Oil/Coolant mix coming out of expansion tank

[kainechris83]

Can anyone help with this, just come back from a 50ish mile journey and noticed something leaking under the car , upon opening the bonnet i discovered all the coolant oozing out of the expansion tank. The oil on the dipstick is normal and the car ran ok during this 50 mile journey,

[GreenBrick]

That looks like either oil from trans cooler is mixing with coolant, (auto box sharing the radiator?) or a blown head gasket. Do the coolant pipes feel pressurised soon after starting even when still cool?
either way, don't drive it, or more damage may occur, especially it is the gearbox scenario.

[AndyV7o]

Wot he said! ^^

[Clan]

Originally Posted by kainechris83

Can anyone help with this, just come back from a 50ish mile journey and noticed something leaking under the car , upon opening the bonnet i discovered all the coolant oozing out of the expansion tank. The oil on the dipstick is normal and the car ran ok during this 50 mile journey,

wow that coolant has been neglected all that rust in there , It isn't black so unlikely to be engine oil leaking into a corroded oil cooler . Possibly the auto box cooler in the radiator as described above ?

[kainechris83]

car is a 2l manual ,. Ive only had the car a short while . bloody nightmare . Just been out again to check dipstick and gave it a good wipe to check again , no oil on the stick at all

[AndyV7o]

Well, if theres nowt on yer stick, its all in yer cooling system then!
Headgasket, poor chap...
If ya cant do the job yourself, and you are more than a couple of miles from a decent garage, you'd be best either getting it towed or hiring a mobile mechanic to do it at yours.
Wouldnt drive it far uf its that bad, and top the oil right up of course before you do drive it anywhere. Basically you want to arrive at a garage before engine gets any temp in it, and drive gently to keep heat generated low.

[kainechris83]

FML , If it is the headgasket i imagine its gonna cost alot more than what the car is worth sadly proper gutted as i love the car

[Clan]

Originally Posted by kainechris83

FML , If it is the headgasket i imagine its gonna cost alot more than what the car is worth sadly proper gutted as i love the car

what colour is your oil on the dipstick ? don't assume it is the headgasket , Volvo headgaskets do not go unless the engine has been badly overheated .. The oil cooler on the sump is best suspect at present .. The worst part of the job is cleaning out the engine .. all the hoses absorb oil and need to be changed too after the clean out ..

[kainechris83]

what traces of oil on the stick are perfectly normal , clear new looking etc. no traces of anything milky etc

[AndyV7o]

Well if it has a water oil cooler, that is indeed worth looking at (clan will know better than me) first!
Yeah oil should be golden to black, if its brown like strong coffee (with milk), hot chocolate, or yellow like french dressing, basically opaque/creamy looking, then its contaminated.
As your oil has gone and you have oily coolant however, you know summat is wrong so its kinda irrelevant.