New to forum-Need some advice please

[Bal]

Hello,i am new to this forum and new to the ford transit(converting from the german range)and could do with some advice about the following;

I have bought a transit 350 mwb 75ps rwd on a W reg with a suspected head gasket problem cheap(I THINK).
The problem is the oil is mixing with the water but there is no water in the oil when checking the dipstick.
I have read some previous threads in the forum regards this and the problem seems to be the oil cooler rather than head gasket but have been told that it is the head gasket and the lack of water in the oil on dipstick is because it depends where the head gasket has gone from.
Can anyone confirm that this could be the case and what checks i could do to find out if it is the oil cooler or head gasket.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...Bal

[trannytech]

sounds like oil cooler to me . more common on earlier transits .oil is under higher pressure than the cooling system so thats probably why theres no water in the oil .does it run rough or pressurise the coolant ?

[Bal]

Thanks for the reply Trannytech.

The engine runs and sounds sweet as a nut but the cooling system is pressurising.

When i opened up the header tank it was full of thick and i mean thick black sludge and since then i have took the radiator ,thermostat housing and all the associated pipes off and they were also full of sludge so was thinking that was the reason it was pressurising because the water wasn't circulating around the system.

Cheers...Bal

[thunderider]

bal i had this a couple of weeks ago,was getting sludge in the water and was told it might be the oil cooler leeking in to the water,but checked every thing levels were ok,then the rad collapsed on the m6 by wedsnebury,so we presume the sludge was bein stirred up by the knacked rad pressurising.....they aint that expencive to replace about 80 quid for a new ally one....see post called yay...
btw bal you couriering in that van?

[Bal]

Hello Thunderider,

Cheers for the advice mate.
I have bought a new oil cooler,radiator and vacuum pump(was leaking oil) and will be replacing today and flushing the whole system out to see if this cures the problem.

The answer to me using the van for courier work in no mate i run my own recruitment agency suppling lgv1 drivers to companies.

Bought the van just because i thought it was cheap( £700 ) and prefer to drive vans than cars.

Regards...Bal