morganb

Been a lurker here and now need some help.
My 95 C36 with about 160K KMs is getting some oil through to the radiator water. No evidence of exhaust gases in the radiator water and pressure tested cooling system which held 10psi for 4 days, also Pressure tested Auto transmission cooling pipes with no loss of pressure.
Have flushed out as much oil as possible and now running the car again for a while.
There is no evidence of water in the oil.
Car runs great (possibly better than ever). Any advice on what to do/look for would be appreciated.

See picture with younger brother.
Regards,

Bruce

Super B

How much oil we talking bud?

morganb

There was a deep layer of oil on top when I first found this out, maybe 1-2 cm. After the flushing I have done about 300 KM and there is a thin layer, maybe 1-2 mm.
The oil level does not seem to be dropping any more than normal.

503C43 ////AMG

could mean 1 of several things:

1.) blown head gasket
2.) cracked block
3.) Leak in tranny oil cooler (not sure if the C36 has one)
4.) warped or cracked head

All of them are pretty serious

Super B

Spot on.. Morgan have you over heated the engine lately? Like had a water pump go out? Or anything like that.. Strange that you did a presure test and it didn't leak down. Has that head gasket ever been done?

503C43 ////AMG

C36's are notorious for head gasket issues...

w202mylove

Yes I think it will be this, not that big of a problem

99CEEFOURTHREE

Hopefully thats what it is....if not put that 6 on a stand beef up the internals and slap on a turbo!!

Super B

Any word on this? if the car is leaking oil from the corner of the head and you love your car with no plans of selling it. I'd pull the head and replace the gasket. Keep I'n mind that if your getting oil I'n the coolant your most likely getting coolant I'n the oil. Not many things rip out main bearings like sticky antifreeze..

morganb

Thanks for the replies. Head Gasket has not been done. No overheat though the wife was stuck in a traffic jam about a year ago for 2 hours in very hot weather, the temp gauge went to just above 100. No evidence of water in the oil at all. Only oil in the water. Also performed a leak down test with all cylinders being the same. My first thought was also head gasket. Seems strange though there are no evidence of exhaust gases in the water and holding pressure. Could it be a warped head (as suggested above) that shows itself when warm? That would explain why it holds pressure at cold temps.

503C43 ////AMG

If you haven't done the head gasket maybe you should pull the head to check it and replace the gasket as a preventative measure as we know this is a weak spot on that motor.

ccrelan

In these motors the sign of a bad HG is oil in the water not the reverse

Super B

Actually Im not that surprised that a leak down test of the cylinders didnt net any info. If you had combustion leaking into the coolant system the car would over heat and as you said before you do not have that problem.

If I had to guess id say an oil passage is seeping into the water jacket around the cylinder due to rotted head gasket. Since the oil system works at a lot higher pressure than the coolant system its getting pushed one way when the car is running. Id start with the head gasket and replace the timing chain guides while I was in there. Ive seen a couple right ups on MBworld of the process. Wish ya the best man..

B

morganb

Ended up with water in the Oil as well so urgent to repair. Car is the workshop now, slightly warped head but no cracks. Hopefully will be back together as good as new by end of the coming week. Dash instrument issue (on other thread) is problem battery and alternator. Both being replaced. Hopefully another 150K KM's before any more major issues.
Thanks to all for the advice/comments.

dearlove

fixed then??

morganb

All fixed and going great now. Has come into being the primary transport again now due to break down on anothe car, doing 1k KM per week.

ECTurboGSX

Glad you got it fixed. I found out relatively recently that I had been doing my compression and leak down tests wrong. You're supposed to do them with the car at full operating temp, which I had been doing it with the car cooled off (less burnt fingers and what not). Most recently I did it both cold and with the car at temp and it definitely gave different numbers. Anyways, glad she's back on the road.