1997 Saturn SW2 Oil In Coolant Reservoir

APRILBAR

MEMBER
1997 SATURN SW2

1997 Saturn SW2 155000 miles

Hello,

I have had my car for a month. It is driving fine. I can't detect anything wrong with it.

I went to get my first oil change today and the guys at the shop found goopy stuff they said smelled like oil in the reservoir. They thought it might be a bad head gasket but then said that the gasket looked fine and they weren't sure what it was.

They flushed the entire system and when they ran a new test - they detected a little but of oil in the coolant.

What could the problem be? What is going to be my expense?

Thanks

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,885 POSTS

Hi:
If you are getting oil into the coolant, there is a chance it is a head gasket. To be sure, you would need to perform a compression test to see if there is a cylender that has lower comprssion than the others. What I recommend it since you just had it done, and the car is running good, drive it to see it the problem happens again. Keep an eye on the motor oil to make sure there is no coolant getting into it because that could cause damage to the engine internally. Let me know what you find. If you do need a headgasket, (and the head is fine), you can expect to spend around 500 dollars based on where you live.

Let me know what happens and I will direct you. If you need directions on how to perform a compression test, let me know and I provide that for you.

Joe