Author Topic: oil in coolant  (Read 1868 times)

Offline Tornado8

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oil in coolant
« on: 28 December 2020, 19:50 »
Got into car and low coolant message. Filled up tank found oil in coolant and a dirty orange colour. Drove down road to test, within 1 mile coolant light on again and oil and water on road and steam coming from front of engine in the middle. Could it be oil cooler or something else. Thanks in advance :sad:
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Offline wantmygti

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Re: oil in coolant
« Reply #1 on: 28 December 2020, 20:17 »
Sounds like classic signs of a head gasket failure but I haven’t heard of them going regularly in Mk7’s.
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Offline Finglonga

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Re: oil in coolant
« Reply #2 on: 28 December 2020, 21:53 »
The coolant is Orange and you will get tons of steam in this weather. How often are you re filling the coolant? Is your oil level going down? Take the oil filler cap of and look for it being milky (emulsification) as that is a sign oil and water is mixing.

Offline ub7rm

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Re: oil in coolant
« Reply #3 on: 29 December 2020, 10:56 »
Orange coolant, especially if its been diluted down by water isn't in itself too much of a concern.  Its not unusual to see a sort or 'mayo' or emulsion in the coolant bottle this time of year if the car tends to do short journeys either.  If you are losing lots of coolant internally you would expect to see it exiting as steam in the exhaust.  Again this time of year a little steam is not unusual esp when cold.

Its more likely you are losing water from the waterpump or maybe thermostat, have a look down the left hand side of the engine (looking from the front) and see if you can see anything.  With the rate of loss you are describing there should be plenty evidence.

Maybe check the oil level as well to see if it is working its way into the sump. 

Hopefully its not the worst case of blown head gasket or failed EGR cooler. 
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