oil in Coolant

[nickh]

Hi, I have noticed I have oil and a lovely slime in my coolant, I cannot remember if this is good or not. i checked in the engine and the oil looks clean there.

Could someone explain how this might have occured, and what i can do to fix it.. It seems to tie in with some higher than usual oil consumption.

I am thinking i might add something to the coolant? the car has only dpne 82k miles..

N

 

[jmcbuilder]

Hi

It Could Be your head gaskit and oil is leeking into the water. I am
not an expert

Jamie

 

[DougE280]

I'm not an expert either, but you should stop using the car straight away. If it gets worse - highly likely - and you end up with water in the oil you could destroy the engine totally!

 

[NormanB]

Nick

This is bad news I am afraid.
Would recommend you do not run the car.
A good outcome will be it is only a head gasket.
A bad outcome a cracked cylinder head.
Once you have the head off you will need to ge to a specialist for crack detection and machining anyway. There are therefore other jobs which may be worthwhile doing while it is off, depending on mileage and general condition.

If you continue to use the engine you need to bear in mind that efficient heat exchange is no longer taking place where it is most critical around the cylinder walls and the head passages (oil not as efficient as removing heat and effectively creates local hot spots). It is not inconceivable that you could end up with engine seizure - but that would very much be worst case. The engine block/cooling passages would benefit from a detergent clean/flush while your are engaged in this repair.

I am not an expert and would hope that AndyG or Piestore could advise you on the specifics of your engine type. 82K seems rather low mileage for this failure unless it has dubious history of course!

 

[nickh]

oh Dear. :cry:

Sounds like it's on the way out. I don't think i can take the risk of a cracked head, so i might have to sell the car..(which i will be very unhappy about).

best case is I could replace the head gasket myself, (I have done on many other cars years ago), but I gotta be honest it's looks a bit of a nightmare, does anyone know if it entails the use of any special mercedes & tools.

Any ideas on cost of a head gasket kit? or experience in changing these.

 

[TimN]

I paid £200 for a reconditioned cylinderhead complete with tappets for a 240TD etc from a guy near Chesterfield. The orignal had a crack between the two valve seats.

The 230TE car I now have also had a similar split. The alloy head was TIG welded and skimmed something like £30 and £25 for each process respectively. Power Units at Hatfield did the work.

Both cars were of the W123 series. A head gasket set for those cars costs £35 from German, Swedish and French. Although not original I have not had any problem with them.

Also you could try a specialist breakers yard. There are plenty about.