Why is coolant in my oil

The most common visual symptom of a leak that has been going on for awhile is a brown milky sludge in the coolant. In the early stages of a leak, there may just be an oily sheen on top of the coolant. If the owner has missed these symptoms, the car may have overheated. If the coolant is contaminated with oil, it will need to be flushed and replaced.

The root cause of the problem will also have to be repaired. Here are the two most common causes of oil in the coolant:.

When a head gasket fails, oil can leak into the cooling passages and then end up in the coolant. This results in the brown sludge that can be seen in the top of the radiator, and the coolant reservoir.

Coolant can also leak into the combustion chamber. This will result in a white cloud of sweet-smelling exhaust. A blown head gasket can be verified with a compression test. If the head gasket is bad, several repairs may need to be done:.

Oil coolers are not very common in gasoline engine vehicles. There are a few steps to follow in order to apply pressure on the coolant system. The first step is to remove the coolant cap. Once you have done that you need to put on the pressure tool. Let that sit in place for about 10 minutes. Once the time is up, see if it has lost pressure. If it loses pressure during this time, you have a leak in your coolant system.

The next step is to determine if the leak is internal or external. Check under your car to see if you can find any external leaks. Look to see if there are any cracks in the gaskets. It is very dangerous to continue driving a car that is leaking and mixing oil with coolant.

You know if your car is not working properly. If you suspect there is an issue, you should check to see if anything is leaking. To do this, you need to make sure your car is on level ground and has not been turned on in at least 2 hours. You first want to check to see if there is coolant inside the engine.

You can do this by looking at the dipstick and the oil fill cap. If you look at the oil and it looks milky or yellow-colored, you most likely have coolant in the oil. The next thing you want to do is check to see if there is any oil in the coolant. You can do this by removing the radiator cap.

Once you open it up you will be able to see if there are any pools of oil inside the radiator. Additionally, you will be able to see oil in the coolant reservoir. If you have found these substances mixed together, you need to stop driving the car and get the issue resolved. Oil has an important job when it comes to lubricating parts for the engine. The engine is built up of a lot of different parts. These parts include gears of all different sizes, pistons, camshafts, and bearings. Some of these parts are packed in tightly and create a lot of heat due to the friction that occurs when they are working against one another.

To reduce this friction and heat, oil is used. An accident that cracks the cylinder head or damages the engine block can result in oil and coolant mixing as well. We talk to customers all the time that have this problem. As we pointed out and as you could probably guess, having your coolant and oil mixed is terrible for the health of your car.

You coolant has another purpose: it is designed to keep your car from overheating. If you have oil mixed with coolant in the reservoir, you will notice a thick, milky or gravy-like substance that is a tell-tale sign that you have this issue.

You will want to clean the reservoir thoroughly and flush the radiator with water. Similarly, you will want to check your oil dipstick and see if it shows an oil-coolant mixture in your oil tank. If so, you will want to change out your oil as well. When changing the oil and coolant, we recommend adding quality products like our Hy-per Lube Oil Supplement. Hy-per Lube Oil Supplement seals piston rings and valve guides, which can prevent or reduce leaking issues.

It can also give your oil greater protection, restore fuel economy and performance and extend the service life of your oil by as much as 50 percent. You may also benefit from our Hy-per Cool Super Coolant , which is compatible with virtually every type of antifreeze and proven by independent Dyno-testing to lower engine temperatures up to 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the life of these solutions will vary according to the severity of the leak, the key is repairing it as soon as possible. This will depend on the problem. It is important to know what kind of failure your car has experienced before jumping to any conclusions. Start with the engine cool and have your car parked on level ground. Its best to wear gloves and protective eyewear. When coolant mixes with oil inside the engine it will created a milky goo or chocolate milk as some will call it which is a milky white or yellow colored oil.

This can be seen when you remove the oil dipstick or the oil fill cap on the valve cover. You can also use a flashlight to look inside the valve cover to further inspect for coolant in the oil. There could be a very slight amount of milky oil on the oil fill cap due to condensation but this will not be present on engines that are run on a regular basis.

When this condition occurs the most likely cause it a blown head gasket. On V6 and V8 engine's the intake manifold gasket can leak allowing coolant down into the engine's crankcase and mix with the engine oil. To check for this failure the intake manifold will need to be removed and the gaskets inspected. Head gasket failure is one of the most common problems to allow coolant into the engine oil.