98 S70 has oil in coolant!! 2.3 turbo

[wbrichards]

I had the radiator and the head gasket done and I still have the problem. I have heard that the oil cooler is also a possible cause. Not sure which direction to turn on mine, maybe either of the two repairs was botched but I'm not sure. The mechanics I have dealt with on this claim that there is not any on the car testing that is any good. But throwing parts at the car can run a guy broke. In both repairs it hard to say if one may have goofed up the reapir, because they both point to the other as being the problem. any help or advice from anyone would really be cool.

[Yuengling]

I have a 1999 S80 2.9 non-turbo with 165,000 miles. I have read some of the problems people are having with oil present in the coolant but non seemed to mention a loss of oil in the sump. I noticed ~1 inch of a brown substance floating on the top of my coolant overflow reservoir tank. It smelled like engine oil and when I check my oil dipstick I was down almost 3 quarts. The engine runs excellent and I have never noticed any smoke coming from the exhaust. I installed a new radiator in January of this year (an aftermarket) which was covered by warranty so I went ahead and replaced it again just to rule out the radiator as a possible source. I flushed the system and refilled it with fresh antifreeze and that is where I am right now (I have not driven the car yet). The oil lines that run into the radiator appear to be transmission cooling lines (is this correct?) or are these actually engine oil cooing lines? I ask because it smelled like transmission fluid. Is there a chance it could be a head gasket that is causing the problems I am experiencing? As I mentioned it runs great, no smoke or loss of power.

[MadeInJapan]

Like the last poster suspected, I would also suspect the radiator which has oil lines and coolant lines in it...somehow they've been breached inside if you're not having head gasket/coolant in the oil issues.

[Yuengling]

Thanks for the fast reply. So you think the oil lines are engine oil cooling lines and not transmission then? This does make sense since the oil in the transmission has not dropped and I don't think the transmission oil is under enough pressure to overcome cooling pressure when the engine is hot. The oil in the transmission is clean as is the oil in the sump (no emulsification). The oil pressure is greater than the radiator pressure and pushes oil into the radiator and prevents coolant from entering the oil pan.
I feel a little more comfortable about giving it a test drive now that I have installed the new radiator. What do you think?

[Johngypsy]

Hi guys, after seeing and viewing everones post and reply on a s70 turbo engine, regarding how the oil gets into the coolant system, this is what happens!
These turbo engines have what's called a oil cooler condenser, this allows the oil to circulate out the engine to this small box, ( oil cooler ) The box also circulates the coolant to cool down the oil so it's like a baby radiator, so after awhile, if the coolant is not always properly flushed, it will start to leak out the sides! So, what happen is that it will now leak out oil from the oil cooler into back in the coolant system, so that will be your proublem!
Your head gasket is not blown! BUT? if you continue to run the engine all the time, it can blow it from driving it the way it is,
But, you can do 1 of two things, plug it? Or just replace the oil coolant box, replacing it will deliver the car much more performance throughout it's power band....
REMEMBER- this car was one of the fastest cars on the road for a 4 door sedan back in the day! So any time you see this type of proublem, it will most likely to always be your proublem of this type of Volvo,
I hope this helps guys,

[rmmagow]

Could the smoking have been caused by coolant hitting the exhaust pipe while driving?