Head gasket or not ??

[Sabbath]

Hi, im not mechanically minded and have a problem, i bought a 1.9 54 plate last week, which i may regret, anyway, i took to my friends garage for a quick once over and he noticed oil in the water reservoir, a lot of oill, he said possible HG, but, there was no water in the engine, just pure oil, clean oil, also the fan wasnt working and the thermo removed, he flushed the water system out, put in another fan and resealed the thermo (he didnt put one back in as there was an issue with the fan), since then i noticed there was a bit of oil in the water again, i flushed out the weekend (and there was only a bit), but there is a lot of power, pulls up hills in 3rd, sometimes fourth, ive plodded along at 80 and had no problems, no white smoke out the pipe, no sounding like a tank and certainly no water in the engine, he thinks that the fan packed in, a ball ache to change, so the thermo wasnt kicking in and over heating, quick fix for quick sale put oil in as oil doesn't boil over and steam hence the thermo removed, nowthe water is still flushing oil residue out the heater matrix....is this all possible.

[Johny555]

He put oil in the water?, it sounds like the head gasket has gone,that's why the stat was taken out

[Col]

Use a strong mix of water and traffic film removed in cooling system for a couple of days and drive it as normal, then flush thouroughly. The TFR will break down the oil as you really don't want that in there (expect to be renewing a few coolant hoses over the coming months)
If that clears it all well and good, but I do suspect you have a leaking head gasket. I have never heard of anyone adding oil to cooling system on purpose.

[Sabbath]

Ok thanks guys, how come the engine oil isn't contaminated and i dont need to top it up.

[polar]

I would say the oil cooler needs replacing - pretty common and dumps a lot of oil into the coolant and people immediately think head gasket.

[brodfather11]

As polar says !

[Johny555]

If their was a fan problem it sounds its over heated blown the head gasket,hence he took the stat out ,then sold it on quick,easy to check run it into a garage and have it tested,,

[ricc]

engine oil from a head gasket or cooler leak would be black globules ar a greyish oil water mix, a rad full of clean oil aint natural,
youve only got to read forums to know some owners aint got a clue, so your mechanics idea of a deliberate fill is perfectly possible, theres no real limits to ignorance and stupidity

if head gasket is leaking oil into cooolant you would notice the engine oil going down over time, my own eperience of engines that continue to run , has been of combustion gasses getting into the water , either pushing the water into the oil or out through the rad expansion bottle, engine oil being blown out usually results in engine seizure .

best to flush the cooling system to remove as much oil as possible then use it keeping an eye on both oil and water levels and see what happens.

ive run engines that blow water out for years with no real probs just topping up the water when the temp gauge tells me its running short, we had a fourtrak for years that would run happilly on short trips during the winter but need half a gallon every 20 miles in summer

[Sabbath]

Thanks everyone, i was told today to keep an eye on the levels, i checked the oil again and it's still the same, and clean, is it possible a HG either blows altogether or can develop a tiny split allowing a small amount of oil into the coolant, which is what i have, but back to the fact theres no water in the engine..uzzled.

[Sabbath]

I would say the oil cooler needs replacing - pretty common and dumps a lot of oil into the coolant and people immediately think head gasket.

I wasn't aware there was an oil cooler , the mechanic did say he done a compression test and was fine if that means anything to do with the problem