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Old 12-04-2014, 07:36 AM   #5
eseyoung
Senior Member
 
City: Baltimore
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 305
Can someone explain to me why there is no coolant in the oil. I get that when running the oil is at a higher pressure but as soon as the engine stops the oil pressure returns to 0...while the coolant remains at pressure for quite a while.

The only theory i can come up with is that pressure required to push past whatever weakness is in the loop requires more PSI than the ~12 PSI of a cooling system. but the increased pressure of the oiling system is sufficient to force the oil into the cooling system.

I guess that theory holds water (pun very much intended) but it does sound odd that problem hasn't gotten worse.

Another thought maybe exhaust gas in the cooling system. Over time it could contaminate the coolant with oily exhaust gas...which he'd likely have at start up and as the system warms it expands enough to close whatever hole is in the system.

Does that idea have any merit?

If it were mine i'd start with a (cold) coolant system leak down test. tester is cheap and not at all labor intensive to do.
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