My lucky day

[mikinoz]

Opened up the coolant reservoir to find this.



So, what is the method for a coolant flush and refill in the mkii engines? It says G16? on the coolant reservoir, but the coolant is green, I thought G16 was red no?

I hope it is nothing major, I don't have the patience.

[Golf Loon]

Oh No Mik, that is oil mixing with the water.
Only things it could be is Head Gasket. Lets Hope Not.
Or Oil Cooler above the Oil filter.
Compression Test the engine with a tester by removing the spark plugs.
If thats all ok, You will need to pressure test the cooling system, I have the kit if you cant do it nearer.
Or Bypass the oil cooler, join the 2 water hoses together, flush the system out with some degreaser in the water system. top up with fresh oil and water and say a prayer.
Does the car still run ok??

[Lima]

Nasty.

Hope it's nothing too serious.

[jimmyjames]

Opened up the coolant reservoir to find this.

So, what is the method for a coolant flush and refill in the mkii engines? It says G16? on the coolant reservoir, but the coolant is green, I thought G16 was red no?

I hope it is nothing major, I don't have the patience.

That is oil emulsified with water (coolant medium).

See if you can drain your crankcase. If you're getting oil in your cooling system you may also be getting water in your lube system.
Hopefully it's only a head gasket. Fingers crossed.

One way to check is to remove your radiator cap when the engine is cool, start it up and watch your coolant level, if it pulses or surges you may have a leak next to one cylinder.

Follow the other good tips and, best of luck mate.

[dubai gti]

good luck there mate...only one word for that stuff...mayonaise..

[GRN_VAGN]

I drove my rolla about 200kays before i knew the headgasket had gone, was only a tad hotter then normal so i didnt worry. went to do oil change and ohhhhh..... Milkshake under tappet cover

Shouldnt cost much to fix, thinks it was
$45 for headgasket
$10 for inlet/outlet gasket
then, coolant, oil, plugs ect on top
And $50 to get head cleaned, pressure checked and skimmed.

Good luck on it mate

[RedMk2Gti]

I drove my rolla about 200kays before i knew the headgasket had gone, was only a tad hotter then normal so i didnt worry. went to do oil change and ohhhhh..... Milkshake under tappet cover

Shouldnt cost much to fix, thinks it was
$45 for headgasket
$10 for inlet/outlet gasket
then, coolant, oil, plugs ect on top
And $50 to get head cleaned, pressure checked and skimmed.

Good luck on it mate

Only if you can DIY, how's the oil filling cap look like Mike ???

[gtimk5]

It is more costly that doing a corolla head.
You will need to have the head plained and also replace the head bolts, I have been caught out with miss information and used the original head bolts. Lasted 1.5 laps of Baskerville raceway before destroying the new head gasket.
You will need patience Micheal,
sorry to see this problem...
Andrew

[Golf Loon]

Check the compression before pulling the head off.
I have seen it be the oil cooler lots of times.
It will be an adventure if it is the head gasket as its a 16v Mk1.
The engine is near new though, so compression test it as it could well be the cooler.

[gtimk5]

Pressure test the cooling system would be my course of action.
Thats not compression getting into the oil.....

[GRN_VAGN]

Yeah i know its more costly,
and yeah forgot about the headbolts

Good luck either way you go

[mikinoz]

So I am back from Hobart and drove it home from the airport. The car is not using oil or water, not over heating and running as well as it has since I have had it (but damned if I can work out how to get it to idle under 1000 rpm)

So the course of action I think is to have a pressure test done. However in the mean time, I am going to disconnect the oil cooler and if it is that, then at least there won't be more oil getting into the system.

If it is a headgasket/cracked head - I am going to have kittens. But all of that aside, a rebuild never hurt anyone!

[GRN_VAGN]

a rebuild never hurt anyone!

Good Excuse to upgrade

[jayjay]

head *ahem* work.

is it an external radiated oil cooler?

[mikinoz]

It is the oil filter/cooler assembly one Jay.

I went out and dropped the coolant and there is heaps of cloudy oily muck in the bucket. The good news for now, is that the oil in the engine is pretty much as I would expect. I have isolated the oil cooler, taken the cooling hoses off and blocked them with bolts and clamped back together. Tomorrow I will flush it a few times with degreaser and clear water to see if the murk will come out.

Now I am going to suspect if there is oil transfer from the cooler to the coolant, it will now likely leak out from the open coolant fittings?

So what I need to find out is if the oil cooler can be removed so it can be run without, or, how hard are they to source?