1.9TDI Oil in coolant???

[Lambert1984]

Hi,

I have a 1998 A4 1.9TDI (AFN) and I am getting quite a lot of oil appearing I my expansion tank. The thing I cant understand is that the car is running perfectly with not a hint of overheating or smoke?

Just over 18 months ago the car went into a local garage for the same problem and the oil cooler was pressure tested and found to be ok so they removed the head and it was finally decided (after testing) that the head had a crack in it. At this time I was working for GSF carparts so I sourced a new head quite cheaply and the whole top end was put back together with all new gaskets and belts.

So up until about a month ago the car was running fine with no oil in the coolant but then the coolant light came on and when I checked there was a thick layer of oil on top of my coolant. Since then the car has been running perfectly and due to work I have simply been filtering the oil out of the expansion tank and topping the oil up. There is no trace of water in the oil.

Now I need a car with Isofix so the time has come to sell but I cannot sell the car like this so I thought I would post on here and see if anyone could offer any suggestions on where I could start to look for the contamination occurring?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

John

[Doctle Odd]

It could cost you almost 50 quid and a cup of washing powder to fix that car. I think the oil cooler has had it

[green A8]

I agree. The oil cooler is the bit to change 99.9% sure this will fix the problem

[Doctle Odd]

Mrs Odd swears by Daz washing powder I've used it a few time to wash out engines after the oil cooler went south and it's pretty good.

[defever]

Washing powder and car?!

Please elaborate what's happening here and how the washing power comes into play!

Never heard of anything like this (in my novice car mechanic life)

[Doctle Odd]

When you fit a new oil cooler there is lots of oil in the cooling system. You can buy chemicals to remove it or, Get about a teacup full of washing powder and dissolve it in very hot/boiling water and pour it into the expansion tank. Top up to level with warm water. Drive the car hard for 10-15 minutes. Then drain and flush the system. Fill with coolant and check for leaks. Job done