Oil/coolant Issue?

[Jordan Warta]

I have a 1995 5.0 with about 186k miles. Owned for about 2 years now. Running off road h pipe with flowmasters and CAI.

I've done alot more driivng with work since March and I've noticed the harder I drive it, the faster the oil level goes down. For example every 1-2k miles the oil might be at half or lower. Obviously I've been babying it while driving the past few months and the oil level goes down alot slower. I took it to a shop this past Spring and they told me its leaking from the oil pan gasket and another area and I spent over 1k in repairs. Still losing oil after that. I've been using high mileage synthetic 10w30 and 50/50 mix coolant.

This past May the low coolant light comes on, then a month and about 5k miles later it comes back on. So I topped it off each time. Since then the coolant has gone down very slowly in the past few thousand miles barely any.

The fact that is is losing coolant as well as oil, worries me; I don't want it to be a blown head. There are no leaks from anywhere from what I can see. No cracks in coolant hoses, I've been checking the oil and coolant color when it ran down before months ago, and even now, the oil color is normal as is the coolant. No smoking at all or weird smells. I do not think there are any leaks.

I just checked the oil and it has a residue in it that is almost like this: http://www.theautomotiveindia.com/f...ht-my-first-car-maruti-800-ac-coolant-oil.jpg

I've heard on these models the PCV hose can sometimes suck the oil out. Any ideas??

 

[Jordan Warta]

CORRECTION: the coolant has the residue in it

 

[Real time recon]

IF you have oil in your coolant you'll know it in a second....see video >
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPQkVq4rypg

 

[jozsefsz]

That's minimal residue in the coolant. You might just have a problem with the coolant level sensor. Those are known to go bad as they're immersed in coolant. It's the part connected to the overflow cap. Or some minor drip from the water pump or other slow seepage.

At 186k miles, I think you answered your own question with driving it aggressively or not. You're probably getting some blow-by from worn rings. Using up to a quart in a thousand miles isn't a big deal really, the engine will have a lot of life left in it. Check it at every fill-up and you'll be fine. Consider a thicker oil to slow down the burning (especially if you're in a warm climate, 10w40 would be fine). Changing the PCV valve is a good idea if you suspect it at all (it's old).

 

[revhead347]

Usually a blown head gasket causes the coolant to bubble. There is a test kit you can rent from Autozone for it. Looks like a weird bong.

You can run a compression test and a leak down test to see how bad the rings are.

As for driving it hard, I would enjoy it. It's an old car with a lot of miles. If you like the car enough, a new engine would be a nice gift to buy it somewhere down the road.

Kurt