I recently did head gaskets on my 87 gl wagon because i was getting oil in the coolant. I bought a regasket kit for the top and bottom end and have been replacing lots of things. Although, i noticed in my hanes there is a "crankshaft o ring" and "backup ring" right where the block splits. I read a service manual online and it called it a coolant passage o ring. I was wondering if anyone knew if these go out very often and if they do can it cause oil in the coolant? I really don't want to redo my head gaskets

They don't fail - don't worry about it.

 

GD

Hey cool, thanks for the quick response! I figured something so hard to get too would be fairly reliable. I won't worry about it, time to put my engine back in

 

-Jake

Edited July 22, 201015 yr by hackasubaru

I could see it leaking coolant into the oil, but not the other way around.

 

There is no oil at the top of the block.

 

And they don't fail really. If it did, you'd have to remove the heads and redo the headgaskets to split the case to get at it anyhow.