Technical Scudo 1.9 oil in coolant???

[mickscudo]

Hi all, I recently bought a 2003 Scudo 1.9 diesel van. When checking the coolant there was a layer of black oil floating on top in the header tank. The dealer said the oil cooler had been replaced and it was just the residue of oil in the pipes! I took off the header tank and flushed it out,refilled system with coolant. A short while later same thing again....oil in header tank and sludge on header tank cap. First initial thoughts were head gasket.....but water temp ok?? any ideas??

Mick

 

[Steo M]

There's a couple of different symptoms of a failed head gasket, one is the oil getting into the coolant & the other is coolant leaking into the combustion chambers which overheats the engine & sends the tell-tale white smoke out the exhaust.
TBH, I'd get a second opinion as it sounds like a costly head gasket job & bring the van back to the dealer if it is.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi all, I recently bought a 2003 Scudo 1.9 diesel van. When checking the coolant there was a layer of black oil floating on top in the header tank. The dealer said the oil cooler had been replaced and it was just the residue of oil in the pipes! I took off the header tank and flushed it out,refilled system with coolant. A short while later same thing again....oil in header tank and sludge on header tank cap. First initial thoughts were head gasket.....but water temp ok?? any ideas??

Mick

Hi,
realistically a pressure test of the cooling system is probably the simplest test.

have you used it enough to see if coolant and oil levels are staying up..??

Charlie

 

[GPz750]

Look for water in the oil. It will look like cream round the filler cap. I would flush the whole system not just the expansion tank then check again after a few miles. Does the oil cooler look new?

 

[mickscudo]

Water level stays constant and oil is ok too....no creaming.

 

[mickscudo]

In reply to GPZ.... I flushed the whole system. I don't know where the oil cooler is situated to have a look. Can you shed some light on where it is?

 

[Thefox]

Is it using coolant.?
Is water in the oil.?
If the oil cooler was replaced for this fault then the chances are they haven't cleaned out the rest of the system thoroughly, it's very difficult to get oil out of the cooling system without replacing everything. I'd suggest giving it several cooling flushes before jumping to expensive repairs. Buy a gallon of cooling system flush and run that through for a few days, keep checking header tank and cleaning out before refilling, no need to add antifreeze when flushing, only when your happy it's clean.

 

[Thefox]

The oil cooler is usually the alloy unit that the oil filter is screwed on to.

 

[mickscudo]

Is it using coolant.?
Is water in the oil.?
If the oil cooler was replaced for this fault then the chances are they haven't cleaned out the rest of the system thoroughly, it's very difficult to get oil out of the cooling system without replacing everything. I'd suggest giving it several cooling flushes before jumping to expensive repairs. Buy a gallon of cooling system flush and run that through for a few days, keep checking header tank and cleaning out before refilling, no need to add antifreeze when flushing, only when your happy it's clean.

After flushing out the system a few times I would have thought that the residue of oil would get less and less with each flush......but it doesn't. After a few days its just as bad as ever which suggests to me the problem is still there.I will check the oil cooler if its where you say it is must be that whats at fault.

 

[Thefox]

Like I said it's really difficult to get it all out without fitting new radiator and pipes. The oil will perish all rubber items if it's not removed water pump seal, thermostat seal, hoses, header tank cap seal etc
If you can remove the cooling hoses from the radiator, heater matrix and oil cooler, give them them a really good clean out, try brake cleaner or something similar.

 

[Steo M]

This is a 1.9 & non turbo, I'll have a look tomorrow (Tues) but as far as I can remember, there's no oil cooler on these.

 

[michael finnegan]

Like I said it's really difficult to get it all out without fitting new radiator and pipes. The oil will perish all rubber items if it's not removed water pump seal, thermostat seal, hoses, header tank cap seal etc
If you can remove the cooling hoses from the radiator, heater matrix and oil cooler, give them them a really good clean out, try brake cleaner or something similar.

I’m not sure that’s true mrfox. This is a common problem with the 1.9 dw8 I believe, I know of a van that did 20k with this fault with no signs of what you speak of.


Yes this engine has the cast horseshoe oil cooler and this is what google always throws up on searches as the problem, but I think the actual fault is a fracture In the galleries of the head itself.


I don’t know this for sure as everyone I have known has just kept running them,. keeping an eye on oil level, which appears to lose very little really

 

[Thefox]

I’m not sure that’s true mrfox. This is a common problem with the 1.9 dw8 I believe, I know of a van that did 20k with this fault with no signs of what you speak of.


Yes this engine has the cast horseshoe oil cooler and this is what google always throws up on searches as the problem, but I think the actual fault is a fracture In the galleries of the head itself.


I don’t know this for sure as everyone I have known has just kept running them,. keeping an eye on oil level, which appears to lose very little really

What did I say that's not true.??

 

[mickscudo]

This is a 1.9 & non turbo, I'll have a look tomorrow (Tues) but as far as I can remember, there's no oil cooler on these.

I asked at a parts centre and they asked a taxi mechanic who says the oil cooler is what the oil filter screws onto. (engine is a non turbo 1.9) When I looked from under the bonnet there are two rubber hoses above the oil filter close together (obviously inlet and outlet) one of which is linked to the radiator bottom hose.

So now i'm a little bit further with this. But I don't know if the cooler is removeable or part of the engine!

Wish Haynes did a manual for this!!

Thanks to all for the info so far......keep it coming!

 

[Steo M]

There is a manual for the scudo, one of the members recently posted a link which I downloaded & have stored on my PC. Unfortunately I can't remember who posted it but it was in the last page or two if you want to go through the comments?
As for the oil cooler, there's none on mine which is a 2001 1.9. Those two hose pipes beside the oil filter are part of the water/coolant system & nothing to do with engine oil.
Do what the above poster said, get the engine pressure tested or there's a gizmo you can buy called a combustion leak block tester (Google it).

 

[Thefox]

With the oil filter removed there is a large nut in the middle, I'm pretty sure that's all that holds it on.

 

[michael finnegan]

What did I say that's not true.??

The oil will perish all rubber items if it's not removed

 

[michael finnegan]

As for the oil cooler, there's none on mine which is a 2001 1.9. Those two hose pipes beside the oil filter are part of the water/coolant system & nothing to do with engine oil.

It is mate

 

[Steo M]

It is mate

I've no idea what that means?
If there is an oil cooler on the Scudo, it's certainly not air cooled as there's no separate small radiator at the front of the engine, are you saying the oil is cooled by the coolant?

 

[michael finnegan]

I've no idea what that means?
If there is an oil cooler on the Scudo, it's certainly not air cooled as there's no separate small radiator at the front of the engine, are you saying the oil is cooled by the coolant?

No radiator, that cast unit the oil filter is screwed onto is the oil cooler