Hey Guys/Gals,

I bought a 2004 Disco with 105k early this January. Love it. Got my Ultragauge a month later before a pheasant hunting trip and noticed temps at 215F-224F. Following the advice from this forum I changed thermostat, flushed coolant system, switched to green, and replaced fan and water pump. Now my temps will not go above 195. Perfect.
I've driven it about 1000 miles since the coolant flush.

Today I noticed my coolant about 20oz low. Didnt see any leaks. Checked oil and found it still looking good and dark, but could see faint traces of green on the paper towel I used to wipe the dipstick. The oil has been in it for about 3500 miles.(Time to change it.) I pulled the oil cap and found some milky gooey stuff on it and down the fill neck. I also found a small drip of coolant hanging from the bottom of the oil pan - so there is a small leak coming from somewhere...

Could the milky stuff under the cap be from the dexcool that was in there before I switched?

The headgaskets were replaced by JC's in Denver about 12k miles ago and there are no external leaks anywhere from them. Engine is real clean.

I really hope it's not a blown headgasket. I will attempt it if I have to, but I'm hoping it could be something else since they were just done.
Could running the engine for 300 miles at 225F be enough to damage the new gaskets? I wouldn't think it would be...
Also, I sometimes smell a bit of coolant after I shut the truck off.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
j

 

There are two gaskets that separate coolant and oil. One is the head gaskets. We will assume that a pro replacement included machine shop. You did not mention white smoke out exhaust. Or steam cleaned spark plugs. Or gurgles under dash. At the head gaskets, oil is at 40-50 PSI.

The other gasket is the front cover, where the water pump is mounted. A kit to replace that gasket and the oil pump is like $115. You can rent/borrow a coolant pressure tester from a parts store and pump up to 15 PSI and watch for leaks after about 30 minutes. The back of the front cover is at zero pressure (oil vapor from the pool in the oil pan).

Coolant in oil will cause increased wear on main bearings of crank shaft. Faster than SWMBO can max out a credit card. Should discontinue daily driving and just use it for testing until resolved, plus change oil now.