Hi!

Today I was checking oil and water levels on my Tempra (1581 cc petrol) and found oil in the expansion tank of the cooling system, together with a little "cream" on the tank's cup.

What it could be? Usually the head gasket is gone when this happens but the temperature of the engine never exceeded 90 °C, considering the winter period and that the thermostatic valve maintains water temperature near 80 °C.

Is there any other gasket which may be responsible of oil leak into cooling circuit? The engine (159A3.000) now has about 234000 km and has never been rebuilt.

Thank you!

Hi Daniele,
keep an eye on the LEVEL of the coolant,
and also the level and colour of the engine oil,

this could be a VERY SLOW creep of oil from a place in the engine,

head gasket is a common place for a leak ..but NOT necessarily your problem,

leave the parts alone until you see how much oil is moving..,

Charlie

varesecrazy said:

leave the parts alone until you see how much oil is moving..,

Click to expand...

So you suggest to mark the actual level of coolant and check if there is "sudden" increase/decrease?
Oil or water leaking from the gasket, could corrode the head itself?

YES - gauge how much coolant is disappearing,

also keep an eye on the oil level AND quality.. there MAY be contamination of the oil also,

the head should be safe as long as the water level is reasonably steady,

If you use as much coolant as you use Fuel .. then there is a problem..!!,

charlie

The problem seems to be solved, I never noticed a decrease of the cooling reservoir level. Just wondering from where that oil came from.