.



Engine kept running fine will only slight drop in pressure and no corresponding rise in engine temp/oil temp.



Valve guide pieces remained in the valve spring making it hard to find and diagnose.



With the open valve, the compression stroke of the cylinder put large amounts of pressure into the system for short duration which shoved oil out of the system.



Failing an obvious blown head gasked problem, I'd look at these things.



Good luck.

 

[2-ND TIME]

oil cooler in engine

Do believe that there is a oil cooler in the engine under the oil filter bracket??? don't know how it is connected.

 

[TStinson]

guava: I'm going to have the head decked and valves touched up in the meanwhile. I'll check out the guides during this. Thanks for the idea.



2-nd Time: You are correct. When you remove the bracket, the oil cooler can be removed from the engine block. The filter bracket acts as the coverplate for it and has passages into the cooler to circulate the oil inside the cooler which is immersed in the coolant.

 

[Andy Redmond]

Did your guy put 70 psi to it?



Your symtoms are classic of oil cooler/oil cooler gasket failure? Ck. the ck. valve in the filter base too.



Good luck, let us know what you find out.

Andy

 

[TStinson]

Andy: He was only setup for between 35-40psi. Cooler looks very clean tho', no corrosion at all. I've had Fleetguard Compleat coolant in it since about 100000 mi. (has 218000 on engine). I'm replacing the cooler gaskets and will check the valve out. Didn't know it could be a problem - you're the first to mention it.