I bought a 2006 outback sohc in march and they did the HG's etc. Knowing the animal, i look in tje overflow tank regularly and recently noticed the oil line starting in the tank. They said just clean the tank out and refill it. There are no bubbles in the tank when at temp. The question is can oil get in the coolant if there isn't a big problem in the engine? And. Should i worry about this? Ive put about 6000 miles on it. Bought it at 94000 miles.

Probly some kind of stop leak left over or left over from head job change coolant and flush and see if it comes back if it dose reheadgasket or craked block or leaking block half coolant oring. But probly just needs good cleaning

Same thoughts. Run a flush agent through it, replace upper and lower radiator hoses, and refill with Subaru coolant and a bottle of Subaru coolant conditioner.

Good talk. Thank you and i will flush the system as soon as i can.

I had this happen after a head gasket job on an ej25d. The oil getting into the coolant got progressivle worse. Like an idiot I ran it low on oil and killed the engine. Yes it can happen, no, it is not normal. Be wary of this car!

Waveyaker,

Were there bubbles present in the overflow tank?

The dark matter in my overflow looked like little tiny particles and did not feel greasy when i cleaned it yesterday. Im gonna watch it closely.

I'd clean it out like crazy and get new coolant/distilled water in there to have a clean starting point.

 

Does the vehicle have Subaru's required coolant conditioner?

Did they install it properly - shake the bottle vigorously and pour in the radiator?

Maybe they didn't shake the bottle - that'll leak little particle like weird things floating in there.  Supposed to shake it.

 

Automatics do have a transmission cooler passing through the side radiator tank, that is another area where oil can enter the coolant....but I've never really heard of that happening, they make that cooler copper/metal and it's submerged in a fluid where it won't corrode and yours is really new so hard to imagine that happening.

No to subaru conditioner no good at all just gums up coolant sestem I will never use it ever or install it it was only made to get subarus off waranty not to fix anything just to limp heads past 160000kms I call booooooo on that product

I had no bubbles in the coolant overflow tank, but the coolant was def. oilly. I tore the engine back down, and the only thing I could find that might have caused it was that I didn't do a good job of prepping the block. Good luck with it! I hope it's just some left over residue!

Was the coolant just dark colored or sorta grey-ish?

 

Oil will collect into drops and little pools and float on top of the coolant. It does not mix unless there is some serious agitation going on, but then it will be a nasty brown frothy layer (kinda like a wendys frosty) on top of the coolant. It will separate if left for a long enough period.

All ive Done so far is empty the overflow tank and refill with clean fluid. I used purple power to clean the tank and it was sparkling white so I have a good basis from which to observe. I'll watch it for a month and see what happens before I flush the entire system.