Milky Oil/Coolant Leak
Discussion
Hello,
I have a 2013 Vauxhall Adam, I've had it for over a year now. I recently had to have an oil change and had it fully serviced at the same time. The oil was like watery gravy. It was explained to me that this wasn't good and could be a blown Head Gasket. After topping up my coolant, I was told to regularly check the oil for milky residue and to see if the coolant had leaked. Today I noticed both.
My questions are, what is the likely cause of this? My manager thought it could be related to the water pump? Is that possible and if so is it a cheap fix? If it is a blown head gasket? is it worth the expense of getting it fixed or am I likely to encounter this problem again and better off getting rid of it?
Any advice/help would be appreciated.
I have a 2013 Vauxhall Adam, I've had it for over a year now. I recently had to have an oil change and had it fully serviced at the same time. The oil was like watery gravy. It was explained to me that this wasn't good and could be a blown Head Gasket. After topping up my coolant, I was told to regularly check the oil for milky residue and to see if the coolant had leaked. Today I noticed both.
My questions are, what is the likely cause of this? My manager thought it could be related to the water pump? Is that possible and if so is it a cheap fix? If it is a blown head gasket? is it worth the expense of getting it fixed or am I likely to encounter this problem again and better off getting rid of it?
Any advice/help would be appreciated.
Water mixing with oil and vice versa is generally a sign of head gasket failure. However it could possibly be the oil cooler which is at fault. A water cooled oil cooler only has rubber seals to keep the two liquids apart, these could be faulty.
Check to see if your car indeed does have an oil cooler first before you condemn the head gasket.
Check to see if your car indeed does have an oil cooler first before you condemn the head gasket.
It does sound very much like a failed head gasket, the milky emulsion is water in suspension in the oil. A failed water pump would leak coolant but not into the engine. a simple test at a garage will confirm. I don't know anything about the Adam, I replaced the gasket in my Astra about 20 years ago but I was skint at the time and now would just have it done at a garage.
What you describe is usually a sign of head gasket failure.
You can use one of these kits:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Combustion-Leak-Tester-...
3/4 cylinder engines are generally easy to do a compression test on, so if you feel confident enough you can do a compression test. I believe a bad head gasket would show very low compression figures this will confirm what the test kit mentioned above shows.
How much it will cost will depends on cost of parts, difficulty of repair and what other damage has been done. Did the car ever overheat? Does it blow white smoke out of the exhaust?
You can use one of these kits:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Combustion-Leak-Tester-...
3/4 cylinder engines are generally easy to do a compression test on, so if you feel confident enough you can do a compression test. I believe a bad head gasket would show very low compression figures this will confirm what the test kit mentioned above shows.
How much it will cost will depends on cost of parts, difficulty of repair and what other damage has been done. Did the car ever overheat? Does it blow white smoke out of the exhaust?
Edited by 321boost on Thursday 2nd April 20:50
321boost said:
What you describe is usually a sign of head gasket failure.
You can use one of these kits:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Combustion-Leak-Tester-...
3/4 cylinder engines are generally easy to do a compression test on, so if you feel confident enough you can do a compression test. I believe a bad head gasket would show very low compression figures this will confirm what the test kit mentioned above shows.
How much it will cost will depends on cost of parts, difficulty of repair and what other damage has been done. Did the car ever overheat? Does it blow white smoke out of the exhaust?
Thank you for your response. The car has never overheated, as of the white smoke can't say I've ever noticed tbh. You can use one of these kits:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Combustion-Leak-Tester-...
3/4 cylinder engines are generally easy to do a compression test on, so if you feel confident enough you can do a compression test. I believe a bad head gasket would show very low compression figures this will confirm what the test kit mentioned above shows.
How much it will cost will depends on cost of parts, difficulty of repair and what other damage has been done. Did the car ever overheat? Does it blow white smoke out of the exhaust?
Edited by 321boost on Thursday 2nd April 20:50
Water in the oil is not conclusive proof of head gasket failure. It's perfectly normal to have water condensate from blow-by gasses in the crank case and it tends to collect in the cool spots at the top of the engine. This is usually more obvious in cold weather and especially if the engine does a significant number of short journeys (< 30 minutes). In hot weather the engine spends more time running hot and tends to boil the water off quicker.
Having a coolant leak at the same time is reason to start getting concerned about possible HGF, but there are plenty of other possible reasons for a coolant leak so this is still not definitive.
It is worth checking the cooling system for scum in the coolant. The coolant should normally be completely clean, so any contamination is a sign that you have an internal leak somewhere. In bad HGF cases this is immediately obvious as soon as you look in the filler neck. If the HGF is slight, this might not be enough to be obvious but would still be detected by a block test aka sniff test. That's a simple and cheap DIY test which is well worth doing yourself if you suspect you may be suffering from HGF.
Having a coolant leak at the same time is reason to start getting concerned about possible HGF, but there are plenty of other possible reasons for a coolant leak so this is still not definitive.
It is worth checking the cooling system for scum in the coolant. The coolant should normally be completely clean, so any contamination is a sign that you have an internal leak somewhere. In bad HGF cases this is immediately obvious as soon as you look in the filler neck. If the HGF is slight, this might not be enough to be obvious but would still be detected by a block test aka sniff test. That's a simple and cheap DIY test which is well worth doing yourself if you suspect you may be suffering from HGF.
Macneil said:
It does sound very much like a failed head gasket, the milky emulsion is water in suspension in the oil. A failed water pump would leak coolant but not into the engine. a simple test at a garage will confirm. I don't know anything about the Adam, I replaced the gasket in my Astra about 20 years ago but I was skint at the time and now would just have it done at a garage.
