im looking into buying an 89 GXL, and the guy mentioned that the engine doesnt run and when he had a mechanic look at it, they said that oil is mixing with water........and he said that is all that he knew about it
what kinda problem do you think would be causing this??? i know if it were a crappy piston engine it would be becuz the head gasket is worn or the head itself is cracked.....so goin by logic does this mean one of the rotor housing seals are bad or the rotor housing cracked?........if anyone has some insite as to what this might be caused by or how it can be fixed please let me know

 

Water seal is probably bad. Rebuild.

 

Pressure test the cooling system before you jump to conclusions (or believe any mechanic). Change the oil, pressure test, then drain the oil again. It is VERY rare for a rotary to mix the two fluids.

 

Wouldn't the oil seals and the water seals both need to be bad for the fluids to mix? I think someone said they can mix somehow through the front cover also, although I'm not sure how.

 

If one of the outer o-rings is bad at the bottom of the engine, coolant can be forced into the pan. If the front cover was totally eroded through, leakage could happen as well (but that would be very surprising to see).

 

Not if an iron is cracked, just like a turbo motor I just took apart. The coolant and oil were both the same thing, chocolate milkshake. The faces of the rear adn intermediate irons were swollen and cracked, all the way to the water jackets, where there were several collapses of the jacket/o-ring.