Oil on radiator??

D

DWester

Member
We just bought this 31 A coupe and noticed the oil at the lower end of the radiator. It doesn't appear that there's any oil leaks up front to cause this. Has anyone experienced this before?
 

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And your SURE its oil? Coolant leaks get sticky with time and can seem like oil.

Theres no logical reason i can think of why that big of an oil leak would show up there short of someone accidently knocking over an oil bottle.
 
If someone has over greased the rear water pump zerk the oil from the grease plus coolant can cause this. I have seen so many radiators that are full of grease from this. The rear pump zerk should get just a little grease maybe once a year. Open the cap and you may find that the extra grease will accumulate around the filler neck and the overflow.
 
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If you run the engine without the timing pin it will spit out oil that can get on the bottom of the radiator.
 
SeaSlugs said:
And your SURE its oil? Coolant leaks get sticky with time and can seem like oil.

Theres no logical reason i can think of why that big of an oil leak would show up there short of someone accidently knocking over an oil bottle.
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That was our thinking, but having never owned one of these before, I decided to ask you guys. I'll take a good look at the rear zerk/grease also and see if it's contributing. Thanks you guys!!
 
Dan Partain said:
If you run the engine without the timing pin it will spit out oil that can get on the bottom of the radiator.
Click to expand...



Yep, it happened to me once, and I'd bet that's what happened here.


When I bought my 28, it had a wet spot on the top right of the radiator. I used a radiator sealant like Bars Leak or something like that, and it's been dry for the past 18 years.
 
Sometimes stains like that come from Folks that use Soluable Oil for a rust inhibitor & "maybe" it boiled over at one time. Seems that stains like that are fairly common.
I've even seen CARS for SALE, with stains like that. I've also seen them, with PUDDLES under them!!!!
Bill W.
 
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Could be..... someone added soluble oil to radiator water instead of antifreeze. This is what in the old days was called water pump lubricant.
 
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