vento vr6 oil in water problems - help

[DECKED-MK3-DUB]

Evening all....

After some serious advice now guys

Bin away from site for a while after a serious crash in my old vr6 golf which nearly killed me thats a story for another day lol, i decided i wanted another vr6 so i just bought a vr6 vento on a n plate 2.8 vr6... I bought it with head gasket gone, well so to speak. Need some help becasue im not so sure it's the head gasket..

Car runs fine, never over heats, temp guage stays at half way all the time, fans cut in and no white smoke or pressure build up in the coolant system.. But i have a thin build up of oil type residue in the top of the header tank, like a creamy brown floating on top...

Now the oil isnt to bad, it looks abit creamy but not too bad,..

I took the oil cooler off and tested it in a bucket of water, by blocking off 1 end of the cooler and blowing in the other end with a air line blower, had a few bubbles then it stopped but the few bubbles may have just been trapped air as i submerged it into the bucket ?

 Im wondering if it is possible that the oil cooler leaks when its warmed up, i know oil runs in the 100 degress and coolant around 90 degress so i was wondering if maybe when the car warms up it then makes a hair line gap allowing the oil into the water.. Like i said i dont have a coolant system full of oil nor a sump full of water, just a tiny amount of oil/brown sludge floating around on top the header tank...


If its not the oil cooler is there any thing else it could be appart from head gasket ?

Are the head gaskets prone to letting oil in the coolant system ??

Help would be greatly loved lol, as tomoz i may rip the engine out and just get a whole new lump... The 1 in there has only done 100 k hardly run in for a vr6 so i thought i would try and repair it if i could...

Cheers in advace....

[AudiA8Quattro]

Bypass the oil cooler, see if you still keep getting oil in the water, after its been flushed.

[DECKED-MK3-DUB]

Bypass the oil cooler, see if you still keep getting oil in the water, after its been flushed.

Leaving the oil cooler in place just join the pipes up ?? A new oil cooler is only £26 plus vat so no to expensive..
Is it ok to run it with oil cooler coolant pipes off of it??

[Wayne]

Bypass the oil cooler, see if you still keep getting oil in the water, after its been flushed.

Leaving the oil cooler in place just join the pipes up ?? A new oil cooler is only £26 plus vat so no to expensive..
Is it ok to run it with oil cooler coolant pipes off of it??

Nope join them together and then retry it.

[AudiA8Quattro]

Bypass the oil cooler, see if you still keep getting oil in the water, after its been flushed.

Leaving the oil cooler in place just join the pipes up ?? A new oil cooler is only £26 plus vat so no to expensive..
Is it ok to run it with oil cooler coolant pipes off of it??

Its up to you. You could fit a new cooler as its cheap, or just connect the pipes.

[DECKED-MK3-DUB]

Im not convinced its oil cooler.... I think i may be looking at a more serious problem like head gasket or summit..

Seams like alot of oil in the water, and considering i have now tested the oil cooler and still no bubbles im thinking its time to get down and dirty and rip the head off..

Has any body else had a head gasket problem where the oil goes into the water on a vr6 golf, it may even be the heads cracked around the oil gallery, i heard from the previous owner it was fine till we had the cold weather, but he did say he didnt check the water for 3 months after so it may have happened long time after the cold snap...

Any body done a head gasket on one ? I also have to chance the gear box so i may just drop the engine and box right out the car...

Cheers guys :0)

[Wayne]

Could still be the cooler, they are well known for failing

It is a lot easier than replacing the head gasket.

[rubjonny]

yep id say cooler. were no other signs of failure such as bubbles, just a fk load of oil in my coolant. since it takes all of 20 minutes to remove the hoses and bridge them together, why not try it?

to flush the coolant drain it all out then flush with a hosepipe. fill it with plainwater and a cup of bio washing powder, then run it till the thermostat opens and the fan kicks in. then switch engien off, allow to cool then drain and flush with hosepipe again, repeat till oil is gone.

put fresh coolant in then drive it for a few days, see if the oil comes back. oil dripping out of the oil cooler ports is a givaway

[DECKED-MK3-DUB]

I took it off and gave it to a engineering company who skim heads etc and they tested it at 100 psi and no signs of leaks at all so i bit the bullet and pulled the head off it today..

Took me 2 hr 20 minz to get the head off, i am a mechanic so having use of work shop is a added bonus, seams the head gasket had gone accross the oil way to the water way so at least i found a problem...

Good job i took the head off as the timing tensioner side guide had totaly worn away down to metal rivits so another few miles and id be looking at bent valves so pleased bout that... how ever i cant get the guide out because the timing cover is bolted behind the gear box, so all the box has to come out now in order to change that guide 

[Wayne]

Good job i took the head off as the timing tensioner side guide had totaly worn away down to metal rivits so another few miles and id be looking at bent valves so pleased bout that... how ever i cant get the guide out because the timing cover is bolted behind the gear box, so all the box has to come out now in order to change that guide 

At least you found the problem, to replace the chains and tensioners is gearbox off, also easier with the engine out.