MY 850 just boiled over, and its brown!

byeboy · Post by **byeboy** » 18 Oct 2012, 08:02

My coolant has been kept very clean. Short drive this morning (5 miles), heard noise, pulled over and coolant was puking past the (new green) filler cap...and its brown!

Internal oil cooler in radiator?
Blown Head gasket (I just replaced 3,000 miles ago during Valve Job, and I sure don't want to re-visit that!).
No sign of coolant on either the oil or trans dip sticks...

Help!

mrwillie · Post by **mrwillie** » 18 Oct 2012, 08:28

Maybe a pocket of crap had settled in the block somewhere and finally gotten pushed out?? Have you used any additives or regular tap water in the past? Is it overheating at all??

byeboy · Post by **byeboy** » 18 Oct 2012, 08:38

UPADTE:
I let it cool down for 30 minutes, then loosened the filler cap (no hiss) and started it It began spouting and puking violently, definitely oil in the coolant...lots of it! pulsating at about one-cylinder-firing intervals...so the Oil Cooler theory is out, right? Head gasket (Arrggg!), right?

I did the head job by the numbers, and was very careful in my torquing, head cleaning, etc. The head was re-surfaced by a competent Machine Shop...182,000 miles on an otherwise nice 850R...but I'm leaning towards releasing it to a parts pickerand picking up a used ???.

mrwillie · Post by **mrwillie** » 18 Oct 2012, 09:27

That sux... Im sorry. Maybe do a compression check to see where the leak is?

Post by **erikv11** » 18 Oct 2012, 09:27

Sounds like it could still be a bad oil cooler at this point. Can you do a compression test?

Post by **vjaneczko** » 19 Oct 2012, 08:00

byeboy wrote:...so the Oil Cooler theory is out, right? Head gasket (Arrggg!), right?

I did the head job by the numbers, and was very careful in my torquing, head cleaning, etc. The head was re-surfaced by a competent Machine Shop...182,000 miles on an otherwise nice 850R...

Wait, you just did a head job (giggle) but you're ruling out the radiator - why? Is there water in the oil? Have you checked the transmission fuild? The walls between the oil cooler/radiator/trans cooler may have grown thin enough to cause a leak.

I don't believe "pulsating at about one-cylinder-firing intervals" to be a valid troubleshooting tip. I've not run the car without the cap on the tank so I'm not sure what behavior to expect. You could be seeing that because of bad motor mounts or a water pump missing some teeth, for example.

Was the water pump replaced during the head job (giggle)?

Post by **erikv11** » 19 Oct 2012, 08:45

The transmission cooler doesn't thread through the cooling fins like an oil cooler does. It is just a tube that runs straight down the side of the rad. There is no way there is transmission fluid in the coolant. Giggle.