Vs oil in coolant question

[Hangman]

Hey guys. Serviced the vs the other day and while checking the fluids I noticed the coolant looked slighly oily in the overflow bottle as well as some brown sludge around the neck where the radiator cap goes.

The car has 147,xxx k's on it and drives fine, though maybe slightly down on power compared to a couple years ago, but no missing or carrying on and the oil doesnt have water in it which sort of says its not a head gasket.

My question is could it be the inlet manifold gasket? I know these do go on them but its not something I've had happen so just after some opinions.

Cheers

[edals]

Im Tipping the Inlet gaskets. Pretty common, you could try tightening the inlet bolts and give your radiator a flush. But you have to remember the gaskets are 15 years or so old now.

[hako]

The brown sludge and oily feel around the neck could be normal if your car is being serviced by the book. Holden recommend you add 6 or so coolant "pellets" which are supposed to lubricate the water pump. The also leave a deposit identical to what you describe. So if your car has been serviced "by the book" then it may be OK. Check the owners handbook for a better explanation.
Other than that, if the car is not using coolant, never has overheated and otherwise drives Ok, then I'd keep an eye on it but not panic. Good Luck.

[Hangman]

Yeah drives good, doesn't overheat, burn oil or lose coolant or anything. Just happened to notice it the other day.

Thanks for the replies fellas, I'll keep an eye on it.

[Fun_Bucket]

You can do the inlet gaskets as peace of mind, they aren't very difficult, won't set you back any more than $100

[Hangman]

This is true. Might have to grab me some gaskets

[vhvaliantcharger]

check your auto tran fluid mate could be radiator? just a thort mate

[Hangman]

That's a thought, though there was no reddish tinge or anything. But I'll have a look anyway.

Cheers

[08sky_way]

I've just replaced the inlet manifold gaskets on the Acclaim (186,000 km) and my son's Lexcen (218,000 km) after signs of oil in the coolant and small amounts of oil around some bolts securing the inlet manifold. If you do careful inspection around the manifold, you may find more signs of leakage. It took me the best part of the day to do each one, but it is a fairly simple job.