Oil in coolant,No coolant in oil on Acura 3.5 overhead cam. STUMPED

Asked by joecus Jul 01, 2018 at 02:43 PM about the 1998 Acura RL 3.5 Premium FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I  have oil Mixing into my coolant. No coolant in oil.  I did compression test on
all cylinders and it checked out fine. I looked in the radiator with Engine
running and thermostat open, No bubbles. I also did exhaust leak test in
Radiator, Chemical stayed blue did not turn yellow. When I pulled each spark
plug I did notice oil on one of them, cylinder six. This is a 98 Acura RL 3.5.
single overhead cam, Low miles   I did overheat due to broken hose and that
is when I noticed mixing, not 100% it started then.  .I change the radiator and
re-filled with Coolant.  I only did one refill.  It still looks like oil is still mixing.. I
am pretty sure I am losing oil. Any suggestions. Does compression test ,
Radiator Bubble test, Chemical exhaust test coming back negative rule out
head gasket or cracked head?   If you think it's head gasket, what is best
way to confirm.  

1 Answer

20

I am having the same exact issue in my 2004 Acura 3.5RL. I bought the car last year with just 51,000 miles on the clock. I did the came CO2 test using the block fluid and it stayed blue. I'm not sure if it ever overheated on the first owner or not. I'm not loosing any noticable oil, but I can see oil residue build-up under the radiator cap and in the coolant recovery bottle, even after flushing out all the anti-freeze. I am under the assumption that the head gasket has a tiny leak that is allowing oil into the water jacket at the head gasket. Since the coling system runs at 15 psi max and the oil pressure operates at 30+ psi, oil will always force itself into the coolant passages. Not sure if I should fix or just live with it and flush the anti-freeze every year.

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