Oil analysis results...advice please

[men2be]

Does anyone have any idea where to start looking for the problem? No smoke from exhaust. Runs fine. Has a little brown milky substance on top of dipstick. Not in the oil on the stick. I did change the oil at the same time I did the sample. (Last week)
Thank you

[troyhyde]

Coolant in oil (despite being a small amount) sounds rather ominous. Where do they tango close to each other in these cars? Not in the radiator anymore which is a best case scenario for the earlier cars with coolant in the oil.

What are the miles? Hard life? Coolant ever flushed?

Ever get it roasty toasty hot? Moisture in oil isn't much of a concern except probably time for a looky at the PCV. Coolant is a bit more alarming....

[vtl]

Where do they tango close to each other in these cars? Not in the radiator anymore which is a best case scenario for the earlier cars with coolant in the oil.

In burnt head gasket... Also there's oil cooler on the back of engine, which has coolant flow through it.

[vtl]

I don't think 36 ppm say something. Here's two first oil analysis after I purchased car with "Volvo recommends Castrol", "dealer serviced", "10000 miles mineral oil change intervals" symptoms:



As you see, there was way more sodium than you have. Car indeed was slowly "eating" some coolant, but that was simple evaporation through tired coolant tank cap. Stays at level with new cap.

[men2be]

145K miles. Never overheated that I know of. I have had it it since 120k issue just showed up on stick.
PCV system done complete@127K.
Why would the moisture be showing up on the stick? I had a Pinto many moons ago that started out like this and got bad pretty quick.
Thanks for the reply's. If there is a problem....I want to catch it early on.

[vtl]

What kind of moisture? Can you make a good picture of it?

[Antherzoll]

When are you noticing this moisture? Directly after a cold start, or after running for a few hours? If you do a lot of short trips it's normal to get some condensation in the crankcase and you will notice some moisture because it won't have time to evaporate.

[troyhyde]

Oh yea, the oil cooler! I've never had the pleasure/pain of repairing a faulty or leaky one. Maybe that's your direction to aim in....

[men2be]

For now I will just re sample oil in 4k miles. I do not think it could be oil cooler. Higher oil pressure than cooling system should push oil into coolant if it was bad.
The milky looking oil is higher on the stick than the oil level. Near the part number. I cleaned the tube the best I could during the last oil change.
Thanks

[troyhyde]

Agree with your line of reasoning but keep in mind when the car shuts off (hot) the oil pressure goes to 0 and the coolant can be up to 22psi pressure for a while.

I was more-so trying to present a best case scenario short of a head gasket job. Done a few and unlike some jobs they don't get any more fun with practice....