[Vwdiesel] Oil is in my cooling system water

[David Cook]

Sherwin-

the problem lies in one of the places that water and
coolant are in relative close proximity to each other,
and there are two that I can think of. 

First, and less likely, is the oil cooler.  It is not
impossible for these to spring a leak internally and
leak oil into the coolant.  

Yours may or may not have an oil cooler.  I know in
the earlier cars, there weren't oil coolers installed.
 However, in the heavier Vanagon, they might have
been.  The cooler would be sandwiched between the oil
filter and oil flange, with a couple coolants running
to it.

The second, and more likely, is the head gasket. 
Simply put, these are a known weak area and are prone
to eventually leaking.  Oil in the coolant is a common
sign.

I doubt that really anything else has been damaged,
unless so much oil escaped to allow the level to just
drop to a dangerous level.  Probably this didn't
happen.

It is possible that the engine overheated allowing the
gasket to fail by way of the head warping.  On the
other hand, as I said, they are a weak spot and simply
just fail sometimes.

The solution is replacing the gasket using proper
techniques such as making sure everything is clean
clean clean, having the head checked and flattened by
a shop that is very familiar with old VWD heads and
their special requirements.  Also, you have to make
sure that the bolts are torqued properly, and some
folks think that replacing the bolts with head studs
will make it even more secure.

David 

--- Sherwin Goff <sherwingoff at yahoo.com> wrote:

> To all you wonderful VW Diesel lovers out there: 
>    
>   I have three questions.
>    
>   My belief is that before I set about to fix a
> problem, I really need to understand the first cause
> of the problem. 
>    
>   If I fix the problem now but do not understand its
> cause, I can have the same problem again and again. 
>    
>   After I understand the original cause, then I can
> better understand the problem. I'm looking for the
> original cause of the problem. 
>    
>   1983 VW diesel Westfalia
>    
>   My three questions are:
>   1.) What problem do I now have that is allowing
> engine oil to escape into my cooling system?  
>    
>   2.) What could have been the original CAUSE or
> possible CAUSES of my having this oil seeping into
> my cooling system? What would be the cause of a
> thing like this ever happening in the first place?
>    
>   3.) What kind of damage could this have done to my
> engine (if any)? 
>        (a) What then are the solutions 
>        to the problem I now have and; 
>   (b) What is the solution to what may have caused
> this problem to begin with?
>    
>   Thanks!
>   Sherwin
> _______________________________________________
> Vwdiesel mailing list
> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
> 


David Cook
Red '86 Cabriolet Diesel Powered
Red '90 g60 Corrado 
Brown and White '78 Westy Campmobile "Bear"
and others in various states of disrepair
Pictures here: community.webshots.com/user/superdave5599

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