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[DK MV6]

Hello.

this is my first post on this forum as i just bought a Vauxhall Omega MV6 here in Denmark..
The car was bought with me knowing that there was oil in the water. I suspected it to be the oil cooler, as there was no water in the oil. So i got the car at a good price, and was hoping i was right about the oil cooler leaking into the coolant.
BUT..... today i took the inlet apart and gained acces to the oil cooler and removed it. Now my question is, SHOULD i be able to see were the oil cooler is leaking from? It seems a little corroded but i was hoping to find a visible indicator that the cooler was damaged / leaky.!?
I dont want to put the inlet system back together and spend alot of time flushing all the goo/gunk out the coolant system, if the fault is still there and its one of the headgaskets.

So have any of you changed your oil cooler on the Omega V6 due to oil in water, but was unable to visibly see the damage to the oil cooler?

I hope someone will take the time to give me some advice before i put the whole thing together again,.

Best regards

Jacob

[dbug]

When I changed oil cooler on Estate, there was no visible sign of leakage on the old one.

After fitting new one you will need to flush all the oily residue out of the cooling system - this will take quite a lot of flushing!!

[Welung666]

Most likely to be a split internally, you can't always see where they failed.

[Darth Loo-knee]

If you have oil in your water your right in thinking that the Oil Cooler has gone. When you remove it they are normally covered in light brown oil slime.... throw it and fit it another

The biggest job is cleaning the system out, I usually try to clear as much out as possible, remove the radiator, (water pump removal helps) a damn good clean out, then put in a degreaser with the water (no anti freeze at this point) then keep dropping the water until it is coming out clear then drop the water, add the anti freeze then happy days

Hope this helps you 

[DK MV6]

thanks for all the reply´s .

So you will still suggest that i go ahead and fit the new oil cooler eventhough i´ve havent established a visual leak on the old oil cooler?
It just bugs me, because today i talked to another guy here in Denmark who had oil in his water on his omega. And no water in oil, and it turned out to be a headgasket.

the reason im having doubts is, that i dont want to put the whole thing together with the new cooler, just to realize that it still gunks up the water and i have to take on the horrible job of fitting new headgaskets. ( both time and money is an issue here.! )

[Abiton]

My Omega doesn't have one of these, but I think I can suggest a way to convince yourself that the one you have removed is faulty.

Fill a large vessel with water, enough to submerge the oil cooler.  Block one of the water pipes.  Hold the rest of the thing underwater except for the other water connection.  Blow hard into this. 

If you see bubbles, you'll know that the coolant and oil passages are no longer isolated.

[DK MV6]

So... Update,.

Changed the oil cooler and apparently its still leaking oil into the water. ( its very hard to determine already as there keeps coming a little oil everytime i flush the coolant. But this can be due to the previous owner driving with the car like this for 14 days. )

but a new problem.! now its pressurizing the coolant container to a point where its starts to boil and overflow.
I checked and flushed the radiator and the coolant has good enough flow when checked with a large coolant hose off the system..

Any idear about whats playing up now.. Headgasket?

best regards

[familymad666]

i had the same problem with my 2.6 v6 2001 omega i brought the car with oil in water and i changed the oil cooler only had very little rust on it but had no dout i changed the right part after having advise on the problem by the helpfull people on the forum. This was only a couple of months ago flushed the system about 6 times and started to come clear the other problem was the fans would not kick in when the engine got hot and started to bubble it seamed somewhere had a airlock in the water i managed to clear it by taken the car out for a spin as would not clear on idle hope it helps 

[Andy H]

A layer of oil & mayo on the sensor could make it respond more slowly (or not at all).

It only takes a thin film of filth in the cooling system to massively reduce the heat transfer coefficient. This results in a triple whammy
- poor heat transfer from block to coolant
- poor heat transfer from coolant to radiator
- thermoswitch not starting fans

[DK MV6]

i had the same problem with my 2.6 v6 2001 omega i brought the car with oil in water and i changed the oil cooler only had very little rust on it but had no dout i changed the right part after having advise on the problem by the helpfull people on the forum. This was only a couple of months ago flushed the system about 6 times and started to come clear the other problem was the fans would not kick in when the engine got hot and started to bubble it seamed somewhere had a airlock in the water i managed to clear it by taken the car out for a spin as would not clear on idle hope it helps 

But as soon as my water starts to boil in the expansion tank, the temp gauge rises. Im not sure its a good idear to drive the car that way.. DA**it. And i was just starting to like the car before this..
I have a Vauxhall mechanic here in Denmark who keeps telling me its one of the headgaskets... And he thinks im stupid because i want to try all sorts of things instead of changing headgaskets. He thinks i could have changed them in the time i have spend spraying water all over the workshop trying to flush the cooling system.

[al brown]

Hi, I dont want to give false hope, but mine was like this when the oil cooler went. You could see where it had rusted but not where it failed. After I fitted the new cooler it would run very hot if stood still and wouldnt cool until moving, the fans wouldnt come on fast and there was oil showing in the water for weeks depite being flushed many times. The rad may well be free flowing, but that may just be the header, it is the small waterways which do the cooling. When the engine is warming up feel the rad to see if it warms up evenly, mine didnt so I swapped it for another. It was when I was changing all the temp switches over that I found the film of sludge over them. Once they were cleaned my fans worked fine and with the replacement rad the temp problems have gone and all has been well for the last couple of years. If the car was run with a leaking cooler for any amount of time it is likely that the rad is beyond repair and no amount of flushing will clear it. Hope this helps.
Al

[Marks DTM Calib]

Immerse the cooler in some water, stick your thumb over one of the oil feed holes and apply air to the other....you will then be able to observe a nice stream of bubbles.

[Gaffers]

Vauxhall mechanics dont know s*** about the V6 engine.  I thought it was just the ones int eh UK but I proved it in Germany and now it seems that it is also the case in Denmark.

Oil cooler.  It's a horrid job to clean but worth it

[Andy B]

Vauxhall mechanics dont know s*** about the V6 engine.   ......

perhaps that's because it's so reliable that Vx/Opel techs hardly get the chance to work on it       





or maybe not     

[DK MV6]

ine didnt so I swapped it for another. It was when I was changing all the temp switches over that I found the film of sludge over them. Once they were cleaned my fans worked fine and with the replacement rad the temp problems have gone and all has been well for the last couple of years.Al

I´ve found that my fan doesnt start.. Probably because the temp. sensor is covered in oil film.. But im only able to find one temp switch at the radiator. Its with 3 connections and only start the 2 aircon fans in front of the condenser when they are bridged.
Where is the temp. switch that starts the cooling fan on the radiator?

thanks