Coolant in oil

Tiny
GAIJIN
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 CHEVROLET CAMARO
  • 3.8L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 200 MILES
I recently just put in a new transmission and decided to do my rear main seal. I put everything back together and crank it and I've notice I have coolant in oil. Before I started project, everything was working properly. No mixers or leaks, no blown head gaskets or anything. So I want to know is it possible I installed my crankcase gasket improperly?
Wednesday, February 19th, 2020 AT 4:32 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
SCGRANTURISMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,897 POSTS
Hello,

Usually when you have coolant that is mixing with your vehicle's oil it is going to be a blown head gasket that is allowing this. The other possibilities would be a cracked cylinder head or engine block, or a leak in the intake manifold gasket where and if your vehicle has a coolant crossover tube. This would allow coolant to leak into the intake manifold and enter the combustion chamber there and be forced down around the piston rings and into the oil sump that way. Here are a couple of links below explaining how to check for a blown head gasket below:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/head-gasket-blown-test
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-engine-compression

Please go through these guides and get back to us with what you find out.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros

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Wednesday, February 19th, 2020 AT 4:56 PM
Tiny
GAIJIN
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Okay, everything is great! No bubbles in radiator, no foul spark plugs and its running smoothly! Also, no gunk on oil cap. No over heating and I have high oil pressure. It's like the water is going in some other way? I mentioned something about the crankcase and the rear main seal. I made sure I tighten everything down good. And it's not leaking but could it be leaking behind it? I'm clueless on what to do.
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Friday, February 21st, 2020 AT 9:13 AM
Tiny
SCGRANTURISMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,897 POSTS
Hello again,

The only thing that I can think of would be a crack in your engine block below the piston travel that is allowing coolant to leak into the crankcase, but is low enough that you are not losing compression. The only way to check for this, unfortunately, is to disassemble your engine and do exploratory surgery on it. We can send you instructions on how to remove and disassemble your engine if you would like or we can send you instructions on how to do an engine swap if you would like. Please just let us know what you want to do and we can accommodate you.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros
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Saturday, February 22nd, 2020 AT 6:40 PM

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