Water ways and oil ways are never in contact with each other in normal circumstances. The usual reason for your problem is that the cylinder head gasket has failed allowing a gap in the gasket to allow water and oil to come into contact with each other. I imagine there is a high probability that there is also water in the oil (Take the oil filler cap off, you will probably find white/grey emulsified oil in the top of the cap).
Sorry to say this is pretty bad news, you probably find that the vehicle is losing power too, as one or more of the cylinders will be compromised (Symptom: Engine "Missing" misfiring on one or more cylinders). Other classic signs are excessive white smoke from the exhaust as a consequence of water and or oil getting into the combustion chambers.
This will almost certainly be the case, requiring the cylinder head to be removed and the gasket replaced. It's likely that this is the result of an overheat of the engine at some stage. If you have an aluminium head, there is also a high probablinty that the head may have warped and it may need skimming before it is re-fitted
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