oil in coolant '89 Jetta diesel - IDI Engine - VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source.

• oil in coolant '89 Jetta diesel by briandownunda on 11 Apr, 2008 20:42
• I have found oil in the coolant in the expansion tank.  Can I assume that this is from a bad head gasket or is there another way for this to happen ?  How harmful is this ?
  
  Thanks in advance !
• #1 by Vincent Waldon on 11 Apr, 2008 20:54
• Two other possibilities:
  
  - crack in the block between an oil gallery and the coolant passages
  
  - if your car is a turbo it has an water/oil heat exchanger... they can develop leaks
  
  Compression test and/or leakdown test is a good next step if you don't have the water/oil heat exchanger.