I was changing my engine oil today and notice that there were some oil residues in the coolant reservoir tank. My car is an 04 with 19K miles; it has never been drag race or auto X only street driven. I do not use it much. I bought it about a little over a year ago with 15k miles and now it has 19K. The previous other owner never abuse it and it was completely stock when I purchased it. Car runs fine without any signs of problems. The oil was not brown, milky, or white when I changed it, actually it was a little black with 2800 miles on the oil. How do I know if the head gasket is blown? Any other possibility? Should I just change the coolant and see if it happens again?

 

I believe that if the hg was blown the oil you just changed should have been milky

 

hey man i have the same promblem i think my headgasket is leaking to in the front right of the head. I guess thats a common spot and in the back where you cant see it. but i am planning on a complete rebuild now kelford 272s supertech dual springs and tit retainers valves and headstuds and probaly just standerd oem mls headgasket. Was told the mls is one of the best to use

 

Send an oil sample for analysis. This will tell you for sure if coolant is getting into the oil.

 

There is a lot of useful aftermarket stuff coming out indeed.

 

Any easy way to determine if the problem is a blown head gasket without having to take the head off?

 

white smoke from tail pipe

 

It's quite possible the oil is leaking past the gasket into a waterway, without any evidence of water in the oil.

It does sound like the gasket has been breached I'm afraid.

 

I had a little oil residue in my coolant tank, also. My mechanic did a coolant flush. I ask him about it, and he said "it's normal". I am going to start changing my coolant every 6 months.

 

The heat gauge heading North and the coolant taking leave of the engine by way of the bottle is how 99% of the blown head gaskets on the 4G63 act. If that isn't happening stop worrying.

 

 

Yes I added a bottle of Redline Watter Wetter after I purchase the car. Maybe it has been about 6~8 months since I added a bottle of Redline Watter Wetter. Why do you ask?

 

You can try to do a cooling system pressure test and see how that turns out as well...

 

Water wetter breaks down into little brown greasy droplets which look like motor oil and end up in your coolant resevoir. Its not motor oil because motor oil doesn't look like that when it mixes with coolant. Many people including myself have thought they had blown a headgasket when this happened. As a matter of fact there is a mega thread on this very topic. I really dont recommend that stuff.

Heres the thread.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...nt-merged.html

 

rcheung,

Thanks a lot for the heads up. This is what I had in the reservoir tank.



I have to read that link get more info on that. I hope I do not have a blown headgaket. Does this look familiar. On the top of the radiator there was also that oily stuff. The water wetter is oily but red before you put it in. At least there is still hope.