Nope; just suggesting other possibilities. Most commonly overheating and coolant loss are due to head gasket issues, but not always. Most commonly oil and coolant mixing or either one leaking externally is due to intake manifold gaskets, but not always. For visible external leaks in which you're not sure of the source, you can add a small bottle of dark purple dye, then after driving long enough, you search with a black light. The dye will show up as a bright yellow stain that you can follow back to the source. If you add the dye to the coolant and it shows up on the oil dipstick, you still don't know for sure where the leak is so the mechanic has to start by removing the intake manifold and hoping to find traces of dye between the oil and coolant passages. If he doesn't find that, then he has to move on to the head gaskets. Makes it real hard for him to provide an accurate estimate of repair costs.
Sunday, May 27th, 2012 AT 10:11 PM