Head Gasket or Radiator

[StangDiego]

So I was checking my girlfriends fluid levels in her 96 GT when we realized there was oil in her coolant. She told me that she had been adding oil to her car recently (two quarts in two weeks) and this was unusual because that has never been necessary before. We took it in to a mechanic we trust and he said he thought there was an internal crack in the radiator, and that she would need a new one, along with all new hoses, and a major flush of the engine to get all the oil out. Damage: $800-1000. Well her uncle is a mechanic and he said that it was a blown head gasket. Damage: $2400. I'm not sure who to believe. I am unsure how oil would get in the coolant without coolant getting in the oil. The oil has to be going somewhere. Has this happened to anyone, or does anyone have any suggestions? We are both poor college kids, so the less money the repair costs the better, and she loves that car, so not driving it is killing her!

 

[9646gt]

usually if you get a blown head gasket the car will smoke a bad white..and if you are burning a quart a week that thing should be smoking bad I would think..do you have the updated intake on it with the aluminum crossover? Or is it all plastic? Not sure if that woul contribute to getting oil into the coolant but they are prone to leak and there is a recall on them..Ford wouldnt replace mione becuase it expires 7 years after warranty date I think..

 

[fatkidracing4.6]

Do our cars have an oil cooler in the radiator? I know if it is an automatic the tranny cooler lines would be going to the radiator and if the tank had ruptured you would be having tranny fluid in your coolant, but to be losing oil is far fetched unless we have an oil cooler! Now if you had coolant in the oil then u would have either a bad headgasket or a bad water pump, along with an overheating problem!

 

[9646gt]

Do our cars have an oil cooler in the radiator? I know if it is an automatic the tranny cooler lines would be going to the radiator and if the tank had ruptured you would be having tranny fluid in your coolant, but to be losing oil is far fetched unless we have an oil cooler! Now if you had coolant in the oil then u would have either a bad headgasket or a bad water pump, along with an overheating problem!

actually the tranny cooler is like a small radiator that mounts on the out side of the radiator and is basically jsut there to catch some air and cool a little..but I don thtink it would be integrated with the radiator in any way...if it were leaking the fluid would jsut hit the ground I would think..

 

[Kilgore Trout]

The raditor contains a tranny cooler inside it for automatic transmission equiped cars. The radiator does not contain an oil cooler. Only cobras have oil coolers and they are not inside the radiator. After market tranny coolers ARE strapped to the radiator on the outside.

 

[9646gt]

The raditor contains a tranny cooler inside it for automatic transmission equiped cars. The radiator does not contain an oil cooler. Only cobras have oil coolers and they are not inside the radiator. After market tranny coolers ARE strapped to the radiator on the outside.

Thanks for the correction I was remembering the way my GF's old Honda Accord was...damn *** cars heh

 

[StangDiego]

Okay so I'm not crazy. The car doesn't puff smoke at all, and the oil appears to be clean, leading me and the mechanic to believe that it was tranny fluid. I think it is bizarre that she has lost motor oil, because in 2 1/2 years of owning that car she has only had to oil twice before this last week. But its possible that the tranny cooler in the radiator cracked, and thats what has caused the oil in the coolant? That would make a lot of sense why the motor oil is clean but the coolant is not!

 

[Mike97gt]

So I was checking my girlfriends fluid levels in her 96 GT when we realized there was oil in her coolant. She told me that she had been adding oil to her car recently (two quarts in two weeks) and this was unusual because that has never been necessary before. We took it in to a mechanic we trust and he said he thought there was an internal crack in the radiator, and that she would need a new one, along with all new hoses, and a major flush of the engine to get all the oil out. Damage: $800-1000. Well her uncle is a mechanic and he said that it was a blown head gasket. Damage: $2400. I'm not sure who to believe. I am unsure how oil would get in the coolant without coolant getting in the oil. The oil has to be going somewhere. Has this happened to anyone, or does anyone have any suggestions? We are both poor college kids, so the less money the repair costs the better, and she loves that car, so not driving it is killing her!

ok first thing we NEED to know is if this car is a auto or stick. a auto will have a tans cooler built into the radiator and will make mechanic 1 right. the guy who said it was the radiator. ATF is a oil but with a lot of additives. so it may be atf you are seeing in the coolant.



how much oil is there in the coolant.

another thing that could have happend. is that oil from a high pressure oil feed is leaking or seeping into one of the cooling jackets. because of the oil pressure being much higher than the pressure of coolant at the point of leak. you will only see oil in the cooling system and not the opposite. <-- this is very unlikley too happen but it might have. and it would explain the extreme loss of oil

if the cars a auto you also need too check the trans fluiid. tranny fluid mixed with coolant looks almost orange. and it STINKS!!! trust me i have seen a radiator break internally and the coolant and atf totally interchanged. with each other.

 

[01SN8K]

well she says she has been adding oil. the oil consumption just started. you find oil in the coolant. hmmmmmmmmmm. well, i would sat its a headgasket. it may not smoke because its not coolant that is seeping. its the oil. the oil is finding its way into a coolant passage. plus you didnt say there was a leak to coincide with the oil loss. its leaking internally.

 

[StangDiego]

The car is an auto. The coolant is like a tan mud looking substance. My girlfriend describes it as "the muddy waters of the bayou." It smells like motor oil though, so my hope that it wasn't the head gasket is quickly fading. Would anyone have an estimate of what it would cost to do the head gaskets? We were told $2400, but this was discounted cause it came from her uncle. This seems high if he is giving her a break on it. Any other estimates from someone that has had it done? I would try it myself, but its a helluva lot more complicated than my 65 Stang! I have completely rebuilt my own engine without problems, and I have done little stuff on her engine, but this is a pretty big project comparitively. Should I even attempt or just help her out taking it to someone. Thanks for all the help.

 

[AdRock]

I'd drain the bad coolant and flush it out with some water. Ten refill it a pressurize the cooling system ( you'll most likely have to rent the tool for this ). Get it up to a good pressure and let it sit for a while. If you come back after 30 minutes or so and the pressure has dropped dramatically or completely then check for leaks everywhere. If you don't find anything, pump it up again and let it sit again. Then drain the engine oil and see if there is any water in there. If not then it would be safe to say it's not engine oil. Not 100% safe to say it but that's how I would check it.

Also, since the car is an auto trans then drain, flush and refill the cooling system. Disconnect the tranny lines from the radiator and use some fuel line to connect the two ends. This will take the radiator out of the trans equation. Then pressure up the cooling system like before. If the pressure drops then do it again and again to see if there is any water coming out of the holes in the radiator where the tranny lines connect. This will tell you if the wall is cracked between the two tanks as the one mechanic said it was.