oil in radiator

[TRDirks]

Yesterday when I checked the oil it was @ 1 quart low. I then noticed oil in the coolant overflow tank. After talking with local Buick buddies the determination was that either the oil cooler in the Rad. is leaking or the front cover gasket went bad. I flushed the Rad. and changed the oil and disconnected the oil cooler. I pressure tested the rad. to see if coolant would come out the oil cooler holes but nothing was confirmed. I drove the car yesterday and again some more today, at times quite hard, and have yet to see anymore oil loss or presence of oil in the Rad. or overflow. My fingers are crossed. Anywho I decided to do a search here and see if anybody else had ever expierienced this and could not find anything. The only thing I did find was thaty some people had stated that if you had oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil (which I did not have) then it could be a blown head gasket. So could it be a blown headgasket if you get oil in the radiator, and if so how, since there are not any oil passages next to coolant passages on the head gasket?

Any info supplied would be helpfull since next week I plan on taking the car to Ocean City for the a week and I am certain I will be putting a beating on it.

TIA

 

[peterkin]

bump...

 

[TRDirks]

TTT

 

[Zero Tolerance]

Tim,
Is there any way to pressure test the entire cooling system? That would show if was a head gasket.

 

[TRDirks]

When I pressure tested the radiator it was still hooked up so I guess I should have said that I pressure tested the whole cooling system. The test didnt reveal anything though. The theory was that the leak could be only a problem at higher pressures. Since the cooling system only gets to 15psi and the oil system gets much higher (40psi+) then maybe it will only leak in the one direction????

I have driven it some more and all still looks well with the oil cooler out of the circuit so maybe that was it???

Any other ideas?

 

[tminer]

You could pressurize the oil cooler by plugging one fitting and rigging something up to connect an air hose to the other. It probably would not have to be air tight and don't use pressure over 50 psi. Just look for bubbles in the radiator.

If it is marginal now, it might not be when you are done!

Tom