Oil in the radiator

L

Larry Seemann

Senior Member
My friend Mike called Saturday and said he has oil in his radiator and we wondered how it got there. The only explanation I could think of would be a crack in the valve galley where a pool of oil might seep through a crack into the water jacket. But, If that were the case why wouldn't water leak back the other direction? He said there is no water in the oil. Have any of you ever seen such a thing? If so, How did the oil get into the water jacket?
BTW, we are talking a lot of oil, here. Mike said he was going to change his radiator and when he took the lower hose off, the water ran out then A LOT of oil followed the water - just from the way he said it I'm guessing at least a quart. All suggestions cheerfully accepted! Thanks!
 
i go with "Excessively greasing the water pump?" most stock "A"s i have been around th & problem solved .at has oil in radiator is from over greasing . but a leakless & problem solved .
** if the oil is milky , probably head gasket or crack ................. steve
 
Well, I doubt that it's a head gasket since there isn't any oil in that area. I thought about over greasing the water pump, but he hasn't had the car very long and the radiator that came with the car was junk so it was just replaced. Do you think it could be a crack in the valve galley? I can't clearly picture a cross section of the block - is the water jacket by the valve galley such that a crack there could leak through?
Thanks for the comments so far.
 
I don't know where it came from but to get rid of the oil drain the radiator, refill with clean water along with a couple of cups of Simple green. Run the engine up to normal operating temperature and drain the radiator Refill and drive.
 
I would do as Glenn suggests then watch to see what happens.

There is no oil under pressure near the cooling system, so I don't see any way for oil to get into the radiator, other than too much greasing of the rear water pump fitting, but that would be grease and not oil.

The water jacket can crack in the valve chamber area and I bought a block by mistake that has this crack. Water might leak into the oil, but the oil isn't going to enter the coolant by this crack.

I knew a guy who used to put a quart of oil into his radiator thinking it would be a good lubricant. I advised him not to do that as I was replacing his rusted core plugs in the rear of the Chevy V8.
 
Thank you everyone for your input. I can't imagine it either, but Mike says it had oil in the radiator. I don't know what to advise him.
 
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