Hello all I just picked up a 01 Windstar. It has 140,000 on it I was getting ready for a family camping trip so I checked all the fluids and found oil in the coolant tank. Just a slight layer on the top. The oil looked good so I flushed and went for it.It was a three hour trip one way. OOnce I got there I checked it and it was the same with a layer of oil. I make the 400 mile trip with no problems except for the gauges going crazy. What would cause this. Thank you

 

It does sound like there are two problems.
The problem with the dash gauges very possibly is within the printed circuit board of the dash gauges itself. They have been a little troublesome with cold solder joints on the printed circuit board and some folks have managed to do their own repairs.

The oil problem could be coming from either the engine or the trans cooler in the radiator.There are several possible reasons for oil to get into the cooling system and that would need to be investigated further. Keeping in mind engine oil pressure can be in the 30+ psi range and trans oil pressure can be even higher. Cooling system pressure is maintained at around 15 psi so that is how any weak gasket or cooler in the two lube areas gets into the cooling syst.

 

I changed the lower intake gaskets last night thinking that might do the trick. I'm scared it might be head gaskets. I flushed it a few time and I'm going to take it for a nice long drive once I change the oil

 

Ok got back from my 3.5 hour drive and it ran great the whole time but once I got home I checked and noticed some oil in the tank again. How would and where do I check the oil cooler. Thank you for your time

 

Were you able to distinguish whether it was engine oil or trans fluid in the recovery bottle? If engine oil, that's one thing, if trans fluid that would kinda point to the cooler tubes in the radiator. Need to determine which one before doing anything. Color of oil is important clue to which one , providing trans fluid is not too dark, still should have red in it somewhere.

 

It is definitely oil it's brown. Thank you for your time and help