What causes severe oil/coolant mix in my 13b?
 

I have searched throughout the web trying to find out exactly what has happened internally in my '88 gxl, that is causing the oil and coolant to mix into a nice frothy chocolate milk shake. I know it's probably a seal or something similar, I was just hopeing someone could tell me exactly what it might be.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

Where are you finding this mixture at?

Different locations can mean different things.

The dipstick shows the milkshake on the whole dipstick, and is showing on the inside of the oil filler tube. And the radiator also show some signs of the mixture.

It is very difficult in the rotary for oil and coolant to mix.

If you lose an outer coolant o-ring at the bottom of the engine, coolant can mix with the oil in the pan.

If you lose a dowl pin o-ring, then oil can mix with the coolant inside the engine.

Unless you have a horribly cracked block (unlikely) then those are the only two circumstances in which oil will mix with coolant.

Now, do you take the car on many short trips? If the engine is not brough up to operating temperature, condensation builds up in the oil and will cause the foam and milk...

However, since you mention that you have evidence in the coolant (is it really oil? or just deposits? Are you actually missing coolant?) it warrents further investigation.

If you'd like real quick I could take a couple pictures of the mess and show you them.....because I'm about to sell the car from this because it's my daily driver.
The milkshake stuff was actually spewing out of the dipstick sleeve, when I got it home, and let it get warmed up. It's a mess.

But yet it still fires right up.

Oh yeah, I always let the car get to full operating temperature before shutting her off. I have owned 3 rx-7's in the past 9 years.

So are you missing any coolant? Have you done the "bubble test"? (search)

Oh yeah, before I even noticed the bad mixture, as I put water in it, it would drink it. I would just keep going down............I am about to upload some pics for you to see of the mixture.

Okay, here are a couple pics of the stuff:

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/...15P6221889.jpg

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/...16P6221887.jpg

I really appreciate your help on this........
:o)

please anyone help me.............

that is nasty

yes it is..

I really need help figuring out if it's a simple fix, or if I need to just sell the car as it sits, being it's my daily driver. :o(

Well, I guess I'm gonna get off here for now, but would really appreciate some input from anyone on this matter. I'll be back later.....thanks.

Wow, that's pretty impressive.

Pressure test the cooling system with the oil pan off. See if you see any external leakage into the oil.

How would I pressure test the cooling system?

*blinks* I don't think that's going to be a fix without a rebuild.

Also, I personally wouldn't drive with that - I doubt it's doing a good job lubricating anything at this point.

Ick.

-=Russ=-

I guess I'll probably just have to sell it or something.

I assume the answer "use a cooling system pressure tester" is not what you're looking for? :)

If I felt I could repair the problem without an engine teardown, then I would be up for anything. I am not a mechanic, so I was honestly wondering how I could test the cooling system without having to take the car anywhere.
So is it possible to rent a tester like this from an automotive shop?
And if I do try this an there is leakage into the area that the oil pan would be, is it possible to repair the problem without tearing the engine down.
As you might have noticed by my approach to the problem, that I am financially screwed right now, and am trying to find a cheap way to get back on the road.

there are 2 freeze plugs under the front cover, if they fail it can leak coolant right into the oil!

i just learned about this, freeze plugs were $2 from mazda....

Wow, that's crazy!!!
Can I detect if these have failed without pressure testing the coolant system?

take the front cover off and poke em with a screwdriver

If you've been running it with that for awhile it could have more damage.

I'd go for a complete rebuild personally...

You mean the front rotor housing?

I would prefer a full rebuild to, but at the time I can't do it financially. Anyway I plan to eventually buy a 13bt do an out of car full build. Or at least I have the dreams to do such.

the freeze plugs are the only thing I can think of @ this time that would let that much water in the oil pan also if the freeze plugs are bad in the fromt than I would start to wonder how the back ones are .

Later
Dan Atkins

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

I looked through my workshop manual and couldn't locate the plugs in the diagrams anywhere. Could you guys please tell me where these plugs are located at?

And again I really appreciate all the help from you guys.

I really don't want to give up on her, cause even with this problem now, a couple cranks of the engine and she fires right up.

Ooopssss..... damn mouse button!

dont get me wrong im not a fan of this option but you say its your daily driver so to keep it on the road for a while you could buy a can of block seal or aluma seal, i think thats what its called, and follow those directions. then u might want to change your oil afterwards also.
i personally went this route to get to school everyday and it worked pretty impressively and still is holding strong, well i guess stronger than before, and now im saving pennies for that rebuild.

Yeah that's an option, but I would like to replace the freeze out plugs first, to see if that does the trick, but i am having a hard time finding information as to their location.
So I'm gonna spend most of today, trying to find out where they are, and hopefully get them taken care of.
i feel this may be the problem, because even without pressure on the cooling system, as I add water it just drinks it, like there is a large leak into the oil.
So if anyone can tell me where these plugs are.....please do.
I'm a delivery driver, so can't work without a car.