oily slime in overflow tank....

ddw350

Registered User
as i was working on the seeming endless task of hose replacement due to another hose rupture...i decided to flush out the overflow tank,as i run my finger around the top ineer part of it i got a blackish slime.looked like old motor oil to me..could it be the trans cooler line oil seeping into the coolant at the bottom of the rad? i see no discoloration in the trans or motor oil either....
 
Oil in the coolant is usually a sign of a blown head gasket... but its rare to blow a HG on an SC :mad:

If its not too bad, you may be able to buy you self some time with a bottle of head gasket repair. Don't know how well they work, but its a lot less time and money then pulling the heads.

Jason
 
In re-reading your post... an over preasurized coolant system is also a sign of a blown head gasket (repeated burst coolant hoses). There would be an obvious amount of oil in the coolant, but you wont be able to tell from the resivoir. Pull the radiator cap and see if you can pull a sample.

Jason
 
actually this is the 1st "bursted" hose,the others have been seeping around the clamp area,and cracked up at the clamp area also,i havent seen any evidence of a HG failure as far as white smoke,or bubbles in the overflow.there was maybe a half teaspoon of slime in total.also a tiny amount inside the radiator cap at the level where it goes into the overflow jug....im also replacing both radiator hoses and have seen no slime on any of them at all,none at the therm housing either.i can assure you that if it is a HG problem,i wont be fixing it.my relationship will be over with the beloved sc..on to something else,preferrably something i can run for a month without wrenching on it! i would miss it though...
 
There is an easy way to check if you have a head gasket leak to coolant system. Just pick up a block leak tester. You put the chemical in the "sniffer" and stick it into the rad cap opening with the engine running and the liquid will change colour if there is combustion gas present in the antifreeze. See link. You can usually get this cheaper from other tool manufacturers, link to MAC is jsut for convenience.

https://www.mactools.com/portal/sit...010VgnVCM100000104d840aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

Otherwise, it might just be residue from a liquid water jacket sealer. A lot of tbirds out there have had a liquid sealer poured in by previous owners due to the relatively high level of labour required to patch seeping gaskets. With some sealers some of it builds up in the reservoir as a film.
 
When I blew my hgs I was getting oil in my overflow tank. Actually it was so bad it was shooting water/oil out of the overflow tank
 
it wasnt near that bad!! there was also slime in the inside the radiator at the very top and some on the rad cap??,guess i'll keep going till i see smoke...
 
it wasnt near that bad!! there was also slime in the inside the radiator at the very top and some on the rad cap??,guess i'll keep going till i see smoke...

well mine happened all at once so I guess your doing better than I did. Is it possible that maybe someone put some stop leak in the radiator before because that will leave some slime on the top
 
If there is no white smoke and the coolant is of normal color, you should be fine.

Good luck,
Jason

When mine went I did not have that white smoke, and I was lucky as no coolant got into the oil. My motor was running like total crap though and I was getting some bubbling in the overflow.

Fortunately I wasn't at full throttle when it went and I had immediately shut things down. As has been mentioned, best thing to do is test for combustion gases in the coolant by buying that kit.
 
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