Oil in coolant reserve??

Jasonox

Active Member
Jul 22, 2015
31
0
Cornwall, United Kingdom
At first I noticed I was losing a little water over a few days and a local garage said it was a slow leak from my radiator so I had that replaced, also my coolant light kept beeping and flashing so replaced my coolant tank and that fixed the light problem, the old tank was so stained it was hard to see the water level too, but since replacing I've noticed the dark brown like liquid has come back and surrounds the edges again and also faint spots floating around in the water! I dipped a hand towl in and pulled out what seemed to resemble oil but not entirely sure, any help would be greatly appreciated.

My car is a Seat Leon Mk2 2.0 Tdi 2005

Photo:
20160622_154508.jpg
 
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Jasonox

Active Member
Jul 22, 2015
31
0
Cornwall, United Kingdom
Hi,

I could be the oil cooler is leaking into the cooling system.

Koush
Just got car back from the garage and they've confirmed the head gasket is perfectly fine and there's no leaks in the coolant system and did advice a possible oil cooler leak, advised me to just keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse, is that a safe option?

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koush

Active Member
Oct 30, 2010
292
1
Churchdown,Gloucester
Hi,

I would get it done sooner rather than later, as it will contaminate all your coolant pipes, etc and will take a lot longer to flush out all the oil, will cost more in labour.

Koush
 

cunningham85

Active Member
Feb 3, 2015
62
0
Lochore Fife
Please let me know if the oil cooler fixes it I have the exactly the same symptoms. I cant see you pic as im at work but I also have little black deposits in the resovoir. Im having to top my coolant up every week as a precaution. Its been pressure tested and it all came back fine to.
 

Jasonox

Active Member
Jul 22, 2015
31
0
Cornwall, United Kingdom
I can only assume the coolant is escaping from the same place the oil is leaking through and evaporating but I'll keep you posted on my progress

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cunningham85

Active Member
Feb 3, 2015
62
0
Lochore Fife
Thanks Jasonox ive got friends at VW and they have struggled to find out whats going on. Ive got the same engine and ive not long had the rad done to as that's where we thought all the coolant was going (it was leaking)
 

Dorny

Active Member
Feb 23, 2015
92
0
We had a Focus in the other day and its coolant reservoir was full of oil and was causing the engine to majorly overheat. This was due to the oil cooler, and it made a complete mess of the coolant system and took hours and hours of trying to flush the whole system out of oil. And we still didn't get it fully cleaned out of the radiator

So get it sorted before it becomes majorly contaminated with oil.

Oil in the coolant is either headgasket or Oil cooler. But if you have tonnes of oil in the coolant its more likely to be the oil cooler
 
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Jasonox

Active Member
Jul 22, 2015
31
0
Cornwall, United Kingdom
At the moment it just seems to be little faint spots, garage seems to think it's nothing to worry about, said see if it gets really bad over time then will know it's oil cooler, kinda don't wanna wait for the worst to happen

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koush

Active Member
Oct 30, 2010
292
1
Churchdown,Gloucester
like I said earlier, get it done sooner rather than later, it will save you money on flushing, also if left to get worst you could end up with an over heating issue which could cause more problems.

Koush
 

Jasonox

Active Member
Jul 22, 2015
31
0
Cornwall, United Kingdom
Can anyone confirm if my oil cap looks normal? Pressure test came back fine on coolant system and they ensured me no water was getting in the oil and that head was fine.

20160626_143834.jpg


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cunningham85

Active Member
Feb 3, 2015
62
0
Lochore Fife
you can get some oil in the water from condensation if you do lots of short journeys. Im not sure if what your seeing on the cap is normal though? Did you change the cooler?
 
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