Hi! Already posted into Tempra section but it seems there is more life in Tipo's one, and the engine I refer to should be used also in 1.6 carb Tipo.

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!

As you've said, this is most likely the head gasket, as this is where the two fluids are close and separated by a gasket. Another alternative would be an internal crack in the block or head, but don't panic, this is unlikely, unless you're running without antifreeze and have had a severe frost lately. Oil leaking across the head gasket won't necessarily show as overheating, until enough water has been lost. When you fix it, you'll need to flush the cooling system with a good cleaner.

portland_bill said:

As you've said, this is most likely the head gasket, as this is where the two fluids are close and separated by a gasket. Another alternative would be an internal crack in the block or head, but don't panic, this is unlikely, unless you're running without antifreeze and have had a severe frost lately. Oil leaking across the head gasket won't necessarily show as overheating, until enough water has been lost. When you fix it, you'll need to flush the cooling system with a good cleaner.

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I think it will be an expensive repair to be done
I will try flushing the cooling system, putting in new fluid after a good clean with water, for checking if there still is some leak; this is because a part of the LPG system was changed so I hope it could have been some oil/grease from the new part that made the fluid dirty.

Using higher grade oil (e.g. 20W50 instead of 15W40) could help to prevent leaks?

Congratulations on your old Tempra and a lot of kilometers!

The engines are strong and simple, so it is not very likely that the head gasket has failed but you can check by looking for "mayonaise" under the oil filler cap - but this can also be caused by short journeys in cold weather. You should make a compression test on the cylinders and lookfor 130 psi if the engine is healthy, if it is low between 2 cylinders then the HG has failed. But normally the engine should run badly if this happens...

To refresh the cylinder head only is not complicated or expensive (if it is not damaged), I paid £60 to clean, skim and reset my valves for my Tipo. After this you must check the shim clearances also but you can change the cambelt at the same time.

A compression test will show if the lower engine is worn, and you can choose to do a ful rebuild if you want.

Flushing and changing the coolant is a good idea in any case (every 2-3 years), but I would not change the oil grade (e.g. to 15/50) unless you find that your engine is generally worn and you want to reduce oil comsumption or noise. You could try Valvoline Max-Life or a similar product....

Good luck...

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