That makes much more sense. im not losing much coolant anymore so i wonder if its just my cap. I still plan to rent a pressure tester later this week just to be sure.

It's 1.1 bar which is pretty close to 1.1 atm.

Anyway, when the engine is warmed up, the radiator hoses should get pretty hard from the pressure. When they're hard, you should just be able (with some difficulty) to squeeze a hose & get a bit of coolant to move over to the reservoir. It shouldn't be easy to do that.

Well i have some new information on my never ending battle.

I replaced my valve cover gasket the other day because it was leaking and i cleaned it all out including a creamy goop in the oil cap and around th eopening in the valve cover which i looked up and have read its just condensation. I put everything back together with a new PCV and the next day i checked fluids the engine was hot and the oil was barely on the dip stick but it was clean oil. i checked under the oil cap while i was going to add oil and there was more of this light coffee colored cream in the cap and valve cover but not as much.

I then checked my coolant reservoir and it was empty again. so im still losing coolant and apparently im losing oil as well? its not leaking through the valve cover anymore.

I'd also like to note that upon close examination of the oil cap goop there almost seems to be a light wet coat of what appears to be green coolant.

Im completely baffled! im losing quite a bit of cooolant and sometimes i lose oil to.

Anyone have any input of what might be happening? Whats the probably that my head gasket is blown between the coolant and oil passage?

I'd say the probability is pretty high that thats exactly what happened. When an engine overheats the head gasket is what gives first more often than not. That coffee colored creamy stuff is coolant and oil mixed together into a froth. Other possibilities would be a cracked head or cracked block but I'd be surprised if it was those.

Coolant in oil is a symptom of failed head gasket. You may also losing coolant into exhaust.

Plan on a head gasket replacement. Do you plan to diy?

good luck

I will try to upload a picture of the goop later. I did research and its very common to have some cream under the oil cap due do condensation from short tips. sometimes i dont lose any coolant and sometimes i lose quite a bit.

I work with aircraft but id rather not do the job myself. im goign to price some shops out because i need a timing belt replacement as well.

Whats the verdict with that head gasket fix in a bottle stuff? good? bad? it would be nice if that would work and save me a couple hundred.

Coolant going into the oil doesnt make sense though because it should be under the oil and should show on the dipstick but it doesnt. also my oil level slowly goes down when coolant would make it rise. so its hard to say if it truly is the gasket.

That creamy stuff coming back quickly sounds like a headgasket. Especially if you can verify that it's got some green coolant like you said.

Do you only drive real short trips? That's when condensation happens in the crankcase. Especially in cold weather, as the condensation is heavier. Warm temperatures and long trips mean very little condensation.

`It appeared to have a slight greenish film.
I bought the car to commute to college and the airport which are both pretty much next to eachother. the daily commute is about 15 miles (25 minutes) one way. which is about half backroads and half highway. and the temperature has been anywere from 48-65 degrees.

Whats the cheapest and simplest way of confirming a head gasket failure? also, the head gasket sealant that you flow through the system does it work? or will it just block my t-stat and what not.

This car is really baffling me. Im guessing it must be the head gasket considering the person i bought it from was acting strange and was selling it for his "son" when they owned it for only a month. something tells me they knew something was wrong and they were asking for $2800 and i got em down to $2000

If it is the HG is it worth having it fixed along with the whole timing belt job that also needs to be done. or am i better off buying a used engine and having it installed.

A compression test can identify a low compression in a cylinder. A leak-down test is more definitive and can identify a head gasket problem.

A block tester can detect combustion gases in the coolant as well.

You can have an Oil Analysis performed to detect coolant in oil. I used Blackstone Labs, but there are many services available.

A DIY test is available to detect combustion gases in coolant.

When I had a head gasket failure on my 94 EX, I removed spark plugs and turned engine over. Water sprayed from 1-2 spark plug holes. Pretty convincing!

good luck