oil residue in my coolant recovery tank?

[Droopynut]

I have an '85 Celica with a 22RE and I noticed what seems to be oil in my coolant reservoir. However, there doesn't seem to be oil in the radiator.

Any thoughts? The engine only has 84K miles on it.

 

[fsusteve]

Any other signs of a headgasket issue? White smoke, loss of power? When you say oily, do you mean the coolant feels oily or you see an oil slick in there? Coolant has a slick feeling to it.

 

[Droopynut]

no white smoke... and no loss of power that I can tell. The car is inherently slow as it is. Are you suggesting that coolant may be leaking into the combustion chamber? I'm thinking the reverse is happening...oil escaping into the water jacket some how collecting into the recovery tank.

When I first removed the cap, I saw a thick build up of oil on the hose going into the tank. Plus the coolant in the tank had brown swirls of what appeared to be oil... perhaps it was just dirt, The coolant in the radiator seems normal.

 

[fsusteve]

it doesn't matter which gets into which, it's indicative of a bad headgasket.