Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

[Jtels2593]

I met my parents for dinner tonight in Lawrenceburg. Before we left I started my car and had it running for a couple of minutes while we were talking in the parking lot. I smelled antifreeze so I popped the hood and looked under the car. There was about two cups of antifreeze on the ground. I opened the overflow jug and pulled out the dip stick and there appeared to be an oily substance/gunk on the stick. The antifreeze color is orange/brown. I then checked the oil dip stick and the oil was clean, no foamy substance found. I changed the oil last weekend and the old oil was normal. So the problem isn't antifreeze getting into the oil, we can rule that out.

I'm not exactly sure what the problem is and it was too dark outside to tell. I know that the cooling system is overdue for being flushed out. Anyone have any ideas what could be happening? I also wouldn't be surprised if the antifreeze in the car is original. I work a lot and rarely have time to work on this thing.

The car is a 2000 Camaro, 3800 V6 with 110,000 miles.

Thanks, Joe

[Jtels2593]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

I should also mention that I drove the car home from the restaurant, about 40 miles, and it was running around 200-210 which is normal. It did not overheat and the guage did not fluxuate.

[mtscorvette]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

your anti freeze might be ok, as far as oil free. I know when I first got my car it was like that, all slimy brown gunk in the overflow tank, also the dex-cool coolant thats used in these cars is orange. I changed mine over to the 50/50 and now its nice and clean. i would try flushing it and putting the 50/50 in and check for leaks, and then check the coolant after driving it a little bit. good luck, hopefully its nothin too bad.

[whitdog54]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

Dont just throw any 50/50 in there though. Dexcool doesnt mix well with other types. Prestone apparently works in every make though. So flush your system the best you can and maybe someone can chime in on what to switch to. I know ill be flushing my radiator next week, its starting to gunk up, but im unsure what i should replace it with.

[mtscorvette]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

thats what i did. i flushed it real good first, because of that. i didnt want to destroy anything but the prestone 50/50 is not the green one its sorta yellow green and it says on the bottle it says its suppose to mix with any color too. ive had it for almost a year now and its been good and stayed clean. before i had flushed it and replaced it with the dex-cool and it gunked up again in a couple months. I think the reason it gets gunked up is when you mix it with tap water. the 50/50 you dont mix with water.

[bigbrian442]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

Make sure you don't have antifreeze in your trans fluid.

[ssms5411]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

I flushed out one before using safe for all antifreezes, after I flushed the radiator then flushed it again after running it about a week using the safe for all antifreezes, turned out to be light green after using some distillled water too. On mine Its been green coolant since 99' , now I just run some RP ICE and distilled water runs alot cooler in this AZ temp only got to 200-205 the other day after about 2 1/2 hours of driving in 110 heat.

[whitdog54]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

Make sure you don't have antifreeze in your trans fluid.

What would trans fluid look like if it did? my cars going on 75k soon and im going to be going through all fluids. Is there a way to tell, IE fluid color or something?

[cam98aro]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

What would trans fluid look like if it did? my cars going on 75k soon and im going to be going through all fluids. Is there a way to tell, IE fluid color or something?

milky, same thing oil would do.

if your trans fluid has coolant in it, im sure you would have noticed horrible shifting.

[whitdog54]

Re: Uh oh! Leaking antifreeze and oil in the overflow jug..

milky, same thing oil would do.

if your trans fluid has coolant in it, im sure you would have noticed horrible shifting.

oh, ok thanks, i'm good there then.