oil in coolant resevoir

I posted this in the wrong section so I moved it here.

I have a 2001 Jetta with 207000 kms oil is showing up in the coolant resevoir, I am losing oil out of my oil pan but there are no signs of water in the oil. The dealer pulled the head and replaced the head gasket, and pressure checked the oil cooler. Charging me unreal amount of money now two weeks later it is doing it again, the dealers response was to take it apart again or possibly I need a new engine. This does not appeal to me.

Does anyone know of anywhere else oil could be getting into the cooling system. Other than that the car seems to run okay no other problems, and no mods have been done to the car. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Couple possibilities:

-Residues are still in the cooling system from the previous leak
-Leak was never in the head but the water to oil heat exchanger (oil cooler)

I just can't see how a TDI will have a bad head gasket. If the head gasket (not really a gasket but a solid metal shim...literally) were to leak the cooling system would more than likely get combustion gasses in it and appear to be boiling over. The combustion gasses are around 3,000 psi where the oil system is at most 115psi...which one do you think will leak first??? Thats what I think as well!

Back to the source of your problem, I personally have never seen an oil heat exchanger leak but it is possible. I would suggest performing a pressure check of the cooling system with the motor shut off. If coolant then gets into the oil system I would say start your search at the oil heat exchanger. The oil system is always running at higher pressure than the cooling system. The Cooling system at most is around 5 psi where the oil system at hot idle will be around 15-20 psi increasing to around 70 psi when running at normal rpms.

Sorry to hear that you ran into a dealer that likes to throw expensive repairs at a simple issue.

DB

I think VWs and Audis share the same oil cooler. One failed our Audi. If you suspect the oil cooler, take the coolant line in and out of the cooler and connect them. Run the car a while and oil will start coming out of the coolant passages. I think many of these have failed since the dealer said they sell "a lot" of them. Dieselgeek sells a larger oil cooler for about the same price as dealer list. The oil cooler is not too hard to get at to replace yourself. To clean out the cooling system you need to remove the thermostat and flush with shout detergent and water mix. Be prepared to do it about 4 times.

What's the simplest and most thorough (hope they're the same) way to flush engine coolant?

thank - you for the suggestions I am going to try the bypass of the oil cooler I will let you know my results.

Just in case anyone else runs into this, the oil in the coolant resevoir was coming from the oil cooler, but it was not a pressure leak but a seepage leak. A young kid at the radaitor shop figured it out. The oil cooler for whatever reason is built from cast iron, but they use iron pellets and melt them together, so there is a bond between the pellets but not as good as using non pellet material. The oil was seeping from the oil side into the coolant causing the problem.

The dealer actually stood up for their work, and refunded the bill on the head gasket. I was very impressed if anyone is looking for a good dealer in Alberta, Progressive VW in Red Deer is the place to go.

Wow. That is great news. Props to that dealer! Its stories like this that gets them more bussiness through the door. I don't think many dealers put much stock in word of mouth experiences. the internet is bigger than they think.

Too bad the dealers around Toronto are not like that. They know that if they piss of one customer, there will be another one coming through the door right behind them. To get good service here, we have to drive 1 hour outside the city. But it is well worth the drive in 99% of the cases.