oil in the coolant

**silverz28camaro** · 05-31-2006, 05:46 AM

my girlfriends dad have a 97 lt1 and he says it have a little oil in the coolant, i thought it may be a head gasket but it doesn't smoke and i runs really good, i beleive it also have a separate tranny cooler so it shouldn't be that right? it only has 50k miles any advise on how to diagnose this and what it may be?

If i figure this out i can score some big points with her dad.

**generalmotor** · 05-31-2006, 09:31 AM

you sure it is oil and not where the coolant is breaking down that black gunk is just the breaking down of coolant is there coolant in the oil if not otherwise I would flush it and drive the piss out of it

**silverz28camaro** · 05-31-2006, 10:13 AM

well i havent looked at it, i was just checking if this was a common problem, but that would have been the first thing i would have done, this guy is a do- it -yourself kind and i was just trying to help him out a little even though he probably doesn't need it.

**2001NBMZ28** · 05-31-2006, 12:45 PM

Make sure the "oil" in the coolant isn't transmission fluid. A separate cooler might just be auxilary - I have a B&M cooler on mine and still use the lines to the bottom of the radiator. Could be the radiator is going bad.

**sunsetorangess** · 06-04-2006, 05:56 AM

The external cooler isnt connected to the engine so that rules it out.
Make sure its coolant, I would go ahead and change the oil and see what comes out, or rent or buy and coolant pressure tester and hook'er up and see what happens.
Is It an auto? If im not mistaken shouldnt the tranny be linked too the radiator? Core leak could also be your issue. Inside radiator if tranny is indeed hooked up to it.

**silverz28camaro** · 06-07-2006, 10:01 AM

it is the 6 speed so i dont think it is internal radiator leak, does those cars have manual tranny coolers

**sunsetorangess** · 06-11-2006, 12:47 PM

I dont think the manual tranny is hooked up to radiator but if im wrong correct me.
J

**Grimpala** · 06-13-2006, 02:24 PM

If it's a manual it wont have a tranny cooler.

I'm not sure exactly how you'd get oil in the coolant.

**Pointy** · 06-28-2006, 08:14 AM

The only thing I can think of is the head gasket. But you would notice obvious signs of problems if it was that.

**wicked_95z** · 06-28-2006, 09:42 AM

Do you have the factory oil cooler? Might be a possibility. You might have a head gasket leaking and might not show an other signs. I had a cylinder hydrolock on me overnight and it never showed any signs the day previous, ran fine. The next day it wouldn't turn over and I pulled the #8 plug and coolant came pouring out of the hole