Hot Bite

I have a 2011 hhr. 2.2 auto trans. 175000 miles on her. She is clean though. Just a couple of dings no rust.Nice little wagon. I did the timing set, struts, shocks, front brakes, Then one day I shut it off and the electric fan was still running...hmmm. I put a little coolant in the tank and it seemed fine the next day. then the next time I drove it it started getting warm 220. I put a little more coolant in and it started spewing oil coolant mix a little. I had to let it sit a few months. I just started playing with it again. It is definatly oil as the level gets lower. THERE IS NO COOLANT IN THE CRANKCASE ! Just the cooling system. So my delma is that I want it right. I can do some mechanical and take my time to do things right . So I dont think it ever overheated. I mean no idiot light ever came on. It could of got to 240 degrees at most....probably 230 though.A remanufactured engine installed around here is almost 5 g. . If I put it on craigslist I doubt that I will get squat for it. If I could put a head gasket on it and be sure it would not leak that would be doable I guess (kind of a lot of time) .How can I be sure it is not the block ? Chances of it being just the gasket? Chances of the head being warped/cracked? Sucks I hate to loose out on this car but putting 5000 into is not feasable as I could probably pick one up with under 80000 miles for that. I am just looking for some guidance on what direction I should go. Look for a used engine? pull the head off and see what I have? Thanks Guys.

RJ_RS_SS_350

If there is a crack in the radiator, the transmission fluid can mix with the coolant. Just something to check. The oil loss could be a leak or burning.

Hot Bite

it looks brown like oil. The oil is going down fairly fast. Believe me I want it to be a radiator but do not believe it to be so.

donbrew

The fan stayed on because it was overheated, like above 250F. In my personal experience , there was a dashboard full of red lights and loss of power before that. That most likely warped everything

I'm not sure how that much oil can get into the coolant. The coolant is under 15 PSI pressure.

Hot Bite

there were no red lights or reduced power. I was the only one driving it. . But say it did. Worst case I am probably looking at just putting a 500 dollar head on it?

Oldblue

My thoughts are , remove the head , inspect the gasket surface of the head and block, use a quality head gasket and replace the stretched head bolts as the originals are TTY. Also of course, fresh 50/50 Dexcool, and replace the thermostat, use only the AC Delco 131-158.

Hot Bite

well I think that I am going to take it in to a shop that has a hoist. I just don't have time right now. I am hoping that the head is ok but who knows. I like the car and it is rust free so it needs to be saved !

Oldblue

I’ve never used a hoist to change a head gasket , maybe a jack and jack stands.