How to know if coolant is leaking into the oil
Any kind of leak that develops can cause serious engine damage. One of the cases that develop in the life of any engine is that oil in coolant is leaking into the engine. Why does it happen? Just how can we identify that that is happening? And what consequences will it have on the engine? We shall deal with your aspects in this article.
How come the coolant being passed to the engine
The passage of the coolant to the engine can occur because of the following parts and circumstances:
Damaged cylinder head gasket
One of the most frequent cases is damaged cylinder head gasket; Because it is a plastic packing because of the different temperatures it supports, it crystallizes and loses its mechanical properties, allowing the seal between the block and the cylinder check out be lost, generating the passage of the refrigerant to the cylinders and to the crankcase.
- Butt crack
- Cracked engine block
- Oil cooler leak
- Leaking cylinder seals
- Leak in the injector seals
As you can see the consequences may be serious, these could cause overheating and injury to the engine is evident. In case of fissures, the damage is significantly more serious because this means that the block or cylinder head has recently exceeded the elastic limit of the material and is broken, in these cases the only thing that could solve the issue is to replace them.
Why it happens?
The passage of refrigerant to the lubrication system occurs due to bad practices in the maintenance of the refrigeration system, use of water rather than refrigerant (in cars cooled by antifreeze), fatigue of some of the components including the packaging of the cylinder head or that the cylinder head buckles due to overheating and that because of the effect of temperature (in this case due to overheating) the engine or cylinder head fractures. The degree of the coolant, humidity on the not in the block, cylinder head and crankcase must be constantly checked.
Just how can we identify that that is happening?
Low level in the expansion tank.
Whenever we observe an amount below the maximum, we ought to check where in actuality the leak is or if it occurs due to air in the system.
Black moisture in the gasket between the engine block and cylinder head.
When passing a cloth or hand over the edge of the valve cover, an oily black moisture is perceived, it is definitely an indicator of the presence of moisture from the packaging. The cylinder head gasket must be disassembled and replaced.
Increased oil level.
It is not normal for the oil level to go up, on the contrary it should drop because of the normal operation of the engine. In the event the particular level increases gradually, it must be established that the liquid is increasing the quantity of the crankcase.
Emulsified oil.
Oil emulsifies on contact with water, the oil emulsion that's captured on the dipstick can show us that the oil is being mixed with the coolant.
Engine oil cap with residues of emulsified oil.
By detaching the oil cap from the engine side, we can see if the oil is emulsified. If that's the case, we confirm the presence of coolant in the crankcase.
Consequences of mixing the refrigerant with the oil
After the engine runs for just about any amount of time, the crankshaft and oil pump have a mixer-like effect on the 2 fluids, making them what many references as "emulsion." The one with the appearance of a milk chocolate smoothie on the surface. Down below the thinnest portion of the mixture is just a thick, sticky mixture that resembles a bar of melted milk chocolate.
After the liquid has time to mix to this visual consistency, the sand in the coolant has exceeded the lubricity of the oil and traveled the bearing beyond repair.
The coolant causes the lubricating oil to improve chemically as indicated by the milky appearance of the oil. This causes the oil to not provide the necessary high lubricity between parts with tight tolerances, causing friction heat. The heat causes further deterioration of the oil. A sludge begins to form which interferes with the pressure valves, the oil filter can clog and may collapse.