Hi,

Recently I had problems with engine that was slow to warm up (3L 12V and 50K miles) and decided to replace the thermostat. Afterwhich, I noticed that the coolant overflow tank was empty. I topped off the overflow tank and radiator and all seemed fine. (Also the weather improved from -25C to 0C.) This was a few weeks ago, yesterday I was topping up the windshield fluid reservoir and decided to check the oil level. When I pulled out the dipstick I noticed ice particulate with oil on the end of the dipstick! I held the particulate in my hand, and it just disolved. I'm thinking I have water in the oil, could this be the missing coolant?
My question whether others have had similar issues and what were the fixes.

Thanks in advance.
Chris...

 

There is at least condensation ice, goes to bottom, oil top. No problem...

Fix: move to mexico.

Water in combustion produces steam (continuously, not just warmup).

 

Most likely a headgasket has failed(starting to fail).

 

a small amount of water in your oil could be from the car heating and cooling, but I doubt you'll get much.

it's more likely a head gasket failure- or the beginnings of it.
check your coolant for oil contamination, and I would suggest doing a compression check on the engine.

also check your spark plugs and see what the ends look like. they should be a nice golden brown on the ceramic ends. If one or two are shiny or have other discoloration to them, then that will indicate other problems (like a block head gasket)

does the car smoke all the time, even when warm?

 

It depends on how the HG failed. If it failed near the water jacket, it could be losing coolant into the heads but not oil into the coolant(or not nearly as much)

But take a look at the plugs as Matt said and get back to us. Not much else we can advise until then.

 

Thanks for the info.

I will replace the oil and check for 'milky' oil. Will also check a few plugs, would I need to check all of the plugs?

Moving to Mexico is out of the question, too hot!

 

Inspect all plugs.