oil mixed with coolant

[ssanmor]

Hello all. Last sunday I discovered a lot of oil in my coolant expansion tank mixed with the coolant fluid.
In the afternoon, the car left a lot of oil + coolant in the floor. When I opened the oil filler cap, I noticed a little bit of steam, and the expelled oil was obviously mixed with water, so I decided to tow it to a garage. The next morning, we found that the oil level had dropped about 1 liter from the day before.
Do you, guys, think that there is another possible cause for this appart from the obvious one (head gasket / cracked head or block) like a water pump seal or something?

Thanks!

1992 190E 2.3 (8 valve)

[pmizell]

Your radiator cools two liquids .. engine coolant and transmission fluid so the radiator could also be the culprit.

Don't be so quick to point to the head gasket without looking to the radiator.

What color is the sludge in the expansion tank?

[ssanmor]

I think that my radiator (that is not oem), only cools the engine, and I have manual transmission. You meant the automatic transmission, didn't you?

Thanks!

[pmizell]

Yes I assumed you had an auto transmission.

Oil in coolant almost certainly = blown head gasket.

Good Luck

[chazola]

welcome to the club. I have oil in my coolant tank, but no other signs of a blown head gasket- no overheating, no steam at the exhaust pipe and no water in the oil.
Just oil burning... what fun

[Ethan]

chazola,

if you just have a few droplets of oil floating in the coolant tank things aren't bad, when the coolant looks like chocolate milk that is when it is time for action.