I've had that so many times Christina, you park a long way from the store and some AH parks 12" away from you when there are dozens of parking spaces closer to the store. I always try to park with an access pavement one side or the other so's they can only damage one side or even in a corner spot.

First time in 10 years eh, not bad going, many on here wished their could be the same. Good luck with the engine, hope it doesn't cost too many $$$.

 

 

I'm sure there is a social experiment conducted on it somewhere, Offroad and yeah, I do the same.. try to park next to landscaping or an access pavement, etc. Thanks for the fingers crossed - I'm sure it will cost me but hey, what can you do. Oh that's right, haha.. work on it myself? One can always dream..

 

haha.. it's definitely got something!

 

Ok.. so update

I just called the second shop to see if they had determined what is wrong with Bertha.. and they are puzzled. He actually stated 'you have weird symptoms...' They have never seen a Rover with that much coolant in the oil before and they don't quite know what to think of it. She runs fine but has a bad coolant leak going into the oil.

Upon initial testing, the Rover passed the combustion test. No signs of steam cleaning on the spark plugs so they have ruled out head gaskets 95%. Scratching heads they decided to run the combustion test again (hot and cold) so ran her for 20 minutes and lo and behold the combustion test failed and exhaust showed up in the coolant. So there is a leak there somewhere but he said that still doesn't explain why so much coolant is showing up in the oil. (I hope they changed the oil prior to running her for 20 minutes )

My fan clutch is not disengaging and the Rover is not overheating. I have $200 into this now for testing and they are quoting me $650 more to dig into the cylinders and take a look at the head gaskets. Yikes. The thing is.. they don't think it's the head gaskets because of the dirty spark plugs and the amount of coolant going into the oil?...

So I said 'you're puzzled at what would allow that much coolant into the oil, right?'
He said 'yes'.
'And you've never seen a cracked block before, right?'
'That's right.. heard of them but never seen one..'
'But it could be a slipped liner?'
'That is a possibility'
'What about the Front Cover?
'Yes, that would be tied to the oil pump and timing and we've seen that before but I don't know if that would allow that much coolant into the oil'.

So there you have it.. I'm stumped, they're stumped and it looks like $650 more to find out that I possibly have a cracked block or slipped liner.

Thoughts?

 

I still think it sounds like Head Gasket. Based on a recent HG job it seems to me that the coolant need not pass through a cylinder to get to the oil, it can get there from the passages under the valley pan gasket. Get it torn down to the block and test it. You don't want to put in a bunch of money and just have a bad block.

Also, is this an engine shop? Do they do Machining of heads etc. in house? If not, I would take it to a reputable engine shop that does that work themselves. Sure, any mechanic can gt the work done, including amateur's like me, but a shop that works on old engines regularly will be the most familiar with the Buick 215.The guy I took my heads to new way more about this engine than I ever will.

 

i had the exact same issue with coolant getting into the oil after my head gaskets where done. it was the front cover.

 

Fingers Crossed this is it!

 

Why would my fan clutch be running constantly? Fluid in it or something?
This isn't an engine shop but a import shop that works on a lot of Rovers in town. I didn't want to take it there but hey...didn't know what else to do.

I'm assuming they would send the heads out to a local machine shop. I'd have to ask them but they quoted me 10-13K for having my motor rebuilt (never going to happen.. I'd go with Turner before I did that).

My last head gasket job was five years ago this October and I took the heads to a local machine shop in a box on a public transport bus (get er done attitude). Can you machine the heads more than once?... guess it depends on spec, eh?

I understand the concept of getting the block tested prior to changing head gaskets again. My concern is that I'll spend $1000 to find out that the block is toast and that I need a new engine. Or that I'll pay $1000 to dig into it, find out the front cover needs replacing ($700 + labor), plus other things and I'm into it $3000. Maybe I should bite the bullet now and just park her and get the ball rolling on a Turner engine if I am to keep her for the long run. They did a safety check and said that I have a few issues to take care of (transfer case reseal, driver side bearings are loose, axle seal issue) but she seems mechanically sound.

 

You will hear a slipped liner, as it taps against the bottom of the head gasket.
It could have a crack in the block behind the cylinder sleeve, coolant and oil mix, and the cylinder sleeve not move.