Oil cooler leaking antifreeze into oil?

mgjonesin · Post by **mgjonesin** » 12 Dec 2011, 07:39

The problem has returned with the cold weather. Coolant in the oil once again. I cant believe the oil cooler could go bad in less than 10000 mi. I love my Volvo, I love my Volvo, I love my Volvo, I love my Volvo. Anyone have a match?

balight · Post by **balight** » 15 Jun 2013, 12:42

so... what was your final verdict?

cborjon · Post by **cborjon** » 14 Apr 2014, 17:23

I am having a similar problem. COOLANT in the OIL not oil in the coolant.

This is my wife's XC-90 T6 and she said told me she was adding coolant to the coolant reservoir in response to a Low Coolant warning. Looked everywhere for a coolant leak - could not identify one. Took it to my independent Volvo mechanic. He could not find anything either. However, he says the oil looked fine - no milky brownness. He says he ran the above test (bypassing the oil cooler) and it did not leak any oil. HOWEVER, I did a Gly-tek test (gly-tek.com) on the engine oil and it was POSITIVE for ethylene glycol. [Thankfully the transmission fluid came back negative]

Question: other than the oil cooler what are some other possible ways coolant could be getting into the oil? Mechanic did a block test and it was fine. He also told my wife he tested the cooling system pressure and it was fine. He only charged her for the oil change and spent a lot of time with the vehicle, but something is not adding up. The thing is still loosing coolant, but where?

mgjonesin · Post by **mgjonesin** » 28 Apr 2014, 14:55

Haven't been here in a while.

Everyone told me head gasket. I had 2 coolers fail. Long story short I ended up bypassing it just for peace of mind. No more coolant in the oil!

The other place I thought coolant might get into the engine is the tube for the crank case ventilation. coolant and vacuum lines both run through that pipe, but I'm not a mechanic so I'm not sure.

Jon