230e 1991 2.3 4cyl. petrol. Oil in expansion tank?

[claire_simon]

Hi all.

My car has done 157,000 miles and has been running fine, recently bought it and done 2000 miles in it. I have tried to flush the engine last week as the heaters are not working, since then I noticed low oil level warning light & low water on dash came on. Checked and found that there is a film of oil in the expansion tank although there seems to be no water in the oil. Can anyone advise me as to what is the next step?

Any help with heater problem would also be greatly appreciated. The blowers work fine but isnt blowing hot air.

Thanks, Simon.

 

[Ian B Walker]

Heaters are down to the Duo Valves not working or an air lock in the heater system. As for the oil in water, is there any Mayo on the inside of the oil cap?

 

[claire_simon]

Heaters are down to the Duo Valves not working or an air lock in the heater system. As for the oil in water, is there any Mayo on the inside of the oil cap?

Hi Ian,

Thanks for quick reply. no residue inside oil cap or any discolouration of oil, just a film in expansion tank. I'm wondering if I may have dislodged the seal on head by flushing it? Help!!!!

It is converted to lpg if that makes any difference.(about 3-4 yrs ago previous owner fitted) on an Autronic sequencial system. It drives pretty sweet but sometimes stalls on lpg on tickover and fluctuates between 5 & 1300rpm. I have changed plugs and cleaned rotor arm and points but not really made any difference.
I need to have this sorted as it is my work car and having only just bought it I cant afford expensive garage costs!!

 

[Ian B Walker]

Check your gearbox oil if it is an auto. You may have ruptured the oil cooler for it which is integral with the radiator.

 

[claire_simon]

Will do. When you say oil cooler with radiator, I know that my car has had a radiator fitted from an air-con model 230 before I bought it (mine has no A/C). Could this be causing problems with this & the heater problems? Normal running temp is about 82'c on motorway and raises to 90-95'c in standing traffic. It also seems that the fan is not properly working as all it does is spin freely with the pulleys. As you can probably tell I am not really that clued up on car diy so any help is greatly needed!!

Once again thanks,

Simon.

 

[star]

It'll be your head gasket, where the high pressure oil passes thru it, and its leaking into the water jacket.

 

[Suki]

SAme thing happend to me. Turned out to be the head gasket gone....

 

[Ian B Walker]

I did not want to frighten him, but its a possibility that it has blown a gasket, but before hasty decisions lets look at the alternatives.

 

[Bolide]

Unless the engine is overheating badly and losing water I doubt the CHG has gone. If it runs at 82 degrees then I can't see the CHG has failed

If it's getting warm in traffic the fan's probably the culprit. The non-functioning heater will, more than likely, be the duovalve

I've seen plenty of cars with some oil in the header tank. Unless there are other signs (overheating, mayonnaise, coolant loss) I wouldn't read too much into it

A rad from a car with a/c won't cause a problem. The rad has a gearbox cooler built-in and these can fail & intermix gearbox oil & cooling water

The fact that the oil warning light has come on suggests you may not have checked the oil level recently. I'd top up all the fluids and monitor it closely for the next 3 weeks. That's the only way you'll find out what's going on

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[star]

oil in the coolant will not make it overheat, unless its been there for a long time and starts to sludge up the systen, Its not a water related headgasket problem, its the oil way in the headgasket which is at fault, it will contaminate all your hoses tho.