Oil inside my radiator
02-12-2015, 04:25 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oil inside my radiator
Ok so my truck is a 1988 toyota pickup v6, base model, with only 80,000. I recently noticed that there was a brown oily sludge at the top of my radiator. I sucked out whatever I could get out and never thought it would be this bad but then it happened again except it clogged the heater core making me lose heat. I realized this and pulled the radiator out and emptied it, cleaned it it with a hose, and cleaned out all the hoses and especially the heater core. Once I got all the brown oily sludge out I filled it back up with green 50/50 antifreeze. Now as of the ride home today I lost my heat once again. I heard that the head gaskets are a problem but it seems that it's the later 90s and also the last owner(first owner too) said toyota did the head gaskets before he let it sit, but idk when mileage wise. What I want to know is, could it be the head gaskets again or is it something different. Oh and one thing to note is that it sat from 2000 to about 2010 so maybe the gaskets somewhere are dry rotted or just swelled and broken
02-13-2015, 08:39 AM
#4
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: San Francisco East Bay
Posts: 8,254
Likes: 0
Received 822 Likes
on
649 Posts
Oil has no business in the cooling system, so unless you can determine that it's not oil at all, then you've got a problem. Most likely the head gasket. The fact that it's "relatively" low miles (when did 80k turn into "low" miles?) doesn't matter. The fact that it's 27 years old doesn't help.
DO check for water in the oil (chocolate milkshake), but it's absence doesn't rule out a bad head gasket; there's no guarantee the leak runs two ways. DO a compression test, but I'm going to guess you have good compression (with the only leak oil->coolant).
DO check for water in the oil (chocolate milkshake), but it's absence doesn't rule out a bad head gasket; there's no guarantee the leak runs two ways. DO a compression test, but I'm going to guess you have good compression (with the only leak oil->coolant).
02-13-2015, 11:29 AM
#5
Oil has no business in the cooling system, so unless you can determine that it's not oil at all, then you've got a problem. Most likely the head gasket. The fact that it's "relatively" low miles (when did 80k turn into "low" miles?) doesn't matter. The fact that it's 27 years old doesn't help.
DO check for water in the oil (chocolate milkshake), but it's absence doesn't rule out a bad head gasket; there's no guarantee the leak runs two ways. DO a compression test, but I'm going to guess you have good compression (with the only leak oil->coolant).
DO check for water in the oil (chocolate milkshake), but it's absence doesn't rule out a bad head gasket; there's no guarantee the leak runs two ways. DO a compression test, but I'm going to guess you have good compression (with the only leak oil->coolant).
02-14-2015, 04:21 AM
#6
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yes IMO it is the head gasket too and the only reason I say "low" mileage is that the HG have been done and I've only heard of problems at way higher mileage. I do realize it's an old truck so really anything could happen. Thanks for the replays though
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
the1998sr5
95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners
15
07-14-2020 08:35 PM
jasonty
Pre 84 Trucks (Build-Up Section)
41
12-23-2018 01:00 PM
Jeffreynmandy
86-95 Trucks & 4Runners
21
07-18-2015 08:26 AM
the1998sr5
95.5-2004 Tacomas & 96-2002 4Runners
6
07-16-2015 06:20 AM
