[yoshiman]

1.9d, leaking oil in a big way - a quick look under the bonnet and its coming out of the cooling expansion tank....after lots of swearing and tantrums and some time away from the bloody thing...

Do all 1.9D's have an oil cooler fitted - could it be 'kaput' and its mixing the oil and water? Could it be as simple as a flush of both systems, a new cooler, and fresh fluids???

Help/Advice Appreciated

 

[JIMMYJAMES]

I believe all of them do and they can fail. I'm not sure how you would test it thought TBH hopefully someone with more knowledge than myself will be along soon to help. Hope you get it sorted soon bud.

 

[Merry Monk]

Do you have water in the oil as well? It will show as a creamy sludge on your oil filler cap. I suspect you could have a fubared cylinder head gasket, or even the head it's self

I hope I'm wrong!

 

[yoshiman]

Do you have water in the oil as well? It will show as a creamy sludge on your oil filler cap. I suspect you could have a fubared cylinder head gasket, or even the head it's self

I hope I'm wrong!

I hope you're wrong too....

My first thought was head gasket, but after some time to think about it and some time searching around for info. on the net it seems like it could just be the cooler.

How can I test this? Was thinking of bypassing the cooler by looping the coolant inlet/outlet. Would this work?


Advice on this from all the T4 experts on here is and would be very much appreciated.

 

[yoshiman]

Update....as this might be useful for others

Drained the oil - no sign of any water contamination

Drained the coolant from the bottom radiator hose - probably 75% water, and 25% oil....nice


Replaced the oil cooler with a nice and shiney new one - filled up with 50/50 antifreeze/water mix, burped the air out, and topped up.

Fresh oil and filter, checked all hoses, bolts. etc. started up and ran until hot. Allowed to cool, topped up fluids and then took out for test drive.....and everything fine T:

500 miles later and no problems - just got to flush the cooling system out again as there is still some residual oil in there.

 

[general lee]

glad it is working for you dude :ILU::ILU:

 

[steve73]

def oil cooler mate, might be worth buying another expansion bottle, you can never get it all out, just done exactly this on my MK2 GTDI:

 

[therock]

I had same prob, blown head gasket, head has been sent off to be checked,
at first the oil an water was not mixing but got it started let it idle an checked the exhaust
heaps of water spitting out , had to start filling it up as i noticed water was disapearing
and heating pretty quik,
I turned the engine off an checked the engine oil an ye the water an oil started mixin in
the gasket didnt look broken tho the water had entered inbetween the gasket an head into number 3 an 4 valves

i think the best way to check is presure test , check for leaks if the dial stays its good if the dial decreases u prob got a leak

 

[yoshiman]

def oil cooler mate, might be worth buying another expansion bottle, you can never get it all out, just done exactly this on my MK2 GTDI:

Seems to be a not uncommon problem, these oil coolers failing...but it has done 200k miles

Think I'll take the expansion bottle off and give it a good clean with plenty of hot water and Fairy. Gonna flush the cooling system through with water and oxiclean, then water, then fill with distilled water and antifreeze. Then I'll be happy that its clean and ready for winter.

 

[yoshiman]

Which antifreeze....http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/view/6/298/SLA5L or http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/view/6/300/SCA5L or something different?

Its a 1996 1.9D

 

[StephenTazz]

As you're flushing the system through the Longlife Antifreeze will give you five years protection as opposed to two years with the other stuff.

This Comma product is equivalent to VW's G12 plus which is a hybrid organic acid technology (HOAT) which can be mixed with the Inorganic blue antifreeze - but will only be as good as the stuff it's mixed with - i.e two years protection...

A word of warning...

Older OAT antifreezes should not be mixed with blue Inorganic antifreezes as these will accelerate corrosion and eat into gaskets, seals, hoses and radiators, etc and causing a sludge to build up.

Antifreezes to avoid in pre 1998 T4's are VW's G12, Dexcool and Renault Type D - so if you have any laying around it's best to dispose of it properly and get the latest gear.

 

[yoshiman]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll go with the red stuff for the peace of mind - I guess it doesn't matter too much whether I use the red or the usual blue as I'd plan to flush the cooling system every couple of years anyway.

I'm assuming that a 50:50 antifreeze:water mix is desirable.

 

[manwhore]

your choice really, would use the longlife (red) one as less need for coolant changes. Your cap will tell you which the van came with as standard G11 (blue) G12 (red)