Possible coolant in oil...

[ACR_VP]

'99 ACR, changed the oil yesterday and in the bin noticed some coolant on top the oil...

Here's my dilemma though, I'm unsure whether the coolant in the bin was left over from a waterpump swap I did on another vehicle about a year ago or if it actually came out of the viper...

The tank in the fascia is on the low side, but other than that absolutely had no signs or symptoms of anything wrong.

Any real way to tell from the oil? If I pressure test the coolant system, would that be a sure way to tell if its leaking through the timing cover gasket? Could I purge the coolant system, refill and monitor the situation, or should I be more cautious?

EDIT: Definitely feel better after doing some google image searching... But anyway, oil was NOT milky, looked like normal spent oil... Also didn't notice any "clumping" of oil. What I did see was some green coolant like bubbles/dots sitting on TOP of the oil. Makes me lean towards it being leftovers from the bin. Thoughts?

 

[99 R/T 10]

How does the oil look in the car? It is probably leftover coolant.

 

[ACR_VP]

How does the oil look in the car? It is probably leftover coolant.

Well I have yet to run it since changing it out. It's still sitting on jackstands at the moment.

 

[Tom Sessions]

Did you run the car before changing the oil? If so then the oil would look milky if you had coolant mixed with it.

 

[ACR_VP]

Did you run the car before changing the oil? If so then the oil would look milky if you had coolant mixed with it.

Good point. The car had been sitting since December for winter. I did not run it prior to changing the oil. From all the images I've seen of coolant/oil mix, it appears that once it's all settled the coolant actually is at the bottom, and the oil is at the top. If this is the case, than I should have seen all of it dump out as soon as I pulled the drain plug. However I don't know if this would be the case with 0w-40. Regardless I'll be filling up a bunch of clear water bottles after work.

 

[aloushi]

what does the inside of the oil filler cap look like? any clumps/milky or just clean? fingers crossed for just clean...hope it's nothing serious...

 

[ACR_VP]

what does the inside of the oil filler cap look like? any clumps/milky or just clean? fingers crossed for just clean...hope it's nothing serious...

It was clean. Also I looked at the oil filter when I removed it, and also didn't see anything abnormal. And I vividly remember dumping what was in the oil filter into the pan and didn't see anything but normal looking spent oil. Thinking about that makes me feel better too. Regardless I'm going to dump it all in a clear canister and see how it looks.

I'll probably end up doing a pressure test on the cooling system because it's easy enough (though from what I read misses small leaks easy), purge/refill the cooling system with distilled water (want to avoid glycol making things worse), drive it for an hour while watching the levels every couple of miles, pull the oil, and if all is ok I guess I'll purge and refill with coolant and just keep an eye on things with every drive.