More bad luck,Oil in radiator

[Irish Paj]

So the pressure had dropped to barely off Zero over the last week and i knew something was up but i was doing an oil change on the paj which might i say was the easiest i have ever done and i had hoped that would sort it out but on draining the old oil feck all came out like say 2ltrs!
It had been heating up on the temp side again and i topped it up as i have been doing for months as it has a coolant leak of about a ltr a week which i could deal with but on topup this time sludge was evident in the radiator and upon taking of the oil cap there was some gunk on the under side too and the oil level had less than halved.
So mechanics today and he was happy it isn't a quad 3.5ltr and has got it booked into look at properly next week,hoping it's a hairline crack,i don't know.
It was my worse fear but the coolant situation has always bugged me and i was considering selling it on before the end of the year now i may just keep it after it gets sorted,pity it is going through every motion known to poor Paj owners.

[Pauly Faulkner]

It's Unfortunate but is common, I'd be hoping for a gasket leak

[chrisfarru]

3 years ago I had the same problem, though I was running through at least 1 L of coolant every 5 kms.A bottle of coolant stop leak did the job and I never looked back. 50000 ks later it runs strong on and off road. Year in year out I have never topped the radiator with a single drop of water. By the way i used tap water not coolant.

[Irish Paj]

It's Unfortunate but is common, I'd be hoping for a gasket leak

How can it be idenified?
Does it still require to be stripped down?

3 years ago I had the same problem, though I was running through at least 1 L of coolant every 5 kms.A bottle of coolant stop leak did the job and I never looked back. 50000 ks later it runs strong on and off road. Year in year out I have never topped the radiator with a single drop of water. By the way i used tap water not coolant.

Lucky you mate,it wasn't Holy water by any chance?

[scorpion 42]

post thread

you dont say which paj you have, but yeah, it has to be stripped down, head off and see what the head gasket tells the mechanic, then he will have to re build it from there after the heads been to an engineer to be skimed, providing the block isnt cracked between the bore's, worst case scenario, anyhow best of luck on what the mech finds.

[Pauly Faulkner]

How can it be idenified?
Does it still require to be stripped down?

Unfortunately yes
Oil in water and water in oil is hard to pin point with the heads on, as is already said "as the heads come off the mechanic will go straight to the head gasket and inspect for blow out bits etc", if no evidence of a blow out then the heads are inspected as 99% of the time if it's not a gasket it's a hairline crack around under the centre bearing cap on the head wich is high pressure oil feed.
This allows oil to get squeezed through the crack to the water when engine is running and then after shut down the oil pressure is gone but the remaining pressure in the cooling system squeezes water into the oil.

[Irish Paj]

you dont say which paj you have, but yeah, it has to be stripped down, head off and see what the head gasket tells the mechanic, then he will have to re build it from there after the heads been to an engineer to be skimed, providing the block isnt cracked between the bore's, worst case scenario, anyhow best of luck on what the mech finds.

Its a 94 V6 3ltr,he told me the head will have to be sent off to be done and the radiator too which is now 50% Castrol Magnatec!
Thanks,fingers crossed i'm too fond of it to let it get me down.

Unfortunately yes
Oil in water and water in oil is hard to pin point with the heads on, as is already said "as the heads come off the mechanic will go straight to the head gasket and inspect for blow out bits etc", if no evidence of a blow out then the heads are inspected as 99% of the time if it's not a gasket it's a hairline crack around under the centre bearing cap on the head wich is high pressure oil feed.
This allows oil to get squeezed through the crack to the water when engine is running and then after shut down the oil pressure is gone but the remaining pressure in the cooling system squeezes water into the oil.

There was alot of pressure in there and lets just say it spewed all over me yesterday at the mechanics,i had let it sit up for 30 mins or so before getting him to lift off the rad cap,it got me head to toe,in my mouth and all ,he wasn't that bad!

