Sump Oil Looks Like Strong Coffee

[MystikWeb]

Hey Guys,

I am new here, but thought I would post to try and get some advise from all you commodore gurus out there.

Basically I have a series 2 VT commodore sedan, 3.8L V6. For a little while now the car has been going through a bit of coolant and I am now having to top up once or twice a week.

So I am thinking head Gasket or something like that, so I had a few looks at various different things. Firstly, I checked the oil through the dip stick, and at that time it was a coffee coulour and milky consistancy. Milky residue was also located under the OIL cap. There is currently no Oil in the coolant that I can see at all.

So I left the car over night anc checkd again in the morning, and still the coffee colour.

However, this is where its now got me confisued. As it is our only vehicle we have had to drive it a couple of times until we get into the mechanic next week for some tests.

After driving the car 30kms back from work, and while the engine was still at running temp, I checked the oil via the dipstick again, and it was all normal nothing wrong with it......

The next morning I did not drive the car, and it was only drive to take me to public transport in the morning.

I got a familr member to check the oil in the afternoon to confirm I was not seeing things, and when he came over and checked it, it appeared like normal engine oil, and nothing was wrng with it. The care had been sitting there un-used for over 8 hours.

When I came home we went out and had a another look (About 90 minutes after his initial check) and the oil was mikly again. So I am totally confused here as to what would be causing the issue?

Is it a head, Head Gasket or LIM gasket causin me these issues?

Oh and occasionally the car will spit and plutter a little in the mornings, but thats it.. and its not every day, maybe a week or two between episodes and I have not noticed any type of performace issues at all.

Can anyone offer some suggestions or maybe confirm what I describe could actually be?

Any help would be great.

Cheers

[11gothevt11]

Hey Guys,

I am new here, but thought I would post to try and get some advise from all you commodore gurus out there.

Basically I have a series 2 VT commodore sedan, 3.8L V6. For a little while now the car has been going through a bit of coolant and I am now having to top up once or twice a week.

So I am thinking head Gasket or something like that, so I had a few looks at various different things. Firstly, I checked the oil through the dip stick, and at that time it was a coffee coulour and milky consistancy. Milky residue was also located under the OIL cap. There is currently no Oil in the coolant that I can see at all.

So I left the car over night anc checkd again in the morning, and still the coffee colour.

However, this is where its now got me confisued. As it is our only vehicle we have had to drive it a couple of times until we get into the mechanic next week for some tests.

After driving the car 30kms back from work, and while the engine was still at running temp, I checked the oil via the dipstick again, and it was all normal nothing wrong with it......

The next morning I did not drive the car, and it was only drive to take me to public transport in the morning.

I got a familr member to check the oil in the afternoon to confirm I was not seeing things, and when he came over and checked it, it appeared like normal engine oil, and nothing was wrng with it. The care had been sitting there un-used for over 8 hours.

When I came home we went out and had a another look (About 90 minutes after his initial check) and the oil was mikly again. So I am totally confused here as to what would be causing the issue?

Is it a head, Head Gasket or LIM gasket causin me these issues?

Oh and occasionally the car will spit and plutter a little in the mornings, but thats it.. and its not every day, maybe a week or two between episodes and I have not noticed any type of performace issues at all.

Can anyone offer some suggestions or maybe confirm what I describe could actually be?

Any help would be great.

Cheers

Yeh sounds like a head gasket....

[brad_m_is]

LIM gasket for sure

[graham7773]

Loosing coolant with coffee coloured engine oil = Head gasket, cracked head, cracked block. I just got a couple of quotes on mine and it is cheaper to get a good second hand motor and put it in. To fix head gaskets, anything from $700 with no head service to $1900 with head pressure test, full head re-machined plus extras like belts and hoses. My VT Acclaim wagon cost less than that on the road with 12 months pensioner rego. All the best
Hey Brad, LIM = lower inlet manifold gasket?

[MystikWeb]

Some people have suggested it could be the LIM, but I would have thought this would only leak into the valley and down into the sump under pressure?

Either way hopefully the mechanic can suss it out for me on tuesday, he wants car overnight so he can check and test things from dead cold...... he seems to thnk I might be a LIM.... he seems pretty sure it wont be head gasket, as he has not seen to many of them come through, its more common for the soft rubber of the LIM to fail before the Head Gasket....

I dont know, I just need the bloody thing dorted out, not in a position to get our newer car yet, so need to keep this one running for a while.. as we only have single car and a toddler, need transporation........

[MystikWeb]

Oh and I took radiator cap off, started car and ran until thermastat opened up.. I could not see any bubbles coming up through the coolant but it did start over flowing out of the opening once it started getting warm.

[MystikWeb]

Was the head, confirmed crack between valves, cylinder head drivers side, middle cylinder..... without car now sinse tuesday last week