Hi all,
I am just a normal guy trying to fix my car without taking it to a garage, I have little experience working on cars but have done bits over the years. I followed some online guides on how to do this. I have not bought any parts yet. I am thinking about purchasing the following from ebay for less than £80 Total:
Oil Cooler - non genuine part
Engine Oil 5W30 - TRIPLE QX Fully Synthetic
Oil filter - cheapest
Coolant G12 - cheapest
Symptoms:
BLACK OIL IN COOLANT RESERVOIR
N0 MAYONAISE SUBSTANCE IN OIL FILLER
DIPSTICK LOW - NORMAL OIL
Back Story:
An apparent Audi Tech viewed my car as a prospective buyer and noted oil in the coolant tank. I have asked an "Audi specialist" garage for an opinion on the oil in the expansion/coolant tank. They believe the oil cooler to be the most likely fault. I have not removed or tested the oil cooler - yet.
Today:
REMOVED & CLEANED EXPANSION TANK WITH KEROSENE - THEN FLUSHED WITH WATER AND RE-INSTALLED
PULLED OFF LOWER HOSE
FLUSHED SYSTEM WITH HOSE CONNECTED TO EXPANSION TANK 'OUT HOSE'
FILLED WITH DISHWASHING TABLETS AND HOT WATER
RAN IT UP TO 90 DEGREES AND LET IT CLEAN OUT RESIDUAL OIL
FLUSHED THROUGH WITH HOSE A HANDFUL OF TIMES
WAITED UNTIL WATER RAN CLEAR FROM LOWER HOSE
PUT IT ALL BACK TOGETHER
Issue:
HEATER STOPPED PUTTING OUT HOT AIR (POSSIBLY LOW COOLANT OR AIR IN SYSTEM)
I DECIDED TO DRIVE THE CAR UP THE ROAD TO TRY AND UNSETTLE THE AIR (IF IT WAS THE AIR CAUSING ISSUE) - IT WENT INTO LIMP MODE
I PULLED OVER AND RESTARTED THE ENGINE
NO LIMP MODE - ALL NORMAL
HEATER WORKED
I CHECKED THE EXPANSION TANK - WATER WAS SLIGHTLY MURKY BUT LOOKED VERY NORMAL
My question is this:
How likely is it that my Oil cooler has failed?
How likely is it that my Head Gasket is buggered?
The next step will be to remove and replace the Oil Cooler I guess! Anything I can do without taking it to a garage that will help me diagnose between Head Gasket / Oil Cooler?
There was NO GUNK - just VERY black engine oil - the condensation on the tank looks like gunk but it is not!
The coolant tank looked like someone had put old engine oil directly into it - I initially worried the prospective buyer had tried to scam me (there were two of them and I didn't keep track of all their actions. I did some internet searches and it came up as a scam. The problem with this is that they never made an offer on the car. So it is unlikely that the two prospective buyers were out to scam me.
There is no Mayonnaise like substance inside the oil filler, it all looks really clean and normal.
The dipstick was slightly low but not worryingly low - it still met the marker requirements.
I located the lower coolant hose. I pulled off both radiator boost pipes first by mistake. A mechanic friend advised that this was the lower hose via picture confirmation on whats app and I pulled it off. The spring hose clamp was incredibly difficult to remove as it was pointing away from me. I used a combination of several pairs of pliers and some mole grips. I have seen online you can buy hose clamp pliers that are much better for the removal but they are expensive. I advise anyone doing this to get those or 90 degree needle nose pliers.
I got soaked in coolant. The coolant was pink which I initially thought meant it must have been someone pouring the oil in the expansion tank but soon accepted that the oil would likely rise to the highest point - the expansion tank. I am still unsure why my expansion tank is black oil and not brown sludge/chocolate milkshake looking though?
I am not sure if this step was advisable, I hooked up the garden hose to the out pipe that would connect to the expansion tank and flushed through the system.
This is how the expansion tank looked after removing, filling with Kerosene and shaking then reinstalling. I tried dishwasher tablets first and they did nothing. The kerosene made this effortless. I thoroughly rinsed with water after.
Healthier looking expansion tank.
Don't see any oil leaking from the oil cooler? Would I or would the oil just mix with coolant inside?