Oil in coolant with only 3,000 miles on the clock

TAKE
IT

IN

NOW





that's what warranties are for​

 

Took it in the next day. I was reminded why I always do all my own work.

Friendly service writer at stealership: "We couldn't find anything wrong with your truck. The dark substance in your coolant reservoir looks like it might be mud or dirt, because there's a lot of mud all over your engine. If it wasn't fixed and you have a problem again later, bring it back in."
Me: "Mud. Really. Despite the cap being securely on. Despite the dark substance looking like, feeling like, acting like oil, and floating on top. Mud. Right. Well, since you didn't fix it this time, I guess it'll be back in for the same problem later. So tell ya what, let's go ahead and schedule an appointment for later. How about the end of March?"
Stealership "..................Uh...............What?"
Me: "Appointment. You said the if the problem hasn't been fixed, I should bring it back in. So since you didn't fix the problem, I'm going to bring it back in. Let's make an appointment for that. End of March."
Stealership: "............Uh?......Appointment?.........Are you serious?"
Me: "Yup. You didn't fix the problem. It'll be back. Let's get an appointment to fix it up right. End of March?"
Stealership: "...............Uh, sure. What day?"

Fucking stupid ass fucking stealership. I guess they like burning up one of their Lemon Law times on opening the hood, seeing mud, and closing the hood. Whatever.

 

Take it in! I agree with all others. oil prez higher than coolant, sooooooo either oil cooler or HG.

 

Also, for those thinking HG, this is what tells me it's not: There is oil in my coolant, but not visa-versa. If it was the HG, there would be some significant mixing of oil and coolant in both systems. It's only happening in the cooling system. So I'm ruling out the HG and thinking maybe the cooler or sandwich adaptor.
Which would be easy enough to fix, if the fucktards at the stealership would bother to look into the problem and not assume I'm mechanically retarded.

 

Take it to another dealer.

Contrary to some beliefs, you won't get treated better at a dealer just because you bought the truck there.

 

Well, the dealer I'm taking it to is five blocks from my house, is where we bought my wife's Rav4, and is usually pretty good. Also, I bought it in Seattle, so no chance I can take it back there.

 

Well, it's back. This time with 17,000 on the clock (yes, I racked up 17,000 miles in ten months).

I'm really not sure what's causing it, but it must be something specific, and something intermittent. Between my first oil change and now, I had no sign of oil in the coolant.

I'll be taking it to Tustin Toyota again, after too many problems at Irvine Toyota (though Tustin is really only marginally better, after they tried to charge me for routine service that it turns out the tech never even performed). This time, though, I'm going to walk them through it like they were 3 years old.

Oh, and I got a printout of my history at Irvine Toyota. "Cust. states dark substance in coolant. Tech noticed reservoir was covered in mud. Tech wiped mud off reservoir, checked coolant, and found nothing wrong."

Anyone got ideas on what's causing this?
There's no coolant in the oil, so the headgasket is ruled out (plus no power loss or any other sign of a HG problem). The amount of oil is only about 3/16" in the puke tank. It is definitely intermittent, as I had about 13,000 miles of oil-free coolant.
Thoughts?


Oh, and don't give me the obvious "take it back in to the dealer." That's already a given. I'm trying to diagnose the cause, so that I can fix it if they don't......or at least point them in the right direction.

 

You have a pic?

 

He's gonna have to wash all the mud off before he can get a clear pic.

 

Not at the moment. I'll see what I can do.
Not much a pic is going to do. It's oil floating on top of coolant in the coolant puke tank. Really kinda self-explanatory.

 

Never hurts to have a couple pics in case you eventually have to send something directly to Toyota and bypass the dealership.

 

Prankster brother-in-law?

 

Your truck most likely has never been hot enough to force coolant into the tank so what's in there has been right along. Do a real good job of washing it out I doubt you'll ever see it again.

 

Uhh what? You are aware that as your engine coolant heats up it expands and overflows into the overflow right? Then when the coolant cools down, it sucks some back into the radiator so it's full. This occurs every time your truck is at it's optimum temp.

 

Just a thought on how these things go.....
I would take it in ASAP.
If you have a mix in the oil, coolant, it will do bad things that may not show up till you are out of warrant...
So you keep driving it, they end up fixing it, they will do a head gasket or fix the leak point. The problem is that by then the real damage is done as you were still driving it.
The leak or short term fix is done as warranty but the long term, you will pay for after warranty.

 

It is obviously just mud so you should be charged for wasting their time.



I would suck the oil and coolant of the tank and send it in to get tested. Take video of you getting it out of the tank and sealing it up before you send it off.

Screw the dealers since you will be the one to get screwed in the end.

If you are auto trans it could be tranny fluid in the coolant. Could be a odd crack or leak in the oil cooler assembly and just the cooler below the oil filter.

If you come to the dealer with results from blackstone they will pretty much have to act on it them.

 

Pressure cap must open to allow the coolant into the tank think your truck reaches max pressure every day? If that's the case the tank should be all most empty in the morning.

 

not sure if there like a diesel, but my work truck did the same thing oil in coolant. the o-rings were bad that separate the 2.

 

It should be between low and high when cold. Then when the engine is hot, the reservoir will be higher. It's only a 2-3% expansion. The thermostat opens somewhere around 180 degrees on these trucks. Plenty hot enough to cause heat expansion.

 

Sorry to tell you this, but they did not "burn" anything. The only time lemon law count gets a tick is if they actually perform a repair, and it doesn't fix the problem. Simply opening the hood and saying "we can't find a problem" does nothing.