Thank you for your response. This is good to know.GreenV8S said:
Water in the oil is not conclusive proof of head gasket failure. It's perfectly normal to have water condensate from blow-by gasses in the crank case and it tends to collect in the cool spots at the top of the engine. This is usually more obvious in cold weather and especially if the engine does a significant number of short journeys (< 30 minutes). In hot weather the engine spends more time running hot and tends to boil the water off quicker.
Having a coolant leak at the same time is reason to start getting concerned about possible HGF, but there are plenty of other possible reasons for a coolant leak so this is still not definitive.
It is worth checking the cooling system for scum in the coolant. The coolant should normally be completely clean, so any contamination is a sign that you have an internal leak somewhere. In bad HGF cases this is immediately obvious as soon as you look in the filler neck. If the HGF is slight, this might not be enough to be obvious but would still be detected by a block test aka sniff test. That's a simple and cheap DIY test which is well worth doing yourself if you suspect you may be suffering from HGF.
Thank you for your reply. This is currently what my coolant looks like and it has recently been changed and the oil lid. So may well need to conduct a sniff test. Having a coolant leak at the same time is reason to start getting concerned about possible HGF, but there are plenty of other possible reasons for a coolant leak so this is still not definitive.
It is worth checking the cooling system for scum in the coolant. The coolant should normally be completely clean, so any contamination is a sign that you have an internal leak somewhere. In bad HGF cases this is immediately obvious as soon as you look in the filler neck. If the HGF is slight, this might not be enough to be obvious but would still be detected by a block test aka sniff test. That's a simple and cheap DIY test which is well worth doing yourself if you suspect you may be suffering from HGF.
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ST17 said:
321boost said:
What you describe is usually a sign of head gasket failure.
You can use one of these kits:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Combustion-Leak-Tester-...
3/4 cylinder engines are generally easy to do a compression test on, so if you feel confident enough you can do a compression test. I believe a bad head gasket would show very low compression figures this will confirm what the test kit mentioned above shows.
How much it will cost will depends on cost of parts, difficulty of repair and what other damage has been done. Did the car ever overheat? Does it blow white smoke out of the exhaust?
Thank you for your response. The car has never overheated, as of the white smoke can't say I've ever noticed tbh. You can use one of these kits:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Combustion-Leak-Tester-...
3/4 cylinder engines are generally easy to do a compression test on, so if you feel confident enough you can do a compression test. I believe a bad head gasket would show very low compression figures this will confirm what the test kit mentioned above shows.
How much it will cost will depends on cost of parts, difficulty of repair and what other damage has been done. Did the car ever overheat? Does it blow white smoke out of the exhaust?
Edited by 321boost on Thursday 2nd April 20:50
Open the coolant refill cap, get the engine a little warm but do not run it too much and see if you can see bubbles coming into the coolant. This is something quick to do to see if it might be a head gasket failure but there can be other reasons for oil/coolant loss too. Best is to do the sniff test using that head gasket test kit.
This is odd.
For the oil to get as bad as you claim it was....you would need to be losing a substantial amount of coolant.
yet nowhere have you stated it has been losing coolant, nor you've been topping it up.
And where or how are you currently checking for the same goo you experienced ?
For the oil to get as bad as you claim it was....you would need to be losing a substantial amount of coolant.
yet nowhere have you stated it has been losing coolant, nor you've been topping it up.
And where or how are you currently checking for the same goo you experienced ?
stevieturbo said:
This is odd.
For the oil to get as bad as you claim it was....you would need to be losing a substantial amount of coolant.
yet nowhere have you stated it has been losing coolant, nor you've been topping it up.
And where or how are you currently checking for the same goo you experienced ?
If you re-read my original post again, I did stated both that the coolant was topped and that I lost coolant. I checked the oil cap. This is what it looks like For the oil to get as bad as you claim it was....you would need to be losing a substantial amount of coolant.
yet nowhere have you stated it has been losing coolant, nor you've been topping it up.
And where or how are you currently checking for the same goo you experienced ?
Still not making sense.
You said whoever changed the oil, said it was a brown goo ? This would suggest a massive loss in coolant.
So how much did you "top up" and when ? Or how often ?
And looking at the cap is in no way whatsoever a valid test of anything, as almost always it is just some condensation.
You said whoever changed the oil, said it was a brown goo ? This would suggest a massive loss in coolant.
So how much did you "top up" and when ? Or how often ?
And looking at the cap is in no way whatsoever a valid test of anything, as almost always it is just some condensation.
stevieturbo said:
Still not making sense.
You said whoever changed the oil, said it was a brown goo ? This would suggest a massive loss in coolant.
So how much did you "top up" and when ? Or how often ?
And looking at the cap is in no way whatsoever a valid test of anything, as almost always it is just some condensation.
The service was performed just over a month ago now. Mechanic drained all the oil and sent me a video where it literally looked like watery gravy. When he topped up the coolant, he accidentally poured it to where the head of the arrow starts rather than where the arrow is pointing. He told me to check it again in a months time. I did and the coolant has dropped significantly. I thought it was condensation but I'm losing coolant so HGF is seeming the most probable cause. You said whoever changed the oil, said it was a brown goo ? This would suggest a massive loss in coolant.
So how much did you "top up" and when ? Or how often ?
And looking at the cap is in no way whatsoever a valid test of anything, as almost always it is just some condensation.
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