Fordmods Logo

Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF) 

 

Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ] 

 
 Post subject: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:20 pm 
Parts Gopher
Offline

Posts: 77

Joined: 23rd May 2010

Ride: BA XR8 Boss 260 6-spd manual

Location: Auckland
New Zealand

Yesterday while tinkering around I noticed a bit of goo inside my overflow (header) tank ('95 EF 4.0litre Fairmont auto), opened the cap to take a look, and saw it was slick with oil. I removed the tank and drained it into a clear plastic juice bottle - there's quite a lot of oil in there (couple of cm's, maybe a few cupfuls) on top of the bright green fresh coolant.

Or, could it be auto transmission fluid?? It looked kind of slightly reddish, before it all mixed up into a gooey grey-brown emulsion.

My main questions are:
Is there any way I can test/figure out whether it's engine oil, or ATF? And then, where do you start to look to find the source, or where/how it's getting in to the coolant? I drive this thing every day and I'm hoping to avoid some major mechanics repair bill.

Bit of background.

About 5,000km ago, I flushed the cooling system, and replaced the coolant with new fluid. I was worried then that I might have put too cold fluid in to a hot motor during the process. But hadn't observed any problems in the months afterwards.

About 1,000km ago I drained and replaced the auto trans fluid and filter.

There is no water in either the engine oil, or the auto trans fluid. Both (oil and ATF) are very clean.

I've refitted the overflow tank and topped up the coolant, and will see how much more oil has accumulated there after a decent run.

But meanwhile, any input much appreciated!
Thanks

 

_________________

Previous cars:
XA GT351 sedan (manual)
XF/XE club race car (351 manual)
EL Falcon
EL Fairmont
AU XR6
BA XR6 Turbo

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:38 pm 
Parts Gopher
Offline

Posts: 77

Joined: 23rd May 2010

Ride: BA XR8 Boss 260 6-spd manual

Location: Auckland
New Zealand

Thanks - here's a pic of the 2litre juice bottle, with the contents from the header tank.

That's about one litre of coolant in there.
Attachment:
Oil in coolant.jpg
Oil in coolant.jpg [ 33.37 KiB | Viewed 157 times ]

 

_________________

Previous cars:
XA GT351 sedan (manual)
XF/XE club race car (351 manual)
EL Falcon
EL Fairmont
AU XR6
BA XR6 Turbo

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:37 pm 
Getting Side Ways
Offline
User avatar

Age: 34

Posts: 3379

Joined: 11th Mar 2008

Ride: EA SVO, AU2, Toyota Crown

Location: Bendigo
VIC, Australia

there is a common problem that the trans cooler (located in the cool side tank on your radiator) splits. now i'd be checking you auto trans fluid too. hopefully there is no coolant in it. usually the auto fluid is at a high pressure than the cooling system so it won't happen.

if thats the case you'll have to replace the radiator and give the engine a really good flush. through the heater core, block, everything.

 

_________________

Daily driver: 2010 Toyota Crown hybrid 3.5L V6 hybrid. 254kw.
Weekend car: AU2 "XR8" 220kw 5L 5 speed. 19" BBS LM . Full exhaust. Lowered on Kings and Koni's. 13.8@97mph
Fast car: EA SVO AU motor. Built BTR. SDE 3500 stall. 76mm turbo. On E85. approx 425rwkw. 10.8@126mph

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:25 pm 
Parts Gopher
Offline

Posts: 77

Joined: 23rd May 2010

Ride: BA XR8 Boss 260 6-spd manual

Location: Auckland
New Zealand

uniacidz wrote:
Yeh reason why peoples use a external trans cooler (i havent yet but thinking of it)



What do you think of - instead of fitting a new radiator, just fitting an external trans cooler, and plugging off the ATF line ports into the existing radiator?

New radiators here seem to go for about $250-$300 kiwi $. That's just the rad, not fitted.

 

_________________

Previous cars:
XA GT351 sedan (manual)
XF/XE club race car (351 manual)
EL Falcon
EL Fairmont
AU XR6
BA XR6 Turbo

Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:01 pm 
Oompa Loompa
Offline
User avatar

Age: 59

Posts: 38

Joined: 11th Jul 2010

Ride: ford ed xr6

Location: marsden
QLD, Australia

imo looking at that bottle i would be thinking engine oil . i kno if you mix tranny fluid with water it goes pink & milky . do a test with engine oil & coolant & mix the 2 together to see if it matches what you got in the bottle .
Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:20 pm 
Fordmods Newbie
Offline

Age: 43

Posts: 7

Joined: 7th Jun 2010

Ride: xh splash ute

Location: emerald
QLD, Australia

also be carefull what coolant you use in cars with aluminium heads/parts etc some of the aftermarket replacement coolant is highly corrosive.
Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:32 am 
Getting Side Ways
Offline
User avatar

Age: 43

Posts: 1339

Joined: 7th Nov 2004

Gallery: 3 images

Ride: FGX G6ET

Location: Worrigee
NSW, Australia

That's a LOT of oil...has to be tranny fluid leaking into the rad. Replacing the radiator is a piece of piss...10 minute job. Bite the bullet and get a new one.
Top
 Profile  
 
 
 Post subject: Re: Oil (lots!!) in the cooling system - HELP! ('95 4.0 EF)
Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:31 pm 
Parts Gopher
Offline

Posts: 77

Joined: 23rd May 2010

Ride: BA XR8 Boss 260 6-spd manual

Location: Auckland
New Zealand

Picked up a brand new radiator today for NZD$180 - not bad.

 

_________________

Previous cars:
XA GT351 sedan (manual)
XF/XE club race car (351 manual)
EL Falcon
EL Fairmont
AU XR6
BA XR6 Turbo

Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:
Sort by  
 Page 1 of 1  [ 8 posts ] 

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 59 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

 

 

It is currently Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:06 am All times are UTC + 11 hours

 

 

(c)2014 Total Web Solutions Australia - Australian Web Hosting and Domain Names