Just when all seemed well; loadsa oil in header tank

Disco 2 TD5 owner here; just joined so HELLO everyone.

What a saga

I had been having trouble with power loss this last year. Last week it finally dawned on me the wasetgate was stuck, freed it off and marvelled at the new car power! Until I checked the coolant. Header tank is full of engine oil and dip level dropping rapidly - no emusification btw and no sign of water in the engine. Aha, do a bit of reading and decide the culprit is the oil cooler.


Last year a hose blew on the M6, managed to fix the hose and filled with best English tap water. I was out of the country for 6 months so the car didnt get used much; just started every now and then. So guess what I never put anti freeze in it and I think that would point to the oil cooling corroding as well.

there is a hell of a lot of oil and its movin fast, the whole header tank seems to be full now so I am not driving it!!!

Do you think the diagnosis is correct?
Rich

oil heat exhchanger on passenger side of engine are prone to leak if not filled with proper coolant

Thanks James, that's what I think; will get one Monday and hopefully not too difficult to fix
Appreciate your comment
Rich

Hi

Anyone advise which gaskets/o ring sets I will need for the replacement of the oil cooler.
Reading In Ace seems like there are plenty so is there a full kit I OR part set kit

thanks
Rich

dont catch me wrong but no coolant, freezing tempratures = cracked heads

would explain if u dont have a loss in power and no water in oil, as under temperature oil gets a lot thinner than water.

I have this problem on my c20xe astra drives great but has cream instead of water oil in engine is fine, heads go pourous and would cause this problem **** aluminuim from vauxhalls finest.

maybe im wrong and its your oil cooler but just a suggestion

Hi Martain


Just to elaborate - I have no loss of power after fixing the wastegate; there is no water in the engine oil. The oil in the coolant is pure engine oil.

I will go for the cooler first since, from researching this, this is the most likely source of the oil and they are known to fail, its alsothe easiest to deal with so any tips/suggestions to do this would be appreciated
Rich

Coati said:

Hi

Anyone advise which gaskets/o ring sets I will need for the replacement of the oil cooler.
Reading In Ace seems like there are plenty so is there a full kit I OR part set kit

thanks
Rich

Click to expand...

2 X ERR7098 ENGINE OIL COOLER O RING | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series cooler&page=1

1 x ERR7220 TD5 OIL COOLER ADAPTER GASKET | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series cooler&page=1

Happened to mine in the summer - oil level going down, lots of oil in header tank.

Almost certainly oil cooler.

Take it off, if it's all pitted, even if you can't actually see the hole, it'll be there. If it's not all pitted, start looking elsewhere.

Easy enough job, although you'll have to remove the turbo to get access. However, only the oil cooler assembly is available, not just the cooler itself. Cost me best part of £300.

Thanks Sierraferry

OK Ian...so I guess I will need some exhaust gasket etc

anything else to watch for? Rave manual says I will need to move aircon compressor - dont really want to have to take drive belt off; just put a new one on, absolute b+++++
lol or is this tosh?
Rich

Coati said:

Rave manual says I will need to move aircon compressor - dont really want to have to take drive belt off; just put a new one on, absolute b+++++
lol or is this tosh?
Rich

Click to expand...

Yes, you do have to unbolt the aircon pump - I tried to avoid it, but couldn't (can't quite remember why now).
But it's no big deal.

OK thanks for the info
Merry Christmas btw

Well
new oil cooler has been fitted, 250 quids worth of tin can -what a rip off lol
wasnt so difficult to change but its so cold had to put off restart until tomorrow.
I was totally gob smack at the state of the old unit; completely eaten away (I will post pics tomorrow), however designed this piece of crap should have it inserted you know where in recognition.

I do however have a problem, and therefore a question. Found a heck of a lot of oil in the cooling systeml, have flushed a lot out but clearly the system is heavily oiled.
At the moment I cant find any Forte Bio Degreaser which is what I woiuld like to flush with. Can anyone suggest a suitable readily available alternative, and what short term damage might occur if I cant do this now (I need to use vehicle a lot over the holidays)
I am aware that hoses might be at risk over medium term

Rich

I don't think you can blame the designer, I've no doubt these things work perfectly if they live in the environment they were designed for - blame the clown who filled it up with water instead of the correct coolant & corrosion inhibitor.

Picture of mine:

In the depression in the middle of the shot, you can just see a spot of green - that green is my lawn through the hole in the cooler!



As far as flushing it is concerned, I filled it up with red diesel, ran it for a day, and the flushed it all out with water.
But I wouldn't recommend that - just a few days later, my cylinder head cracked. I'm not saying that the diesel caused it, judging by the corrosion on the cylinder head it had been leaking water into the combustion chamber for some time, but diesel is really good at finding cracks - I reckon it brought about the inevitable a lot quicker!

ianrobbo said:

I don't think you can blame the designer, I've no doubt these things work perfectly if they live in the environment they were designed for - blame the clown who filled it up with water instead of the correct coolant & corrosion inhibitor.

Picture of mine:

In the depression in the middle of the shot, you can just see a spot of green - that green is my lawn through the hole in the cooler!



As far as flushing it is concerned, I filled it up with red diesel, ran it for a day, and the flushed it all out with water.
But I wouldn't recommend that - just a few days later, my cylinder head cracked. I'm not saying that the diesel caused it, judging by the corrosion on the cylinder head it had been leaking water into the combustion chamber for some time, but diesel is really good at finding cracks - I reckon it brought about the inevitable a lot quicker!

Click to expand...

Aha Ian

I think mine is even worse. Sorry to hear about your cyl head. Used Wynns product and it seems to work really well , all oil has gone.
However we did have a very troublesome day my poor bro aka mechanic inadvertently left the oil ring out from the cyclone filter mounting, so you wont be surprised to here we had a fairly substantial oil leak.
After performing some amazing gymnastics seen only previously while observing spider monkeys in the wild all is now well.

Unfortunately my wife , who now could not be described as a LR fan now wants to go to London on the train - so be it, oh joy lol

Merry Christmas!