Oil Sludge in the top of the radiator?

**Ace** · 10th January 2011, 03:23 PM

Pulled the radiator out of the commodore the other day and when I popped the cap off i could see and touch some thick oily sludge in the top of the radiator. When i drained the coolant out of the bottom it was pristine green.

The car hasnt been driven in a while so is it possible that the oil has just settled at the top and not emulsified with the oil as it normally does due to not being driven?

The motor is going to get stripped down and checked anyway, and the cheap plastic radiator will be replaced with an aluminium one. Having not stripped things down and inspected I dont know where the oil is coming from but it seemed strange. The sludge in the radiator was a chocolate milk sort of colour.

Matt

**Scouse** · 10th January 2011, 07:47 PM

Not a good sign as there shouldn't be any oil in the cooling system for starters.

Is it an auto? If so, is the auto cooler part of the main radiator?

**bee utey** · 10th January 2011, 08:50 PM

Yep, sounds like trans cooler. Just check in both sumps before it all goes back in.

**Ace** · 11th January 2011, 07:32 PM

It looks as though the auto cooler is part of the radiator yes. I havent delved to far into that side of things yet. The oil lines go into the radiator. The transmission is coming out and doing to a transmission specialist to get checked over anyway.

Matt

**glenn82** · 11th January 2011, 08:42 PM

ive had a few commodores (13 at last count) and depending on what model, its quite common for the tranny cooler to leak, also could be a valley cover gasket and of course worse case, head gaskets......

**Ace** · 15th January 2011, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by glenn82

ive had a few commodores (13 at last count) and depending on what model, its quite common for the tranny cooler to leak, also could be a valley cover gasket and of course worse case, head gaskets......

Hi Glenn, im pulling the motor out tomorrow, it needs a few new seals anyway and I want to paint the motor aswell. So it'll come out and a full gasket set will go through it, heads and all.

I shall report back with pics, a new aluminium radiator will be sourced aswell.

**Tank** · 16th January 2011, 11:13 AM

Your transmission specialist will be able to tell you if any radiator water has leaked from the trans cooler into the gearbox, if it has you may be up for a bigger gearbox bill than you expected, check with him it may be cheaper to get a reco box, Regards Frank.

**Ace** · 17th January 2011, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by Tank

Your transmission specialist will be able to tell you if any radiator water has leaked from the trans cooler into the gearbox, if it has you may be up for a bigger gearbox bill than you expected, check with him it may be cheaper to get a reco box, Regards Frank.

Pulled the engine and box out yesterday. Drained the gearbox oil out and it looked to be pretty good, nice and red, no water.

The engine oil on the other hand is not that good.

There must be a leak there somewhere. I put some fresh oil in it when I got it as I was going to give it a service and tune, replace a few bushes and register it. But with only having done a few start ups and move around the drive way drives the oil was a light chocolate brown colour.

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