Oil in my water reservoir

[hectorcillot]

Hello everyone, I have a 95' Explorer Limited. Today i was checking all the fluid levels of my car, and when i was checking the water level in the reservoir tank that connects to the radiator i noticed that on the top there was a layer of something that looked pink/salmon (not good with colors).

I raised the water level so that i could touch it with my fingers and i realized it was oil mixed with water. I immediatly checked the oil from the motor and the transmission (The dip stick where you check the oil levels) and they had no traces of water. So, how did it get in my reservoir?.
By the color I am guessing it's the transmission oil, because i would suppose that if it was motor oil it would be darker. By the way, in the radiator there wasn't any oil circulating, only antifreeze, but i found traces of oil mixed with water in the radiator cap.
I'm guessing (again) that the oil leaked into the radiator but because it's denser that water it went to the top, and when the car got hot it was pushed out to the reservoir tank. Does anybody know where it could be leaking the oil?, I'm worried that water could pass to the tranny or the engine and then it would really get nasty.

 

[ChaoticBastard]

Hello everyone, I have a 95' Explorer Limited. Today i was checking all the fluid levels of my car, and when i was checking the water level in the reservoir tank that connects to the radiator i noticed that on the top there was a layer of something that looked pink/salmon (not good with colors).

I raised the water level so that i could touch it with my fingers and i realized it was oil mixed with water. I immediatly checked the oil from the motor and the transmission (The dip stick where you check the oil levels) and they had no traces of water. So, how did it get in my reservoir?.
By the color I am guessing it's the transmission oil, because i would suppose that if it was motor oil it would be darker. By the way, in the radiator there wasn't any oil circulating, only antifreeze, but i found traces of oil mixed with water in the radiator cap.
I'm guessing (again) that the oil leaked into the radiator but because it's denser that water it went to the top, and when the car got hot it was pushed out to the reservoir tank. Does anybody know where it could be leaking the oil?, I'm worried that water could pass to the tranny or the engine and then it would really get nasty.

Its probable that your radiator is on its way out.It is most likely leaking inside the radiator and mixing the trans fluid and antifreeze.You may not see alot of mixed,yet.But if there is a leak it will probably do damage before you know it.
I would confirm the bad radiator if you can,either take it to a radiator shop and have it tested.Then I would have the trans flushed and get a new rad.You dont want to replace the trans,The water mixing with the trans fluid will kill the trans quick.But it seems like you may have caught it early enough. Good Luck

 

[tktrain]

You might want to drop your transmission pan ASAP to see if there is any coolant present. If so, get the radiator fixed ASAP. If I were forced to bet, I would say your transmission cooler in the radiator has a leak. This is definitely less painful than a transmission replacement.

 

[hectorcillot]

I´m going tomorrow morning to a radiator shop to test it, i´ll keep you posted about the results.

Thanks