# Oil in my coolant

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-in-my-coolant/40960>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** pontiac, aztek\
**Created:** [December 19, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-in-my-coolant/40960 "2009-12-19T14:13:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![iwilldrive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9fc348/32.png) [@iwilldrive](https://community.cartalk.com/u/iwilldrive)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-in-my-coolant/40960/1 "2009-12-19T14:13:30Z")

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Several quarts of my engine oil was pumped into my coolant due to a failure of my oil cooler. My mechanic recommended I flush the coolant one additional time after the repair after driving the car a few hundred miles. Standard flush without any special detergent. Is that sufficient? I wonder if the cooling system needs a more extensive flushing process with some detergent.

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**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-in-my-coolant/40960/2 "2009-12-19T14:32:55Z")

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This is perhaps the only time I’ll ever recommend using a chemical flush, so cherish the moment. But I do recommend that here. Just be sure to fully, totally and completely rinse the system out with water after using it and refill it with the proper mix.

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**Author:** ![geeaea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@geeaea](https://community.cartalk.com/u/geeaea)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-in-my-coolant/40960/3 "2009-12-19T14:38:13Z")

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Do what you can. I think regardless of what you do you’ll see some residuals for a bit. It will eventually emulsify and find the high point in the rad …and hit the recovery tank.

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/oil-in-my-coolant/40960/4 "2009-12-19T16:07:07Z")

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When oil gets into a cooling system, I flush the system with water and DAWN dishwashing liquid. Works good!

Tester