would this be caused by a head gasket leak?
2013 Genesis Coupe 2.0T L4 (not rspec). Found oil in my coolant reservoir, coolant was orange/brown so decided to do a flush, by the 4th cycle it was still coming out orange/brown, by the 6th it was clear. Staying green as far as I can see (only been 6 days since the flush). This was in the reservoir after draining the first time and took the reservoir out to clean it (picture below).
Still some smoke coming out the exhaust on startup but not excessive, again smell of coolant. Some oil is splattering on bumper of the car after driving for a week (cat less + canned tune w/ pops for over a year), due to the tune its running rich dumping fuel to get those pops. Smell of coolant and fuel when I do oil changes and oil becomes less viscous but not seeing any milkshake in the oil. Oil catch can has been installed on intake side since I bought it and is showing some froth in that, along with side of engine has signs of some wet spots (noticed before the tune about a year ago)
not overheating as far as the gauge shows, no engine codes have been thrown, after doing the coolant flush car seems to be running smoother for the time being. Was having issues prior and would almost stall at a red light but didn't happen consistently (maybe bad fuel).
Looking for any light to be shed on this information and as to why the reservoir would have oil in it, my thinking is this could be a small head gasket leak for the time being but with the tune I'm sure that could change quick.
I should mention it is at 140,000km and has been kept up on regular maintenance. here is the before and after of the coolant, 4th cycle was coming out like the far right, this is not all the jugs just the most drastic.
lastly here is what i think to be the little parts of the radiator and hopefully not parts from the engine internals, only notices a couple of these metal pieces but is not ideal to find while doing coolant flush, got the car at 120,000 from used car dealer and seemed like that had done a rad flush themselves when buying.
Are you losing coolant but not seeing anything leaking or dripping externally? Do you have an automatic transmission? If so, have you checked the transmission fluid? I'd suspect if the transmission cooler, which is inside the radiator, were leaking into the engine cooling system you'd be having transmission problems by now. But it doesn't hurt to look at the fluid. Have you looked at the engine oil on the dipstick? White goop on the dipstick is a telltale sign of a blown head gasket. You should also, with the engine cold, pressurize the cooling system with a cooling system pressure tester. The pressure should hold for a minimum of 15 minutes. If it does, you don't have any leaks, including the head gasket. To be absolutely sure, with the cooling system pressurized, run the engine for a minute or two. Look at the gauge on the pressure tester. If it bounces with the engine running, the head gasket is blown. No bouncing means the head gasket is not blown. The metal shavings could be from a lot of things. Radiator, water pump, heater core, etc. The condition of the coolant that came out of the engine could be just from years of neglect. The vehicle is 12 years old and the cooling system may have never been maintained, or not maintained very well. Hope that helps! Jim
Hey Jim thanks for your response. There are no leaks of coolant externally, it is a automatic transmission and now that you mention that the odd time throughout gear change it will lag alittle bit, usually in the lower gears from 1st-4th (8 speed transmission). I have checked the transmission fluid before and the levels were fine (5-6 months ago) but I will check it again, am I looking for something specific in the transmission fluid or making sure that the level is maintained? I do my oil changes and check the dipstick often but no white goop to be found. I will do the pressure test on the cooling system today to confirm if its a blown head gasket or not, thank you for the information. I will respond after the pressure test to confirm if its leaking or not.
If you have a coolant smell out the exhaust that is a sure sign of coolant getting into the combustion gasses, this could be a blown headgasket or even a cracked cylinder head. Only way to real way to tell is to tear it down and do the head checks.
You're welcome, glad to help! Sounds good. You'd be looking for coolant in the transmission fluid. Jim
Hey Gene thanks for your input, I will put a scope into each cylinder and hand crank checking for cracks in each cylinder, If it is leaking during pressure test it will be torn down anyway and get a better idea if there are any micro cracks. I find it odd there is no milkshake when draining oil, that being said there was some milkshake in the oil catch can.
If you have an engine oil cooler that is failing it could put oil into cooling system but not coolant into oil.
Hey Jim, After completing the pressure test it has held pressure and no sign of leaks. With the car running there is no bouncing of the needle confirming this would NOT be a head gasket issue, and is transmission oil getting into the radiator from the cooler within. What would you recommend the next steps to be? my thoughts would be to replace the radiator as-well-as do a transmission oil flush in case the level is low and coolant has gotten into the transmission. Please let me know your thoughts, Thanks. Max.
like I mentioned earlier the car is at 140,000km, I understand the ATF is sometimes lifetime but introducing any coolant + excessive heat into the trans could be bad for the transmission overtime. It will sometimes lag through gears as mentioned and that was happening when I bought the car at 120,000km.
That sounds like an excellent plan, Max. Replace the radiator then flush the transmission fluid. Even though it's "lifetime" fluid there's a good chance it's been contaminated. So the fluid should be flushed. Jim
I just remembered a car that came in back in the early days, it was slowly loosing coolant, all the tests came up negative. So one of the guys pulled the intake and exhaust manifolds off and pressurized the cooling system to 30 psi, we were all waiting for the BANG, but it didn’t happen then all of the sudden number 2 exhaust port started showing coolant dripping, so pulled the head off and found a crack in the cylinder head right where the valve guide came through the head, customer cried a little but went for a new head. Problem solved. Just a FYI.
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