Thread: Diesel: Diagnosing oil/water mixing, H-gasket or oil cooler ?

Newly-minted Motor Mechanic #3 Son has his ford Ranger 3.2l turbo-diesel in bits... Found black oil in coolant overflow, after engine ran hot going up average hill.
Initial advice from his workmates (franchise of Clever Auto mechanics.. .) was 'Oil cooler / O rings, known weakness...'

Oil cooler assembly has been professionally checked and OK, with a comment about one o ring surface looking like it might have been the site of a leak.

Son is hesitant to re-assemble, in case the H/gasket is dying... and he has to pull it alllllll apart again. Suspicion due to last night's discovery of 'lots' of sludge/muck in the catch-can...

I suggested he should re-assemble and test, which will eliminate one variable... he now thinks it's all toooo hard and may as well do the head gasket.


- What do real (Land Rover) Mechanics suggest ?

Naturally, he's taken Mother's car to work today...


I reckon the overheating points to 'head gasket' . But what would a Father / Land Rover owner know about these things ???

If it's got hot I'd do all the normal HD symptoms stuff before re-assembly.Coolers are a source of cross contamination in many different vehicles.