Oil in Coolant

Odds are it is transmission oil from the cooling loop in the radiator (requires radiator replacement.) The next step is to drain the transmission oil and look for sign of milkiness. If there are milky swirls or even cloudiness the radiator needs to be replaced and the transmission oil changed. Don't put it off.

Mike

Doesn't look like transmission fluid. The oil is that yellowish engine oil colour and not the reddish tinged transmission colour. The transmission fluid appears to be uncontaminated on the dipstick as well. Thanks though.

I don't know about your make and model, but the car I am familiar with (244 Turbo) has an oil cooler which is NOT integral with the radiator, it is a separate application and thus could not contaminate the coolant.

Assuming yours is integrated in the radiator (?!), I would first try to eliminate that as a possible cause; drain the radiator, undo the hoses, unbolt the radiator and remove it the radiator.

Take it to a radiator shop to be tested and if it is OK, then focus on a blown head gasket or warped cylinder head.

Of course, if you'd rather take it to a shop, go right ahead, but for me part of the fun of Volvos is diagnosing and repairing them myself.

Turbo models have a separate oil cooler for the engine oil, but those equipped with automatic transmissions have a heat exchanger in the radiator to cool the transmission oil. Some will have an external transmission cooler as well if it was used for towing.

'96 850 turbo, 75k mi, auto

I have the same problem with my car and haven't found the solution yet. I had the head removed and inspected and no problems were found. Once the oil gets into the cooling system, it's very difficult to get all the oil contamination removed from the system. I still have some traces of oil in the cooling system but nothing like it was. I should mention that the radiator was also removed and tested at a reputable radiator shop, no trouble found.

The only other strange symptom is a noise when the car is first started (almost sounds like a bad bearing and varies with engine rpm). the sound disappears after engine warms up (after driving a couple of miles). This has been going on for at least two years and hasn't gotten any worse. The Volvo dealer has no idea what this is about and I'm not sure that it's related to the oil in cooling system problem.

Hope someone has seen and fixed this problem for both our sakes.