Light brown oil in radiator but no water in oil?

I am working on a 92 Camry, 1.6 motor, auto tranny. There is light brown oil in the radiator. The owner of the car said he drained the water several times but there is stil that same color oil in there. I was thinking either the gasket or radiator from the tranny. I checked the tranny fluid and the motor oil and it was clean.... no water in it. The motor runs and sounds reallly good. Could it be possible, when he purchased the car, the previouse owner had a bad head gasket and ended up getting oil in the radiator, then repaired it and now the oil in the radiator is so thick that it hasnt flushed out when we replaced (flushed) the coolent? There is a little smoke out the tailpipe but it doesnt smell sweet like coolent. It's very little smoke but constant, maybe bad rings? there is also water dripping from the tailpipe, and the weather is not cold... I dont remember if he said the water in the rad goes low fast... anyone know? I'm changing the head gasket anyway on Wed.. but dont want 2.Light brown oil in radiator but no water in oil?
Water won't show in the oil pan unless the block is cracked. With a blown gasket, it sucks water out of the jacket during intake and blows air into the jacket during compression. What will show up is a white/gray glup sticking to the underside of the oil filler cap.





Go to a part store and borrow a pump up radiator tester. If the system holds presure then there is nothing wrong. Also take the radiator cap off and run the engine for 20 minutes. If the gasket was leaking, air would be blown into the water and you will see bubbling water (steaming water is normal).





All three symtoms are normal. Even with the chemicals in the antifreeze, the inside of the block still rusts changing the color from green to brown (especially if he has been running straight water). Time to flush. If I look hard enough, I've found rainbows in all water to some degree (easier to sell little old ladies overhauls). Bigger rainbows if the antifreeze has ';water pump lube'; in it. Water out of the tail pipe is normal in the morning. During the night water condenses in the muffer and is blown out in the morning. Watch a car when it is below freezing, a big cloud follows it for 20 minutes. If it is still spitting water after a half hour then I would worry.





All that said, if you had a 2.2, I would say that the gasket ripped from #3 to the water passage behind it. They were famous for doing it. However I have never heard of a 1.6 leaking. I even saw a lady pour cold water into an overheated '83 corolla and it didn't leak.Light brown oil in radiator but no water in oil?
With the Radiator Cap off and the Engine running for a minute or so do you smell Exhaust in the Radiator? Yes, Head Gasket. No, Transmission Cooler Lines, ';New Radiator needed.';