Hi!

Been a reader of the forum for a while but just joined because ive finally got a question!

Went out and checked the oil in my 94 pickup DLX 22re 250000 miles and it was about a quart high. Pulled the oil cap and had the tell tale coolant in oil milky residue with some frozen condesnation in the cap (-10 right now). Coolant reservoir had black oil stains in it. Thinking its the classic guides broke and timing chain wore through the cover sitiuation. It happened very recently because i checked my oil about a week ago and it was fine. Only driven around town maybe 15 - 20 miles since then. Dont have time to pull the valve cover and check the guides right now because im about to leave the state on a trip for a week. Should I change the oil so I dont leave it sitting for a week with coolant in the crankcase? Very concerned about doing further damage to internals. To do any work I have to get it to the city where my buddy has a garage which is a 40 minute drive on the highway. Should I tow it?

Thanks for any help!

 

If it's gotten to that point, then you should have at least noticed some chain rattle on start up.

I would definitely change the oil, and then I would tow it to the garage. Good luck!

 

If it's going to sit I'd drain all the coolant and change the oil. Might be worth pulling the sparkplugs and shooting some atf in each cylinder, then turn over the engine a few times with the distributer wire removed. That'll coat the cylinder walls

 

Thanks for the replys. Will drain the fluids. It honestly has been running smooth and quiet. no chain slap on start up. It was a suprise when I checked the oil/coolant. Only thing that has been off is it hasnt been blowing hot and its had a High roughish idle. Around 1700 - 2100 when really cold 1100 when warm.

 

Low coolant level can cause heater to not blow hot air. Low coolant also effects the idle air control too.

 

Well, Doing a block check and leak down test is always a good idea before anything of significance gets removed.

 

Yeah my first thought was a headgasket. Ill have to rent the diagnostic tools. Theres deffinetly a good amount of coolant in the Oil. The coolant level is below the fins in the radiator and full but oily in the overflow reservoir.

 

Accidental double post

 

You can usually borrow the testing equip. from the parts store loaner program.
Typically, if a headgasket starts leaking on a 22R# not THAT much coolant gets into the oil. On the other hand, a timing chain cover failure would dump a ton of water into the pan.

 

Attached some photos below of the oil dip stick and the coolant reservoir. Coolant in the reservoir seems a little thick. Oil is black and a quart above the hash marks and seems milky further up the dipstick. Last time i cecked the oil about 20 miles ago it was at the proper level and looked pretty golden and transparent

 

Another question is if it is a timing chain wore through the cover issue would that present with coolant in the oil AND also oil in the coolant system? I have both obviously. Does that mean its most likely the headgasket?

 

This just happened to my 93’ pickup. You can see the wear through the timing chain cover. The split in it is not very noticeable in the pics, but it is there. Check your plugs to see if they are fouled at all. That can help in diagnosing HG vs TC. if you end up doing HG it isn’t a bad idea to replace those plastic chain guides that are OEM. https://22reperformance.com/22re-eng...ming-chain-kit Has a solid metal pair. If you have any questions, just let me know. I am just wrapping my Timing Chain cover replacement right now as we speak. Good luck!!

 

YES. exactly how mine presented. Mine was literally almost 50% coolant in my oil and vice versa in my coolant with the timing chain wearing through the TC cover. I know it wasn’t head gasket as I replaced the HG less than a year ago and my plugs aren’t fouled. It also isn’t losing coolant out the exhaust like it did with my HG when it blew.

 

In theory, not that much oil should enter the cooling system. If both fluids operated under the same pressure that would be different, but pressurized coolant is rushing into the oiled area that isn't really under any pressure at that point. Oil in the cooling system is a bit of a disaster when it comes to all the rubber hoses involved. The oil would make them weaken and swell, eventually bursting.