Creme caramel in my coolant system

2111 Views 38 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Mcd760, Nov 12, 2021

TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · Oct 4, 2021

3

Hey folks and fellow Saab enthusiasts

I’ve had my latest acquisition for around 6 months

Recently it’s been taking longer to warm up and gave me the low coolant light on dash

Having an investigation over the weekend I found a lot of crème caramel lurking in my coolant reservoir and system

That image contains a good couple of litres I’d guess

No surprise they the warning went off as this doesn’t look like it will circulate as nicely as a watery antifreeze blend

The oil cap and dipstick don’t appear to be contaminated

Coolant system hoses are all gunged up with this mess too

Having trawled through the forums for inspiration I’m confused where I should start looking for the culprit here

Some have said check the oil cooler, others have pointed towards the PCV or feed pipes becoming blocked

Any pointers or guidance greatly appreciated

Car is a 56 plate estate that’s has numerous upgrades, but is essentially the B207 engine

Spark plugsOil and filter changed recently using the recommendation from Neo Brothers

Car did have a slight leak from where exhaust meets turbo, just about managed to get it tightened up last week

Other than that haven’t had to do much to it recently

Car is running ok and making good power still

Checked oil and it’s dropped so pretty certain that’s the culprit here

No visible drops of oil on floor under car

Not driving it at the moment but have to drive to Southampton on Saturday for the weekend so could do with getting it sorted before the

Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom

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ZEK

· #2 · Oct 4, 2021

That’s usually the sign of a head gasket failure. Oil is mixing with coolant to create the substance you see. Get a leakdown/compression test done. May help show which cylinder.

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 4, 2021

Thanks for your quick reply Zek

Would there be any other areas to check which can cause this to happen on this model?
It was unclear if this engine has the PCV or other known weaknesses / things to check like the oil cooler issue

steve12955

· #4 · Oct 4, 2021

Head gasket may have failed where coolant jacket and oil passage are adjacent or oil cooler (or turbo) failed internally. Oil pressure (50-70psi) exceeds coolant pressure (15psi) so oil infiltrates coolant.

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soybean1955

· #5 · Oct 5, 2021

steve12955 said:
Head gasket may have failed where coolant jacket and oil passage are adjacent or oil cooler (or turbo) failed internally. Oil pressure (50-70psi) exceeds coolant pressure (15psi) so oil infiltrates coolant.

I believe what steve12955 said is the key, "Oil pressure (50-70psi) exceeds coolant pressure (15psi) so oil infiltrates coolant. '' In my opinion if a head gasket had failed, you would see water in the oil and on the dipstick. I would check to see if the oil cooler (or turbo) failed internally. JM2CW

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 5, 2021

ZEK said:
That’s usually the sign of a head gasket failure. Oil is mixing with coolant to create the substance you see. Get a leakdown/compression test done. May help show which cylinder.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks for the input

I’ve got the car outside and am a ‘driveway mechanic’ with limited tools

So a compression test will be one of the later things I will do if I can find someone with the right kit, hoping it is an easier solution than changing out the head gasket at this stage

TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 5, 2021

steve12955 said:
Head gasket may have failed where coolant jacket and oil passage are adjacent or oil cooler (or turbo) failed internally. Oil pressure (50-70psi) exceeds coolant pressure (15psi) so oil infiltrates coolant.

Thanks for the reply, aside from physically removing these items for inspection is there another way to tell which one it may be?
Turbo seems east enough to get to but the oil cooler is buried further down I believe

TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 5, 2021

soybean1955 said:
I believe what steve12955 said is the key, "Oil pressure (50-70psi) exceeds coolant pressure (15psi) so oil infiltrates coolant. '' In my opinion if a head gasket had failed, you would see water in the oil and on the dipstick. I would check to see if the oil cooler (or turbo) failed internally. JM2CW

Ok thanks, another indication of where to look which is useful, I’ll have a go at delving deeper shortly

just tried to warm her up and flush the coolant system out but it would seem the sludge has clogged everything up quite a bit

hose from coolant reservoir back to top of radiator didn’t get hot even when up to temperature

Would a faulty thermostat have any input to my woes?

soybean1955

· #9 · Oct 5, 2021

TurboTaxi said:
Ok thanks, another indication of where to look which is useful, I’ll have a go at delving deeper shortly

just tried to warm her up and flush the coolant system out but it would seem the sludge has clogged everything up quite a bit

hose from coolant reservoir back to top of radiator didn’t get hot even when up to temperature

Would a faulty thermostat have any input to my woes?

I believe it's the oil cooler that has a leak into the coolant. I saw a diesel over the weekend that had the same problem to the point it was blowing oil out the coolant overflow tank. Hth

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steve12955

· #10 · Oct 5, 2021

With that much contamination it could be that the oil cooler failed (the internal cooling tubes probably corroded) but I'd also expect that some coolant would mix with the oil when the engine is off and without oil pressure but with residual coolant pressure. Oil cooler is on driver side just above transmission with coolant hoses in/out.

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Once the problem is identified/fixed, the entire cooling system needs to be thoroughly flushed.

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 5, 2021

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soybean1955 said:
I believe it's the oil cooler that has a leak into the coolant. I saw a diesel over the weekend that had the same problem to the point it was blowing oil out the coolant overflow tank. Hth

I’ll dig my way through to that

Thought it would be worth investigating the turbo first, found oil in the pipe that connects to air intake which I don’t think is meant to be there

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 5, 2021

steve12955 said:
With that much contamination it could be that the oil cooler failed (the internal cooling tubes probably corroded) but I'd also expect that some coolant would mix with the oil when the engine is off and without oil pressure but with residual coolant pressure. Oil cooler is on driver side just above transmission with coolant hoses in/out.

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Once the problem is identified/fixed, the entire cooling system needs to be thoroughly flushed.

Thanks for this insight

I’ve managed to get the oil cooler off, not sure what to look for in terms of failure in this item as it’s relatively sealed
Inside looks oily and that’s about it

Thermostat was particularly caked in crème caramel and all the pipework

I’ll go back for another got trying to remove the turbo next

TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 5, 2021

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 5, 2021

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 5, 2021

Think I’ve found the source of the oil

it seems there is lots underneath the thermostat, un mixed oil and sludge on top

any ideas what is causing this ?

One nut short of getting the turbo off currently

WagonsWest

· #16 · Oct 5, 2021

Methinks turbo, oil seals are obviously past it as it’s slinging oil down the intake…and probably into the cooling system as well.

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #17 · Oct 5, 2021

WagonsWest said:
Methinks turbo, oil seals are obviously past it as it’s slinging oil down the intake…and probably into the cooling system as well.

ok cool I’ve got the original turbo knocking about somewhere so will give that a try and see how I get on

WagonsWest

· #18 · Oct 5, 2021

Define “original”…as in this one is not?

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TurboTaxi

Discussion Starter · #19 · Oct 5, 2021

WagonsWest said:
Define “original”…as in this one is not?

The car came with this fitted, a td404, not what it rolled out the factory with

Was supplied with the original as spare, which I think is smaller and less powerful, unsure on a model number for it

aerojon

· #20 · Oct 5, 2021

The car won't run properly with the oe turbo fitted..

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