Coolant in Engine Oil

[quatin]

I heard a slight metallic grind in first gear on my way home.

Pulled the engine oil dipstick and it's watery, foamy and red. I had just replaced my radiator 2 weeks ago, did a flush with distilled water and put in OEM brand red coolant. I heard a whistle noise in the bay and had a smoke test done to check for vacuum leaks, found a leak in the air filter hose and fixed it. Cleaned the throttle body and some seafoam down the brake booster/pcv valve. Then replaced the PCV valve. Now this.:frusty:

The only thing that comes to mind is a blown head gasket. It's a 2000 2.7L 4 runner with 95k miles. Low mileage, but old car.

Last time I replaced a head gasket it was close to $1k. Is it difficult to do myself? Is there anything else that I should do or have the mechanic do while we're at it?

 

[nissanh]

You can do it if you have patience and knowledge about tools etc.,

So you replaced head gasket twice during this 95K miles?
How long it is been since the most recent repair? The reason I ask is because you may need to re-tighten the head bolts.
I did my 4afe motor on my own without prior experience. I took pictures along the way and watched few youtube video's. Also had the repair manual. After driving about 1000 miles, got air bubbles coming out the radiator and I then took the valve cover off and re-tighten the head bolts and problem solved. Did more than 20 K miles without any issues. I've been told to use blue devil head gasket sealer so it is still in the coolant.

 

[quatin]

Original head gasket on this one. I had a mechanic replace for another car.

I've read about the blue devil stuff, but how reliable is it?

 

[brian4t]

Don't put that crap in your 4runner. Did it overheat, ever? Used engine or rebuild. I have not had luck with new HG on other cars I've owned. If I had to do again it would be a used (lower mileage) engine.

 

[Brveagle]

A blown head gasket wouldn't effect your gear shifting. I'm assuming it's a M/T?

Head gasket's on 4 cylinder toyota's are pretty simple. You should probably have the head checked out.

 

[quatin]

It's an automatic transmission and has never overheated that I know of.

I called a buddy who owns a mechanic shop and we looked at it last night with a flashlight. The engine oil dipstick had a distinctive red tint under the flashlight. (3k miles Mobil 1 synthetic) Since I swapped out the radiator 2 weeks ago, the knee jerk reaction was, leaking head gasket since the coolant was red.

I changed the oil and drove the car to his shop this morning and he had his toyota mechanic take a look at the old oil. He couldn't find anything, the red color isn't very apparent unless in the right light. He called us both crazy and said there's nothing wrong with the oil.

I'm still not sure about it. I'm going to keep driving and keep an eye out on the new oil color. I will investigate the gear noises as well. Is there some sort of test that I can do to find out the content of the old oil? I've seen people send out their oil to test labs, would that work?

Could it be transmission oil? That oil is red too.

 

[gamefreakgc]

If you had coolant in your oil you would know. Water and oil don't mix, it wouldn't blend together for a reddish tint, the water would fall to the bottom when not used and when the engine is in use it would make a soupy mess. This is probably why the tech thought you were crazy since he didn't see any water in it.

The leak may only happen when the engine is hot, so perhaps the ride over there wasn't enough to compromise the head gasket.

Transmission fluid is also a possibility, however highly unlikely since the only way it could get in the coolant would be from an old, failed radiator. Check your AT fluid at the dipstick. If it looks like a milkshake then you know where it is coming from. Transmission oil could never get in your engine oil though.

There are head gasket test kits you can buy online for peace of mind. If there's any contaminants or exhaust gases in your radiator it'll show up in the test result.

 

[quatin]

Ok, so this is embarrassing. :embarassed:

The grinding noise was actually the heat shield on my catalytic converter. It's an aftermarket Maganaflow since my original was stolen. The welds that held the top and bottom shield together came apart on one side, so when the converter gets hot enough, it would vibrate when I accelerate. I wrapped the whole thing in some wire and the vibration temporarily stopped. I think I will drill some holes in the shield and use some nuts & bolts to hold it together.

About the oil. Here's a picture of the used oil, held up to an incandescent light at night. In the right angle, it has a red tint. It seems like there's some types of additives in the oil that kicks in and gives it a tint when it starts to work, but by the time it's due for a change it's all stained black/brown. So it's only apparent when you run a couple thousand miles and check it under a light.

 

[gamefreakgc]

What about the watery, foamy dipstick though? That's not normal.

 

[quatin]

What about the watery, foamy dipstick though? That's not normal.

I googled around and have found quotes that "If you drive short distances and immediately check the oil, there will be some foam in the oil, because there's moisture in the tank and the engine did not run long enough to evaporate the moisture."

My normal commute is 8 miles to work, perhaps this is what happened? I'm going to keep an eye out on this.