I am baffled. I hope you mini geniuses can help me out.
About 6 months ago, after a dealing with a broken hose and a couple of overheating episodes, I noticed some water was getting into the oil. Assumed a bad head gasket from the overheating, had the head flattened and put in a new gasket. Changed the oil and put in a new oil filter. Drove it for about 25 miles, and changed the oil and filter again. Oil looked pretty good, a little darker than I expected. Changed plugs and put in some new gaskets while I was in there.
Drove. Ran excellent, no codes.
Except...I had to keep putting about 1 cup of fluid in the overflow tank every day or two. Then I started noticing some green globs on the filler cap and dipstick, not many, but a little. But the oil seemed to be clean. I assumed (after reading a few posts here) that I was just getting some condensation.
But, I had to keep adding water. After about 1,000 miles like this, I decided I really need to find where the water is going, so I drained the oil to see if the water was going into the oil. The oil did not seem to have coolant in it, but again it was much darker than I expected. I pulled the oil filter and found it covered in a black sludge, and partially collapsed. I cannot figure out what is going on. Any help? See the pics below.
I tried to show the collapsed filter and the sludge, the color of the oil (does that look like it has coolant in it? I have lost about 1 gal over the past month) one of the green gobs on the dipstick, and some water droplets on the stick, and some of the green stuff in the valve cover (there isnt alot) and the plugs (do they looks like they are burning coolant?)
Thanks for any advice you can give.
Cy

 

So I also wanted to add that I have the oil filter with the cage built in and the updated filter cover.
Also, looking at the oil after it settled a bit, maybe I can see coolant in the bottle?

 

Might have a crack in head or block after over heating episodes. I would have a Qualified Mechanic or mini dealer check it out. The antifreeze is going somewhere as you have to keep adding it. If no drops on floor probably going into engine.

 

Before you yank the head again....I might want to check out the oil cooler .....tends to result in a pretty slow oil/coolant mix from what I have been told.

 

Absolutely, pull the oil cooler and replace the O-rings/gaskets before you pull head again.

 

Ok, I pulled the oil cooler and checked it out. The coolant side looked a little silty, the kind of flakey stuff you would normally find in the coolant in a car this age, so I cleaned that out. However, i wasnt able to find any evidence of coolant in the oil side and vise-versa. I did a little home made pressure test with my air nozzle and couldn't detect any leaks.
Bummer, that would have been such an easy repair.

I lost almost a gallon of coolant in a month. If that fluid is going into the oil (say from a crack in the head or block) would I not expect to see a significant increase in the amount of oil I drain from the motor? When I drained the oil, I put it back into the container it came out of and it measured exactly how much I put in. So, should I assume the coolant is leaking into the cylinder and burning off? or could it be evaporating out of the block when the engine is running?