Okay, I was just bragging on my H3 the other day so now I think I have a major issue on my hands. I just finished a 2000 mile trip with no problem. This morning when I started the truck, the power steering sounded low so I went to Auto Zone for fluid. That was strange enough because it has never had a problem.
When I popped the hood to put in the fluid, I noticed dried orange coolant on the radiator and around the oil fill housing. So I unscrewed the radiator cap. No fluid, but than ugly tan gunky stuff that you get when water and oil mis was there. So I pulled the dipstick, expecting the worst. But the oil was full and clean. No problem. So I glanced at the overflow tank... Instead of anti-freeze, it had oil in it! So now I am confused.
Now, all of a sudden, I have a power steering leak, a coolant leak, oil in my coolant (but not coolant in my oil). Not my best day.
Any ideas? One mechanic asked if the H3 had an external oil cooler, suggesting that if it did, it probably ruptured and that is the oil that got into the water. (Would an external cooler connect to the cooling system anyway?) I don't think it has an external oil cooler though. I did change to an external trans cooler last year when I put the new transmission in.
Thanks!

 

what else but tranny fluid. it may be dying right now. water is trouble for trans. don't drive. drain to be sure.

 

Why drain the transmission? He said that he has an external trans cooler now. Ok, now we know that system is separate, the oil/water contamination is probably from the head gasket. Probably burned through the gasket between those two passages. The coolant burned off as the engine operated. The oil/water sludge in the radiator is the clue, if you fill the radiator again and run it for a short time and check, you will find a milkshake in the radiator.

Power steering fluid leak? Probably just randomly related bad luck.

 

Thanks RSC. In your opinion, if the head gasket had blown as you describe, would there be any driveability issues? Running hot, smoking, poor performance, etc? Because I have none of those. My temp never goes above 215 (read from the ecm). Truck runs great. No change in performance. No smoke.
And yes, I'm sure power steering leak is just a coincidence.
Thanks.

 

Short answer, yes. It can all look normal if the head gasket is not otherwise burned through to the cylinders or outside edge of the block you may not have other symptoms. The coolant system holds almost two gallons, I'm wondering how much fluid you added.

 

Only about half a gallon...

 

I bet thats why it didnt overheat or burn up the valves yet.

 

Thanks for all the advice. I'll get into it tomorrow and see what I find.

 

so the xternal cooler is not connected to the rad in any way huh?
if so then its engine oil,oh my!, a big pain in the wallet.

 

No. Last year the little trans cooler that is built into the radiator ruptured and filled my trans with hot coolant... Of course, it did it while I was cruising down the interstate at 70mph. Needless to say, the trans was toast. So instead of taking a chance on that again, we installed an external cooler. It sits in front of the radiator and is cooled by air going over it, like the radiator cools the coolant. So there is no link between trans fluid and water anymore. So yes, this is engine oil. And yes, it will probably be a pain. the transmission cost just under $4000, but I got all the cool upgrades and stuff. We'll see what this ends up being.

If it is a head gasket, are there any updates/mods I should do while I have it apart?