oil in water...

[nighthawk]

I noticed oil in the water/coolant of my H23A1 engine when I was pulling it. So now I have it sitting in my garage and need to find the source of it. I thought this was 90% usually a head gasket. I was at a machine shop the other day and he said its usually the oil cooler if it has one, which it does.

So what's a good way to track this down with the engine out of the car?

[quickangel93]

pressure test the cylinder head and block. check for cracks. 99.9% of the time, the only way oil and water could come together is through the headgasket.

[nighthawk]

if I pull the head will I be able to tell for sure that it was the head gasket or not?

[kelton]

it will look something like this if its blown

http://www.timgilles.com/photogaller...headgasket.jpg

[quickangel93]

if I pull the head will I be able to tell for sure that it was the head gasket or not?

yes you would see it. but i could also not be a gasket issue. my bros cd5 has a cooling leak into the oil and it wasnt the gasket. somewhere in the head or block theres a crack that made it mix. this could be a cause of driving when the car is overheating, or beating the piss out of the motor.

[cp[mike]]

theres only a certain number of places where oil and coolant are close together... if it was automatic, the AT radiators have transmission fluid running through the bottom half of the radiator. if the core is decomposing it could start to leak, but really not that common or likely.

otherwise either the headgasket is blown, or the head is cracked somewhere...

[nighthawk]

theres only a certain number of places where oil and coolant are close together... if it was automatic, the AT radiators have transmission fluid running through the bottom half of the radiator. if the core is decomposing it could start to leak, but really not that common or likely.

otherwise either the headgasket is blown, or the head is cracked somewhere...

cool, it was a 5-spd

I'll pull the head and take a look, if I dont see anything I'll get the head pressure tested.

[nighthawk]

got the head pulled and the gasket looks fine

[Night Wolf]

is it A/T?

[nighthawk]

cool, it was a 5-spd

nah, manual trans.

[nighthawk]

anyone seen the oil cooler go bad? I'm gonna check it out but not sure if I'll be able to tell.

[alb_accord]

i wouldn't tell if its a head gasket even if it is a head gasket..... about 90% of the times its a head gasket... the other 10% is whatever everyone said in this thread.


just hope you don't have a crack somewhere. they are a bitch to find out.