So how often does a bad head gasket cause oil going in the antifreeze and not the common reverse of this? Any other reason this would happen?

I've heard of 3 signs of a headgasket problem are (1)water in the oil (2)sweet smelling smoke from the exhaust (3)oil in the radiator. I haven't seen that last one so I don't know if it's true or not. Oil level drop w/out any reason? Sorry I'm no help-just an idea.

There is no oil pressure going through the head gasket on a SBC, so its pretty rare for a bad head gasket to put oil into the cooling system. The opposite happens, because when its warm, the cooling system is under pressure, even if the engine is not running. Thats why coolant gets into the oil.

What exactly did you find?

With oil in the coolant, I'd be looking at the transmission cooler in the radiator. Check your tranny fluid NOW.

Wow i just started and ran my car for the first time in over a month and after about 30 min or so i saw smoke from the pass side i popped the hood and somehow i lost the cap for the coolant take and

so now i have no cap and it took about 20 min for the coolant to stop boiling but now it's all jet back and i think mixed with oil

I just left the locked up the car and walked away

Coolant tank cap not a serious issue, but sounds like
confucious has some other serious issues to rectify.

Unusual for lubricant to get back-flushed into coolant.
If its engine oil, you have other serious situations like
rings or valve-seals -- each of which have their own
tell-tale symptoms.
Interesting possibility about tranny-fluid/cooler leak.

have you tried using some radiator leak treatment in your coolant? I doubt it would turn black but how about a pic of the fluid? My guess would be if its oil it will most likely be milky colored instead of black. I say this b/c the coolant does get stirred up.

Bad valve seals and rings wont cause the coolant to change colors. The valve seals and rings will cause burning of oil and you would be able to see that in the exhaust and smell it. But this all depends on the amount of oil that is being lost. I would think a oil leak maybe the problem for the loss of oil.

i dont think it is possible to get oil in the coolant, seeing how all the spots on the heads and block that have water jackets (which are always under pressure) aren't near pressurized oil jackets, if anything they are gravity fed (for lack of better term.)

I got oil in my coolant from a crack in one of the cylinder bores. Some of it is still in there actually, I tried to flush out that radiator 4 or five times... but it's just gonna have some residue left in it I guess. Everytime I filled it back up you could smell the burnt oil smell in it.

Of course, I had coolant in the oil, too.

ya i dont think you can have oil in the coolant without having coolant in the oil...

ok i had my uncle take a quick look at the car this past weekend it turns out there was a small amount of oil residue in the coolant but nothing in the oil so he thinks i'm good for now
I just need to take the car into a shop for a complete flush
b/c the last guy i took it to last year for a coolant flush must have used regular water


My whole system is now full of rust almost 2 inches on the bottom the bottle

but my over heating was caused by my fan or lack there of
I even tried turning on the ac but nothing so now i have to trouble shot that as well


I know it's my own fault i just pretty much let the car sit all the time and never really drive it ...................

Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply here. I have brown residue in the coolant resevoir even after trying to clean it out and multiple coolant flushes. I also see brown in the coolant in the radiator at times. I'm getting no coolant that I can see in the oil though. The oil's been recently changed but has been started a bunch of times and nothing I see in the oil and no milkshake anywhere on the dipstick or oil cap.