Oil In The Coolant

[RussB]

I just replaced the head gasket. I had oil in the coolant, small amounts, but in there none the less.

I ran the car with just water, drained and backflushed, but I still have oil residue in there. It is already discoloring my new Prestone

Should I go with a radiator flush product, or maybe a "Simple Green" type porduct to emulsify the oil so I can rinse it all outa there?

[Evil E]

Good luck. I had the same problem. You just have to flush it a million times. Try dissolving some laundry detergent in the water, run it for a while and flush it. Also, you may neeed to remove the upper and lower coolant hoses, and thermostat housing, then spray into the engine block, and top radiator inlet. You will be surprised how much oil will come out. I have done this a few times, and I still have drops of stray oil in the coolant galleries.

[pfeener]

I would use a flush product. The kind you can leave in for a few hundred miles. Read the label and see if it has any detergent to disolve the oil. Also keep in mind you're seeing a lot of oil because the oil will float on top of the water and will make it's way to the tank over time. The other guys are right though; it may take a couple of flushes to get it done.

[KLS]

Machine dishwasher detergent works. It doesn't suds-up and cuts grease very well. Of course, after cleaning, flush, flush, flush, and flush some more.

Ken

[Evil E]

The problem is that when you flush, so much gets trapped everywhere. Like I said, to this day I still have oil in my coolant, though not enough to trash my hoses.

[crazykn]

My uncle's S70 was in the same state after a headgasket repair. Still to this day there is a bit of residue around, but a majority of its gone and the coolant is green again. Unfortuantly the mechanics who did the job had to run the car for hours and hours idling and flushing it each time. They ran through two tanks of gas for idling and cleaning out the system.

Too bad I don't know the specifics of what they did.