Oil cooler had failed. I had a shop install a new one. Six months later I had oil in my radiator again. Cooler was still under warranty so I took it back in. They told me it wasnt the cooler, it was the head gasket. Needed a new engine. My jeep has been parked for months until I had money for an engine. Had some time, pulled oil cooler. This was underneath. I'm guessing they lied because they didn't want to replace my whole cooling system? Would a head gasket cause this?
Head gasket or oil cooler?
- Thread starter Lcwilliamsinsea
- Start date
Yeah but my oil cooler had failed before and I had oil mixed with coolant that looked like this. My oil is currently going into my coolant.
A blown head gasket can let coolant into the oil, oil into the coolant, or both.
I meant to ask this when I replied earlier, but it slipped my mind. CRS syndrome...
How did they determine you needed a new engine because of a blown head gasket? A blown head gasket doesn't equal a blown engine. Was it running when the shop inspected it?
You need to take your heads off, obviously. Inspect them for damage. With the heads off, rotate the crank and check the bores for damage. Now pull off the pan and take a good look at your crank bearings. If all this is good, you probably don't need to replace the engine. You've already drained the oil, so make sure the coolant system is all drained and flushed. Replace your oil filter. Replace your oil pan gasket and head gaskets. Put it all back together again.
I would get new head bolts. Partly because I can never remember if Jeep uses TTY bolts. Partly because head bolts from an engine with a blown head gasket are likely to have some rust, and rusty head bolts shouldn't be reused.
How did they determine you needed a new engine because of a blown head gasket? A blown head gasket doesn't equal a blown engine. Was it running when the shop inspected it?
You need to take your heads off, obviously. Inspect them for damage. With the heads off, rotate the crank and check the bores for damage. Now pull off the pan and take a good look at your crank bearings. If all this is good, you probably don't need to replace the engine. You've already drained the oil, so make sure the coolant system is all drained and flushed. Replace your oil filter. Replace your oil pan gasket and head gaskets. Put it all back together again.
I would get new head bolts. Partly because I can never remember if Jeep uses TTY bolts. Partly because head bolts from an engine with a blown head gasket are likely to have some rust, and rusty head bolts shouldn't be reused.
Exactly this ^^^^^^^^
A blown head gasket does not neccassirly mean a new engine
Thank you for this great answer! I'll check with the shop who determined it. It was running great, no loss of power. I noticed it was running a little hot. It never really overheated past 3/4. I let it cool off, opened the radiator, saw sludge and had it towed. Little pissed at the shop because I paid for an all aluminum oil cooler; just to find out they replaced it with the half plastic one. Plastic in an oil cooler is just asinine.
Based on this thread, I think that shop is not trustworthy.