When these barriers fail, the high pressure created by combustion forces its way into the cooling jacket or the oil galleries. Discovering a milky, frothy substance under your hood is a sure sign of damaged engine mixing water and oil.
Coolant Intrusion Through a Compromised Oil Cooler
When it fails, it creates a direct highway for high-pressure combustion gases to enter the cooling system and for coolant to seep into the oil, creating the classic mayonnaise-like sludge. The water contaminant strip the oil of its essential lubricity, allowing metal components to grind against one another.
The crankshaft and connecting rod bearings are often the first to fail. The resulting mixture acts as an abrasive slurry, accelerating wear and scoring surfaces that must remain pristine for the engine to function.
Coolant Intrusion Through a Compromised Oil Cooler
Continuing to operate an engine with water and oil mixed is the single fastest way to turn a significant repair into a total loss. How Water and Oil Mix: The Primary Culprits The integrity of the barriers separating coolant and oil is the only thing preventing these two fluids from mixing.
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