Hnovak

I the oil I'm my 05 c230k is pretty milky, and theres oil in my coolant resivor, the car has 124 thousand miles on it, and it runs and drives great. I just bought it so, I dont know the service history. Any ideas on what I should do? I hear it can be seals behind the timing cover? Or the oil cooler gasket? Thanks

Plutoe

Are sure that its engine oil and not transmission fluid------please confirm!

Hnovak

The car is a manual transmission? And I'm pretty sure it's not transmission fluid. It looks pretty oily inside the coolant resivor.

Plutoe

Than all you post makes sense, you have blown a head gasket. I wouldn't drive the car much more else you loose the engine.

Hnovak

I'm not getting any other signs of it being a head gasket, no smoke, bubbling in the coolant resivor, and the car runs great. ???

Collin Minor

I’m having the exact same problem with my C230K. Was it the head gasket or something else?

Hnovak

Theres an oil cooler bolted to the back of the block right above the starter, you have to pull out the starter and like extensions and I joints together to try to unbolt the oil cooler, the gasket in there can fail and cause cross contamination. I wasn't able to get it off because of how the bell housing blocks one of the bolts. Another place to try is seals behind the timing cover can leak. Or it could be a head gasket. I really just gave up on my car, so I sold it to someone who had the means to fix it. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

One thing I did though was flush the coolant with just water and change the oil, that seemed to remedy the problem, then the additives and glycol in the coolant doesn't create a sludge when it mixes, it just evaporates off. As a last ditch effort, maybe try a good stopleak in the coolant and do a fluid change.

Collin Minor

I really appreciate the reply. I think I’m gonna just go with an oil change a month to be honest😂 I don’t drive it much and when I find an Infiniti QX56 I really like it’ll pretty much sit. I think it’s the oil cooler myself. Maybe that timing cover leak. I really don’t know at this point. It’s well used (187,000 miles) and in pretty decent shape. It’s Capri Blue Metallic, so a really nice paint color. I really couldn’t see myself getting rid of it if it is an oil cooler. Now that timing cover gasket or a head gasket, I’ll consider selling it.