Engine oil in my coolant, no coolant in oil.

[dono]

Sadly this just happened in my 2004 V70 w 182000 mi. Coolant level light came on. I added fluid to the overflow reservoir and drove 1 mi. home. Next day I noticed the fluid in my antifreeze was very dark. I did research, looked at the tranny fluid and it was milky pink. Should have towed it but instead drove 4 mi to the mechanic. He replaced the radiator and flushed the tranny with 36 quarts of toyota trans fluid. Tranny seems fine after but I dodged a bullet IF no damage was done in the 5-6 miles I drove on coolant/trans fluid blend. It sucks outloud that a failed radiator can trash a transmission. That seems beyond stupid. If I owned a Volvo with over 150mi on a radiator Id just replace the radiator asap to avoid this BS.

[FLXC90]

or, if the radiator is doing well for the coolant, just cap the fittings and add external coolers for the oil/trans

[dono]

Sadly this just happened in my 2004 V70 w 182000 mi. Coolant level light came on. I added fluid to the overflow reservoir and drove 1 mi. home. Next day I noticed the fluid in my antifreeze was very dark. I did research, looked at the tranny fluid and it was milky pink. Should have towed it but instead drove 4 mi to the mechanic. He replaced the radiator and flushed the tranny with 36 quarts of toyota trans fluid. Tranny seems fine after but I dodged a bullet IF no damage was done in the 5-6 miles I drove on coolant/trans fluid blend. It sucks outloud that a failed radiator can trash a transmission. That seems beyond stupid. If I owned a Volvo with over 150mi on a radiator Id just replace the radiator asap to avoid this BS.

UPDATE: Happy to report one year later, it looks like no major damage to the tranny - she is driving fine as far as the transmission is concerned. Just did the thermostat and the coolant looks clean so we got all the tranny fluid out last January. Hopefully the same is true for coolant in the tranny fluid.

[charleskennedy23]

I responded to this thread then realized I was responding to a post from 2011, lol. Whoopsie!

[loosenut]

In case someone is searching this topic recently...I own a 99 v70xc awd 2.4 turbo vin56. My oil does NOT go through the radiator. I had this problem about 2 months ago...it was said that the cooler on the back of the motor is not KNOWN to leak/fail internally and I believe that to be true...I had oil in my coolant reservoir yet no coolant in the oil...very easy I have plenty of junkyard near by....went and pulled one the donor car had 112k check...no brained....my car has 232k...put it on...putting it on is draining and filling...went a step further and took the lower rad hose off to drain the radiator....all good, fresh coolant, maybe didn't get ALL of the oil out although the ratio must be nothing to worry about.
Two days later coolant light on oil in reservoir..ok, ratio must have been a bit greater than I thought...drain, fill. Couple days later....yup,oil in coolant reservoir...less though yet I'm thinking my reservoir float is saturated with oil now and well, it's old..
So I put a new coolant reservoir on and done...no more low coolant light...FIXED IT!!!
NOPE....no no no low coolant light came on yesterday (about two months later)..I just did a fire wall heater coupling bypass and thought ok loose clamp, no big deal...NOPE. OIL IN THE RESERVOIR...
Maybe the used cooler went bad...lightning does strike twice although rare. Thinking head gasket now....Will keep posted..
Background....had 15g turbo...tuned to 12psi boost...motor puts out so much heat I can't keep a valve cover on it because it will melt off except for what's held under the hex bolts.....ha ha...
Thought maybe turbo was at fault although the turbo had been upgraded once again recently so I ruling out turbo....
Thinking NEW oil cooler...50bucks rk auto....still looking for answers hope this helps someone and or finds the right people.
Thanks.

[scot850]

I have a 2000 V70R that runs 18 psi and a 19T turbo. If your car is running that hot something is going on with it.

Neil.

[dono]

Be advised my 2004 V70 T2.5 AWD Wagon had a radiator failure mixing Transmission fluid and coolant. 'Low Coolant' warning came on with blinking red light accompanied by a precipitous loss of coolant/brown color in reserve tank. Drove it under 5 miles (should have towed it) to my mechanic. Replaced radiator and flushed both systems until clean. That was 60k mi ago - no damage to either system. In fact when I did timing belt the water pump looked normal for its age.