What appears to be oil on the floor by passenger front door.

Asked by GuruZPFRJ Nov 20, 2017 at 09:16 PM about the 1998 Lincoln Mark VIII 2 Dr LSC Coupe

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Car had a leaking radiator so I replaced it.  Couldn't get the bleeder plug out so I filled the
reservoir with 50/50 coolant ran the car and it overheated. WP started dripping and found what
appeared to be oil between the right front tire and passenger door under the car.with a flashlight
couldn't find any signs of liquid on the right side of the engine,  no water in the coolant. Am now
in the process of changing the WP and thermostat. Any ideas where the oil came from and can
you pressure test the cooling system once it's all buttoned up without putting coolant in the
system. Hate to waste 3 gals  of coolant?  Car has the 4.6 ltr in it.

40,015

beatupchevy answered 7 years ago

once an engine is drained there's at least 1/2 gallon of mix left , if you flushed a V8 with water and pulled the lower radiator hose to drain it there's still a gallon of water in the engine , so you should have put straight anti freeze in the radiator not the reservoir , there's a .88 cent hydrometer at wal mart to check the anti freeze in your car , if it over heated just top it off with water and look for leaks because there may be more damage and you don't want to spend more money on somethings that's not worth it , hard to tell what you got going on from here

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GuruZPFRJ answered 7 years ago

Thank you for your response. Radiator doesn't have a cap only a resivoir with a threaded pressure cap and a crossover tube with the bleeder plug. Today I got the bleeder plug out and filled it per recommendations, ran the car until the bottom radiator hose got warm ( has a reverse cooling system) throttling up a little a few times to get the air pockets out. Cat ran just below normal with no leaks or coolant loss. Tomorrow I will check the level at the crossover tube, top it off if needed (close it off) then the resivoir if needed and close it then run the car until the tstat opens and it's under pressure. Let it cool completely and check the levels again. Again thank you for your time.

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