3400 leaking oil into coolant

[adam f]

01? Ram air V6 3400 Grand Am. Oil in coolant bottle. No coolant in oil. I also noticed a puddle of coolant on the block that looked like it was coming from either the front manifold gasket or the temp sensor. Driver said temp or low coolant light came on one time going uphill, but otherwise runs fine.

Question is...could a leaking lower manifold gasket put oil in the coolant, or is it definetly a head gasket? Any way to tell for sure? Compression test?

[geoffinbc]

LIM gasket. It always is. Replace the gasket with a Felpro Problem solver gasket. Do the oil pump driveshaft O-ring at the same time.

Do is soon before you damage anything.

[adam f]

Thanks. So your SURE its the LIM?

Its a friends car. I told them to stop driving it. I thought it was the headgasket. They said they are going to clean it up and trade it in. LIM gasket would be much less work. I just dont want to replace it and have it still leak.

[1988GTU]

The answer is really in your hands since you have full ability to test to make SURE it's the problem. Being behind a computer CANNOT give you a 100% answer on what really is the cause. WE can only give 99.99999999999% of an honest opinion/advice.

[ikessky]

One of the last IM gaskets that I did was leaking coolant out of the engine rather than dumping it into the oil. Like 1988GTU said though, if you have the means to test for a head gasket, I would do first.

[ForcedFirebird]

If it is the head gaskets, the LIM has to come off anyways.

I had the same problem in my truck, and figured if it was the head gaskets, then the manifold had to come off. Got down to the heads, and it was the mani gasket.

Even if it is the head gaskets, once you are that far into it, it's not that much more to get the heads off. The Problem Saver gaskets are $90 from Advance.

[adam f]

Thanks guys.

I got to thinking. It has to be head gasket or cracked head. Since theres no oil flowing through the intake manifold, theres no way oil could get into the coolant via the intake manifold gasket. But coolant could be pumped into the oil through the injector runners into the cylinders. Am I right?

Anyways, they said they are going to flush the radiator and trade it in

[IsaacHayes]

Head gasket failures are rare unless the car has been super overheated.

I had RED oil in my coolant tank once. It was the automatic transmission cooler inside the radiator that burst and put the trans fluid in the coolant! There's an idea to look at too. Make sure it's really oil and not ATF... But it does sound like the intake gasket is leaking some on the outside too.

The intake gasket can leak coolant into the camshaft valley, that's how it usually happens since the intake ports are farther away from the coolant passages.

[adam f]

Its brown like oil. I thought of the atf cooler leaking into the radiator, but the stupid car doesnt have a trans dipstick. Says to take it to the dealer to check the level!

[adam f]

The intake gasket can leak coolant into the camshaft valley, that's how it usually happens since the intake ports are farther away from the coolant passages.

see....im leaking oil in the coolant, not coolant into the oil

[IsaacHayes]

Right I was just explaining how the coolant gets into the motor when the LIM gasket fails. It would have to reach pretty far to get into the intake port and burn. It just leaks from the coolant jacket down into the camshaft area.

[tractorman]

A leaking LIM gasket can also cause oil in the coolant.

[adam f]

A leaking LIM gasket can also cause oil in the coolant.

How?

[IsaacHayes]

Oil slug up from the camshaft lands by the coolant jacket passages and if the gasket has a void, it can mix is my guess.

[geoffinbc]

If you have brown sludge in your coolant tank/radiator it is more likely DexCool sludge rather than oil.