2001 LS2 has peasoup instead of coolant,need advice.

[SLA0001]

I have a 2000 LS2,about 60,000 miles.starts and runs fine,.no others issues are known other than it had a head gasket replaced at a saturn dealer about 4 years ago,after that previous owner drove it about 3 months and said it was running hot.he stopped driving it then,i acquired it about 3 years ago,antifreeze looks like peasoup,literally.obviously oil mixed in either in radiator or engine, ive read that the oil cooler can split in radiator causing this?.its time to get it sorted out now and any and all help and suggestions are greatly appriciated

[fdryer]

Is this the V6 3.0L engine or 4cyl? The xmission uses the radiator to cool and maintain its oil temperature, not the engine oil. Engine oil in the 4cyl engine doesn't need an oil cooler but the V6 does - in the 'V' section of the engine block where the oil cooler resides that sometimes leaks.

What coolant are you using? Red Dexcool, green or yellow Prestone?

[SLA0001]

Sorry i wasnt clear...,its the V6 3.0 24 v,i wasnt aware a 4 cyl was available in it,im assuming a green coolant was used in it,based on the current color of the mixture in the radiator/tank.

[fdryer]

That's fine as I see two engines and model numbers confuse me.

If pea soup is what you have and use green coolant, oil is dark and would mix with green to become purple?

Perhaps a full flush is needed and plain water run for a bit to see if there is an oil leak coming from the oil cooler.

[SLA0001]

Thank you for your input,i didnt mean to be vague.
i only know i have the equivalent of peasoup for coolant in the radiator,makes more sense the coolant color was yellow to begin with possibly,if its an external cooler positioned in the "V" of the block,im not sure how that translates to what i have,

[s3nfo]

Still not sure what the issue is here, Dexcool can come out of the bottle green or orange!
Is it thick like a good cream based pea soup, or thin like a nasty stock based pea soup?

[SLA0001]

That would be thick like a good cream based pea soup,very accurate discription of whats in the cooling system.

[s3nfo]

OK, now we're getting somewhere. Usually only 2 things that can happen that make coolant "thick", first is oil mixing with the coolant via a leaking oil cooler, but that turns the coolant brown. Second thing is that Dexcool and glycol coolant get mixed together, which will make the Dexcool thicken and change the color.
Sounds like somewhere along the line glycol coolant got mixed with Dex, a drain and really good flush should take care of it.