usermst9673

Here is the story my father took his 00 v6 into the shop to have ac work done. Anyways they fixed the problem with the ac but then called him back stating that they found oil in the coolant and wanted to diagnose this for an additional fee. I told him to decline and just go pick the car up because I did not remember that the car had any oil mixed in the coolant as of right before he took it in. Well I looked at the car today and sure enough there was oil in the overflow tank, so I opened the radiator cap. The coolant inside the radiator was perfectly green no oil residue. Anyways I disconnected the overflow tube to prevent that contaminated stuff from getting into the radiator, going to have to clean it out tomorrow.


What are the odds something is wrong? Im thinking someone deliberately poured oil into the overflow tank in an effort to make a quick buck. What do you guys think?

jwog666

clean the overflow tank and keep an eye on it. oil (or oily residue)can get in the coolant from a few sources. i cant vouch for your mechanic, but not everyone is out to scam you.

usermst9673

jwog666, thanks for the response. I just find it very odd that there was oil in the antifreeze in the overflow, but no oil/residues in the actual radiator just clean antifreeze.

(I dipped a paper towel into the overflow and it looked like i had just dunked it in a used oil pan.)

(dipped another into the radiator and it came out antifreeze colored)


I know oil tends to float on top of the antifreeze, but if there was actually oil coming from the car wouldnt it be both obvious in the overflow and looking in the radiator with the cap off?

jwog666

not always as it will find the highest point in the radiator, and then be pushed out into the overflow on expansion, but it will not get drawn back into the radiator when cooling because it draws off the bottom of the overflow tank. it could be a scam, or it could be a legit problem, like i said, clean the resevoir out and then reinstall and keep an eye on it, no more oil....it was a scam. oil shows up ......u have an issue

Pepe03

So I have this exact problem anybody know what it could be? No coolant in the oil system but oil in my coolant system I just flushed out the coolant system and did the oil change.