bartonmd Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 OK, so a friend's car ('98 3100) is losing about a quart of coolant every 2 weeks, and is now losing a signifigant amount of oil... Is there really anything this can be other than the head gasket, if it's LOSING both coolant and oil, and not leaking them on the ground?? Thanks, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordBoy Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Check the LIM. Does the oil look milky? Does the coolent look milky? MOre info!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 oil is not milky... It's losing BOTH oil and coolant... LIM explains coolant only, but as far as I know, there's no oil up there... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marchi1 Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 no puddles anywhere, or lines leaking showing where it is coming from? Go to Napa and get the flourescing additive for the coolant (glows under a black light) and it will show you what is leaking, oil should be kinda obvious? What does the inside of the tail pipe look like? any funny colored clouds coming from it, or odd smells when its running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 no puddles anywhere, or lines leaking showing where it is coming from? Go to Napa and get the flourescing additive for the coolant (glows under a black light) and it will show you what is leaking, oil should be kinda obvious? What does the inside of the tail pipe look like? any funny colored clouds coming from it, or odd smells when its running? Have not yet seen the car, but have posted everything I know as of right now... Just talked to him again, and learned that while it's not dripping, it is a bit wet from coolant around the LIM and head/block interfaces, but who knows which one came first, of if it's from both... Still doesn't explain the loss of oil... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordBoy Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 no puddles anywhere, or lines leaking showing where it is coming from? Go to Napa and get the flourescing additive for the coolant (glows under a black light) and it will show you what is leaking, oil should be kinda obvious? What does the inside of the tail pipe look like? any funny colored clouds coming from it, or odd smells when its running? He said there puddles. It could be burning oil. When u pull out dipstick what color is oil? Black, Brown, Brown clear, white???? If anything differant from burned or regular color of oil there couold be coolent in the oil if so change LIM then post back. Its not to hard of a job just takes time my 2.8 LIM change took me and a friend two days but that is the 1st time i had the motor apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bartonmd Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 no puddles anywhere, or lines leaking showing where it is coming from? Go to Napa and get the flourescing additive for the coolant (glows under a black light) and it will show you what is leaking, oil should be kinda obvious? What does the inside of the tail pipe look like? any funny colored clouds coming from it, or odd smells when its running? He said there puddles. It could be burning oil. When u pull out dipstick what color is oil? Black, Brown, Brown clear, white???? If anything differant from burned or regular color of oil there couold be coolent in the oil if so change LIM then post back. Its not to hard of a job just takes time my 2.8 LIM change took me and a friend two days but that is the 1st time i had the motor apart. I don't believe it would be just burning oil (rings or valve seals) because it used almost none, then awhile after the coolant started being lost, it started losing a "substantial amount of oil" pretty quickly... to the point that he'd have to add oil about once or twice a week... He would have stopped driving it if the oil had discolored like there was coolant in it... I'm almost sure it's burning the oil, but it's where it's coming from that I'm concerned with... if it's not in the coolant system and not on the floor or around the engine, about the only other way out is to burn it, but it's just a question of whether or not it's coming from the head gasket... and with as suddenly as it started losing the quanity of oil it's losing, the way it's losing it (almost certainly out the exhaust), I don't know what else it would be? I've done several 3.1 LIM gaskets, and they're not really that bad at all (a full Saturday by myself), but I guess my thing is; I don't want to do the LIM gasket (90% of the way through doing the head gaskets), then put it back together and it still uses oil, and end up having to go through it all again, when I just had everything but the actual heads off of the thing the day before... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marchi1 Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Do the glow in the black coolant additive and it will tell you for sure. Also check the hoses that lead to and from the heater core, may not make it inside but if it is on the backside of the engine may never see it there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I've heard of the coolant and oil being sucked right into one of the intake port runners before. From leaking LIM gaskets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 I've heard of the coolant and oil being sucked right into one of the intake port runners before. From leaking LIM gaskets. x2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mach 5 Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 its probably both intake and head gaskets. id pressure test the cooling system. Pull out your plugs to see if there wet. Also, see if there is a whitish coating on your drain plug and oil cap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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