Oil in Coolant..........................what to look at next

[Marcellus]

On a 2001 TD5 LWB Defender with 88,000 miles on the clock.

So far replaced head and head gasket and new oil cooler.....but I'm still getting traces of oil in the header tank.

If I release the screw valve on the coolant tube to the radiator it "spurts" coolant....if I remove the header tank the hose coming up has only coolant....If I connect the header tanks and go for a prolonged drive then I get an oil/coolant mix in the header tank.

I've just done c1000 miles over the past 48 hours which brings me to about 2000 miles in the past week (which is a story in itself)...everytime I stopped over the past 2 days I checked coolant levels, tissue soaked up oil residue, topped up coolant and checked the oil.

There is absolutely no trace/sign of coolant in the engine (oil is clear/dark but clear in dipstick and no white sludge on filler cap)

The level of coolant doesn't seem to be changing between stops which as I'm a tad paranoid has been every 240 miles/3 hours (yes I've pretty much been averaging 80mph) ...

Now when we changed the oil cooler we didn't manage to fully flush out all last remnants of oil from the cooling system.....so I was expecting some but it seems to me to be more than I expected.....

I was thinking I would remove the header tank (which should by rights have the last of the oil) clean all traces of oil out and then see where that takes me....but if oil remnants come back what shoudl I do next??

[Steve_D]

It may just be the remains of the contamination from the HG failure that prompted the head change.
If all the levels are remaining the same then all has to be OK.

Steve