2001 S60 Coolant Flush After Radiator Leaked ATF

Greg Sands · Post by **Greg Sands** » 07 Jan 2014, 20:00

Hello everyone,
Well about 3 months ago my transmission cooler decided to fail and leak coolant into my transmission and transmission oil into my coolant, lovely pictures if you wish to see them.

*Link to original post*
https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... =9&t=59517

*Already replaced ATF and Radiator

I then flushed the radiator with water multiple times, and used three bottles of Prestone Flush + Cleaner, Not all at once, and foolishly called it a day. Well today I noticed steam coming from under my hood, and luckily for me I was near my home when i saw the steam. The temperature gauge never went past half way, but after I turned the car off and opened the hood i can see coolant coming from under the reservoir cap and the coolant hoses bulging badly.

The Coolant is still a nasty cream color, so finally to my question.
What is the Best product to flush my radiator with to remove all of the old ATF oil in my cooling system?
After using the Prestone Flush+Cleaner I could still see oil on the side of my coolant pipes.

I Preferably want a strong cleaner to remove all the old oil, so i don't have to continually flush my coolant weekly.

Thanks for any recommendations !

Greg Sands · Post by **Greg Sands** » 09 Jan 2014, 16:47

Well, there's always something that has to break.
Found emulsified oil on the engine oil dipstick, and smoke puffing out the dipstick hole.
I replaced the pcv less than a year ago as preventative maintenance so it can't be the pcv.

Facts:
New PCV (less than a year)
Coolant in oil
Oil in coolant.
Smoke from dipstick.
Oil loss (just recently started)

Common symptoms of bad oil cooler or head gasket?

Is there a way to test these oil coolers? Or should I just replace and hope it resolves itself.

LOL, this is so sad its funny. The cars temperature gauge didn't move past half way !

Post by **oragex** » 10 Jan 2014, 04:59

you don't talk about it, but clogged pcv means clogged oil pan breather passages, did you remove the pan and clean thoroughly ?

flushing the radiator with plenty of hose water should do the trick, as long as you disconnect the upper hose and open the lower bleeder. have you also flushed the heater core and the engine block separately? I know the engine block drain cock doesn't drain all the fluid inside, even disconnecting all hoses to the block, there is still a level of fluid that wont drain out, I had to blow air inside the block to force out most of the old fluid (air pressure hose is helpful).

If the HG is gone enough to pressurize the coolant, I suppose there will be engine oil in the coolant. I The coolant reservoir cap is new? The old one looked quite messy, I think it has a pressure release valve inside.

Post by **jimmy57** » 10 Jan 2014, 08:35

Do a flush of cooling system using Cascade electric dishwasher soap. Auto dishwasher soap has terrific degreaser properties but rinses out easily. This is what Volvo had techs use for this purpose.
The coolant flush products get rid of scale and mineral deposits but have no degreasers.

You may have other issues after you know the cooling system is clean but if there are clogs due to oil you would run hot for that reason.

Post by **chrism** » 10 Jan 2014, 11:31

"Found emulsified oil on the engine oil dipstick, and smoke puffing out the dipstick hole."

A non-performing PCV system can allow moisture to build in the crankcase and show emulsification (is that a word?) on the dipstick. It can also cause blow-by to exit the dipstick tube. I don't think you mentioned how many miles are on the car. But excessive blow-by and moisture in the oil can indicate a blown head gasket. It may be time for a compression check.

Is there any bubbling in the coolant reservoir if you remove the cap with the engine running?

Post by **oragex** » 10 Jan 2014, 12:35

chrism wrote:"Found emulsified oil on the engine oil dipstick, and smoke puffing out the dipstick hole."

A non-performing PCV system can allow moisture to build in the crankcase and show emulsification (is that a word?) on the dipstick. It can also cause blow-by to exit the dipstick tube. I don't think you mentioned how many miles are on the car.

For a car that has seen mostly city driving on short distances, the PCV system may start clogging as soon as 50k miles. But he says his PCV system has been replaced.

Greg Sands · Post by **Greg Sands** » 11 Jan 2014, 18:08

Thanks for all the replies !
Sorry about not posting all the information about my car, rather dumb of me.
2001 S60 T5, 140,000 miles (Bought at 115,000 miles)
Automatic.

Relevant Work Previously done:
PCV
Oil Sump O-Rings, cleaned passageways while i was in there.
New Radiator (Tranny cooler went)
Transmission Flush (12 quarts Toyota IV atf)
Heater Core
Timing Belt/Water Pump

chrism wrote: A non-performing PCV system can allow moisture to build in the crankcase and show emulsification (is that a word?) on the dipstick. It can also cause blow-by to exit the dipstick tube. I don't think you mentioned how many miles are on the car. But excessive blow-by and moisture in the oil can indicate a blown head gasket. It may be time for a compression check.

Is there any bubbling in the coolant reservoir if you remove the cap with the engine running?

I left the car running with the reservoir cap off, and no bubbles appeared, kept waiting for some bubbles to appear and all the water came pouring out lol.

I read your comment about the PCV allowing moisture into the engine, so i drained the oil to get a good look at how much water is in my engine. In the dark it looked fine, then i put the pan in the sun...

Yikes!, I'm not sure the PCV is capable of allowing that much moister into the engine, that is significant amount of water.

So i went to Autozone and rented their Block tester, and everything came out normal. The liquid stayed nice and blue throughout the test.

I went back and rented their Compression tester, and compression tested my Engine, the results...

(PSI)
----Dry--------------Wet
1.) 180--------------210
2.) 60-80-120------120
3.)150-155----------230
4.)155-160----------240
5.)170-175----------210

I tested cylinder 1 once, only got 60 psi, and kept starting it for a few more seconds, got 80 and etc.
i did that only once for the remaining three cylinders.
Are these numbers normal? From what i can see cylinder 2 is a bit of an underperformer.

This is what the plugs and the cylinders looked like... a bit too oily right?

I'm not an expert, but from this can i conclude its not a bad head gasket?
Looks to me like its the engine oil cooler, but hey i'd love to hear what you guys think before i go throwing money at parts, thank guys!.

Post by **oragex** » 13 Jan 2014, 09:27

good compression means all cylinders have similar numbers. cyl 2 seems to have a leak

Greg Sands · Post by **Greg Sands** » 13 Jan 2014, 14:16

oragex wrote:good compression means all cylinders have similar numbers. cyl 2 seems to have a leak

I'm not an expert, so i'm sorry if i'm asking too many questions, but with the following information i posted above, Does cylinder 2's low compression imply a blown headgasket, or can i comfortably buy a new oil cooler ?

If it were any of you, what would you do?
Anyones guess would probably be better than mine lol.

Post by **precopster** » 13 Jan 2014, 14:34

The most likely cause of low compression in just one cylinder on a motor is a damaged valve and/or valve seat.

If you poor a tablespoon of oil in cylinder 2 then crank this may raise compression to figures similar to other cylinders. In this case the piston rings have failed on that cylinder. If this doesn't occur and compression only rises slightly you have a damaged valve and/or valve seat.