OIL IN RADIATOR (1 Viewer)

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Hey guys, bought my 80 series about 6 months ago. Serviced it a while ago and when I drained the coolant I noticed oil in my radiator (milky white oil). No coolant is getting into the engine oil though. Does anyone have any thoughts on what the cause could be?

Cheers
 
On top of my head would be

1.Head gasket,,, hopefully not this.

2.Oil cooler on passenger side of engine under exhaust manifolds ,,,there are 3 gaskets,, the 2 inner ones could be worn letting oil and coolant mix.

3.Transmission coil "heat exchanger" Inside the radiator is gone causing the coolant and transmission oil to mix. Has happen to members on here including me and went different ways to solve it for ever.

4. Previous owner switched from Toyota red to a aftermarket coolant and never cleansed the system before doing so,,, you never,, mix the 2 coolants ,, never,, becomes a caustic acid and will cause head gasket damage and other such issues on the engine, including what ur
Describing.

What year Cruiser is it any and any pm recently done or history on it?

Very rare, but if the vehicle sits for a while , l " I am talking months at a time "ike a trail rig,,, this can happen,,,a cake type substance starts form around the radiator cap,,,,,with old coolant ,and lack of running the vehicle,, but nothing like your describing,,,


What color coolant are you running,,, Toyota red or green aftermarket like Prestone?

At this point my advice would be if your trying to keep it on the cheap side of things would be re drain coolant,,, including engine plug,,,Let coolant drain , re install the plugs,,,,,,,,and fill entire system with distiller water, let the engine run for just a little bit, before temp sensor on cluster just starts to rise,, let engine cool,, drain a sample of the distiller water out ,, put up to sunlight or a bright light and see if it is clear if not,,, re drain,,, refill with distiller water again and run the engine one more time as Above,,,, check water ,,, it should start to get clear,,,, repeat again if you feel it is necessary. Refill with a coolant of your choice and stick with it. I run Prestone,, but I thoughly flushed my system before doing soo,,, 3 times total with distiller water. I went with that due to Prestone is easier to locate then Going to a Toyota dealership.





CRUISER CARTEL
 
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Thanks for that mate. I run Nulon coolant and flushed it like you described before using it. So I don't think that's the issue. Oil cooler or transmission cooler? Which would be more likely do you think, and which is easier to repair in your opinion?
 
Oil cooler sounds like the culprit, get to it before the oil attaches itself permanently to the entire cooling system. You will have to replace all 3 radiator hoses so make sure you use chemical flush and flush as many times as you can. Use the block drain for sure and flush with the heat on so it flushes the heater core. Also when doing this replace all the cooler housing bolts. One snapped on me and couldn't get it out. So I have a bunch of sealant where a bolt once was.
 
Thanks heaps mate. How hard is it to do? I'm a diesel mechanic but only work on Heavy Rigid trucks, not cars/4x4. Is the drain plug in the block easily accessible?
 
Thanks heaps mate. How hard is it to do? I'm a diesel mechanic but only work on Heavy Rigid trucks, not cars/4x4. Is the drain plug in the block easily accessible?

You are mechanically inclined so it should be a snap for you. Just get OEM gaskets and bolts and you're good
 
I had/have similar problem. Do you have any pics of the white substance?
 
my oil cooler had corrosion holes all in it... easy to swap though. pray its not the head gasket way more involve but not hard for a diesel mechanic...
 
I have suspected the oil cooler/gasket is the culprit in mine as well. But she keeps running strong. May have to part with her soon. But 317k miles and radiator sludge will frighten the masses..........
 

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