89 Honda prelude si is leaking oil and coolant as a mixture what is the problem?

Answer 1

Is it leaking motor oil or Transmission Fluid?

Transmission fluid and coolant could be a bad radiator

Engine oil and coolant could be a leaking head gasket==================================================Are you ready for this?

Coolant is for cooling, oil is for lubricating two completely different jobs. If the two become mixed it is due to a "void" occurring between the passages where the two different liquids flow. 99% of time this void is due to 1 of 3 things:A warped cylinder head surfaceA failed cylinder head gasketA corroded cylinder headEach of these conditions allows water and oil to mix and ends up with water in your oil turning it a milkish grey appearance or with oil in the water, same color but thinner consistency.

The cause is almost always due to overheating of the engine. The alumninum heads used by Asian vehicle mnufacturers are very unforgiving where heat is concerned and as such are especially prone to warpage.

You need to be more specific about a couple of areas of your question, first:

Is the color of the mixture as that I described above-milky grey with consistency of (pardon my vernacular) baby poo?remove the dipstick and check the level of your oil and the COLOR (milky white?), if a large internal leak occured, your oil level will read above normal (due to the addition of water in the oil pan), Next remove the oil filler cap on the top of the valve cover and look inside with a light and at the underside of the cap. Milky white? and lots of it? If you answered yes to any of the above ??'s Chances are better than 90% you've got an internal leak.

Your question stated your "leaking" a mixture of coolant and water, is the leak occurring at the front or rear seal? (fron (passenger tire) or rear middle of vehicl where engine joins trans. If neither, where? The fact that a leak is occurring could be indicative of an overfilled oil pan (addition of water, right?) and is seeking a way to get out (front /rear seals). Any time water gets in with the oil the risk of inadequate lubrication occurring at any of the high friction points ie, crankshaft bearings, cam bearings and pistons makes for some very tough decisions.

Do I play it safe and do it right by biting the bullet and dissasemble and clean all the inner components? By that time though another decision needs to be made, if not made already, that being do I go ahead and rebuild the engine? The truth is, it would be foolish not to as you're already into it laborwise for the engine removal and disssembly and you'd be out little more than the cost of a few more parts and the expense of the machine work.

Other option: Gamble on saving some money and time and hope for the best (that no damage has been done and you'll be able to clean out the remaining water mixture before any damage occurs). At the least you'll need to pull off the oil pan, valve cover and oil pump and clean thoroughly refilling with oil and install a new oil filter. Then with the coil wire removed from the distributor and grounded, crank the engine over and over till the starter gets hot, then let it cool and do it again. Next change the oil Attach an ACCURATE oil pressure gauge , run it for a few minutes (if the pressure is normal), then change oil and filter again and hope for the best. You'll know in a couple hundred miles if everything is okay and that the aforementioned bearings have received the proper lubrication (nothing will seize).

I'd keep a pretty close watch on everything and attach a pressure gauge in a week or so and changing oil and filter again, cheap insurance. Good luck, rm