I'm really hoping its the oil cooler, as reading around (and your previous threads travelmad) its either that or the head. At least will know either way once they take a look. Driving it very carefully now as its drinking water like crazy too, so keep topping it up, mopping up the oil patches and topping up the oil.

Luckily bank holiday weekend here, and nowhere planned so going to rest it up.

 

drinking water? that doesn't sound good
hope its not too costly....

 

Andy, get a local garage to do a compression test on the coolant, most garages have a leak~test~kit. The whole ting takes minutes only for a quick check. Its a crude method but will give a better than 70/30 on a head gasket, add an old school fitters knowledge gained over 30 years to that and you will at least know the worst without main stealer prices.

I'm lucky, but I've found that have to do it once and do it right first time is cheapest and if I have anything big I go to Eric above because he's one of those few rare finds these days ................ honest !

 

Thanks for the pointers folks. The saga continues unfortunately.

I had the car in last week to the Chrysler dealers nearby, they checked it and agreed that it looked like the oil cooler, so got one ordered, replaced, got a coolant and oil flush and all back together.
They ran pressure test, extended drive and again pressure and fluids check, all looked good, they were happy, I was happy-sih (£600 quid lighter) and all done.

Today I arrived at work, and at lunchtime went down to check on the water+oil as its been the first day of using it again really.

Water was almost all gone from expansion bottle, so I filled it with 2litres it took to get it high up, dipped finger in, and again oil. Not sludgey but quite clean, but that would figure as its had an oil change.

So looks like its back to the dealership with it tomorrow to see what's next. Starting to look like quite an expensive problem here though unfortunately.

 

It took me a fair few flushes to get all the oil out. I just kept filling the system with water, running the enigne till thermostat was open, then empty rad (disconnecting at aux heater as well).
I think the whole system takes something like 16.5 litres. So it takes some time.

Its possible that after its first good run, the coolant has circled well and you just needed the small topup. (otherwise if the water is disappearing then............££££.???..)

 

It should only be about 16 litres if you have the extra rear passenger heating , ie a separate **** on the heater controls for rear passengers so 3 in total.
It could well be there was air still stuck in the system and its now moved on , id do another oil change with cheap oil and drop the water again if it contaminated then see if it re happens but its hard getting a diesel stat to open sometimes and if the garage has just left it ticking over its prob not been enough.

 

Hi, I agree with Travelmad here as this engine is a pain to bleed. The large bore coolant pipe that goes around drive side of engine(nearside), from thermostat to radiator has no bleed screw on it, but it should as that's a lot of air in there. I tried bleeding as much as I could at thermostat transfer hose but it wasn't enough.
Goggs..

 

Just to keep the thread going. My poor GV is still in the Chrysler dealers. We've gone through quite a bit now. I had the Oil cooler replaced, but that wasn't the issue. It now appears that either the cylinder head gasket has gone, or the cylinder head is cracked.

The head is now off after other testing (Fluorocarbon testing) was inconclusive, so now awaiting for the crack test to come back and see if there are any cracks found or if its potentially just the gasket.

All in all, not a happy owner here, almost 3 weeks down the line waiting to get my car back from the dealership. Costs are obviously high, but at the moment hoping we get to the bottom of it so I know the state of the car when I get it back.

Will update on the final diagnosis and repairs, etc, for future reference for anyone.