05 Malibu
3 Answers
That is a mixture of oil and coolant. Cross-contamination like that is a good sign you have a blown head gasket. You need to let a mechanic look at is ASAP, if you keep driving it and letting it overheat and with contaminated oil/coolant it can ruin the engine.
Yes, it could be, may be worth more than the car. A shop can charge around 1500 for replacing head gaskets. You could also look for a replacement engine. But that is a worst case scenario. The first step is to determine if you do in fact have oil getting into the coolant, and if you do, from where. Napa auto parts makes a product that can detect emission gases in the radiator fluid, which is a good indicator of a blown head gasket. It's called "Block tester." You can do the test yourself and decide if the car is worth repairing.