Here's hoping,the mechanic just fixed another Paj up with similar problems so it doing it's rounds.

[rancox265]

Unfortunately yes
Oil in water and water in oil is hard to pin point with the heads on, as is already said "as the heads come off the mechanic will go straight to the head gasket and inspect for blow out bits etc", if no evidence of a blow out then the heads are inspected as 99% of the time if it's not a gasket it's a hairline crack around under the centre bearing cap on the head wich is high pressure oil feed.
This allows oil to get squeezed through the crack to the water when engine is running and then after shut down the oil pressure is gone but the remaining pressure in the cooling system squeezes water into the oil.

This is unfortunately true, and was why I dumped my VT Commodore because of oil/water mixing and suspecting a crack in the head. Somebody else's problem now LOL

[chrisfarru]

If you don't have that much invested in you paj I would give the stop leak a go. Everyone said it won't do the job with the kind of leak I had but its been fine despite towing a caravan for 1000s of kms

[hootnah]

If you don't have that much invested in you paj I would give the stop leak a go. Everyone said it won't do the job with the kind of leak I had but its been fine despite towing a caravan for 1000s of kms

Hi, just out of interest, what kind of stop leak did you use?
Cheers, Jim.

[Pauly Faulkner]

stop leak will stop coolant escaping no problems but it's a bit touch and go with oil entering the coolant system. I used it in mine and had both mixing together, it stopped the water getting in the oil for 3months until i pulled the engine out but small amounts of oil still got in the water wich was manageable as oil floats to the top under the rad cap and just got pushed into the reservoir when the coolant expanded and it just sat ontop in there

[Irish Paj]

If you don't have that much invested in you paj I would give the stop leak a go. Everyone said it won't do the job with the kind of leak I had but its been fine despite towing a caravan for 1000s of kms

I will,i got a price back today saying min $1500,at that price it is a no go so i am going down the stop leak route and i got to get the radiator cleaned and refilled to remove all the gunk,anyone recommend what to use?

The Wagon only sees local trips work and school and is never stressed!
Unlike its owner

[chrisfarru]

the best way to cool the system is to disconnect the heater hoses and stick a garden hose to the passenger side heater hose and let the water over flow from the radiator top. Obviously do this on a cold engine. After that, do the same thing using the driver's heater hose to reverse the flow. Give it plenty of time with the water running. After you're done with the cleaning remove the block drain bolt when the pajero has cooled down completely.

Then use distilled water and the stop leak. The instructions will usually tell you to drain the water with the stop leak after a few kms and refill with coolant. When I did that the leak re-appeared. I repeated the treatement and left the stop leak in the system for the last 3 years. Never leaked a drop and the engine has been stressed to its limits at the dunes, 4WD etc.

[Pauly Faulkner]

I take the thermostat out and refit the housing then back flush with hose on full blast, fill with straight water and use barsleak rad flush(slow acting powder) and run engine for 4hrs or 200km, alkaline salts work best at over 60c and will dissolve any sludge in the system, after treatment repeat the back flush then re-install thermostat

If it's been running low on oil and/or overheating then I'd strongly recommend an oil flush after leaks have been fixed

[Neville Bartos]

Can only relay my experience of trying to put off a head repair on my old NG 6g72. Drove it around for some months with slight mixing of the oil/coolant but pretty manageable as it was only using a cup or so of coolant every 2 weeks. Well one day we were about 2k from home, at a set of lights when I heard a pop from under the hood, not loud at all, the Missus didn't even notice. Anyway drove home, turned the car off, hopped out heard a hissing sound, and out of the exhaust issued the biggest cloud of steam I have ever seen. The pop was the head gasket going an then I think the head cracked when I got home, allowing all the coolant into the manifold and exhaust. Just saying it may be better to get fixed now in case more damage occurs down the track. After that experience, I am going to be fanatical about the fluids, belts, seals & cooling system of my NJ 3.5.