coolant in oil 68 Buick LeSabre 350

[raym]

Discovered that there was coolant leaking into the engine oil while the car was stored over the winter. Obviously this is not good. Any suggestions other than dismantling the engine to discover the problem ? Anyone have any luck with those stop leak products ?

[mjt]

Discovered that there was coolant leaking into the engine oil while the car was stored over the winter. Obviously this is not good. Any suggestions other than dismantling the engine to discover the problem ? Anyone have any luck with those stop leak products ?

First off, I would never use any stop-leak product. There are
a number of causes of coolant in the oil: intake gasket failure,
head gasket failure, cracked head or block.

Are you seeing creamy brown goop on the oil filler cap? Are
you seeing it on the dipstick? Have you drained the oil and
seeing coolant in it? Is the level on the dipstick higher than
what is shown as "full"?

If you have a Harbor Freight in your area, you can pick up a
leak down tester for $40 - this will assist you in finding the
source of the leak - if not, you can order one online:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94190

Remove all the spark plugs, air cleaner, the dipstick, and if you
have a coolant overflow tank, open its top, or if you don't put
the overflow tube into a can/bottle of water.

One at a time, bring each piston to top-dead-center and then
apply pressure to the cylinder. Listen for air coming from any
of the other cylinders or bubbles in the overflow bottle, then
it's probably a head gasket. You should hear some air coming
out of the dipstick tube, although very slight noise - if it's an
excessive amount of noise, it's probably a head gasket.

You might also do a cooling system pressure check. And while
you're pulling the spark plugs, check them for anomalies.

If all the above checks out ok, then it's probably a intake gasket
gone bad. Or worse, cracked head or block.