Water in Oil...question about it too

[Longhorn Man]

The other day I ran the 'ol girl a little warm. I've had it to 260 once before with no problems, and I ended up at the same point Saturday on the way to work.
Chainged the oil, and it looked like the foam on top of a capachino. Yeah, that bad.
I drove it home (6 - 8 miles) and the rad is now 1/2 empty, and the oil is even worse than the last 5 quarts. Think...Wndy's frosty, melted...that's about the color.


The thing is though...it ran fine.

I'm about to go out and start ripping out the plugs for a compression test, and I know the heads are coming off at a minimum...byt my question is...
Has anyone here seen a head gasket that would leak about 3 quarts of water into the engine, no oil into the coolant, and still run fine?

I'm debating taking it 3 blocks away to the coin op carwash and cleaning the engine off...it's pretty nasty and you know I'm gonna have to detail it.

[ChevLoRay]

Oh, man that don't sound very promising. There is a way to use a cooling system pressure tester to detect compression leaks into the cooling system. I'm not sure just how to do it.

At least you're not getting oil into the cooling system. If so, I'd tell you to flush the cooling system with kerosene, then refill it with pure kerosene and sell it....at night....to someone you don't know and who couldn't find you.

[Dean]

Not sounding good. I had one like the with cracked heads and when I pulled the plugs to change them......coolant dripped on my head. I wish you much better luck than me.

[Longhorn Man]

Not lookin good. Did the compression check.

#8...90 #7...90
#6...120 #5...95
#4...110 #3...115
#2...90 #1...110


No holes in the compression, I guess I'll pop the heads off and explore a little bit.

[69ride]

I did the same thing to my 78 400 4x4. I kept having to fill the coolant and drain the oil a little bit every few days. I had it bored out and between the cylinders was cracked. so that motor was scrapped.

[Palf70Step]

Andy I have had 3 engines all with the same symptoms and each time the problem was the intake manifold gasket at the rear. two were because of the crappy original gaskets GM used. One happened on an engine I had rebuilt and I had run hot. Turned out my aftermaket alumin intake warped from the heat and seperated the rear gaskets.

Like you discribed other that the water/oil mixing, it still ran like a raped ape.

[Longhorn Man]

Hmmm, if it is just an intake gasket I'll be happier than a puppy with 2 p*ckers.

[ChevLoRay]

2 p*ckers??? Let's see....packers?? No. Pickers?? No. Pockers?? No. Puckers?? Yeah, that's it. 2 puckers. Oh...waitaminnit....I forgot the "e". Oh, now I get it. Cute. One to lick and one to....

[Kman]

Running it that far you most likely ruined the bearings too
kman

[69 Short Fleet]

Andy, what kind of intake?

[Longhorn Man]

I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake.

I pulled the intake off, and I saw a spot that might have been leaking, then I pulled off one head ...I saw a couple more places that it might have been leaking.
Didn't get to pull the other head. Working on the curb and by the light from the street lamp really blows.

I'm taking the intake and head in to the shop tomorow and clewaning them in the parts washer. Then I'll check it for warp and look for cracks. Crossing my fingers.

If I find nothing wrong, I'll just put it all back together and cross my fingers I guess. The oil pressure is still good...at least as good as it ever has been.
Cylinder walls don't look too bad, slight ridge, and the walls aren't quite as nice as I'd like, but it is getting old and has led a hard life.

I took some pics, but I have to develop them on another computer, so tomorow after work I'll post them.
I was quite pleased to find pretty much no sludge or carbon deposits (other than by the heat cross over)

Anyone priced Fell Pro gaskets lately? WTF is up with that? A few years ago i bought a couple engine kits for about 40 bucks each, now it's over 80!

[dtlilly]

I read this too late to tell you before you tear down, to start the truck with it cold, and take the radiator cap off and check for excessive bubbles. That is an indicator that exhaust is getting in to the cooling system. It also could be the cause of overheating.

The low compression numbers you show are not that low, yes a problem, but most likely not a lunched motor. Could you see any damage or bypassing on the head gasket from H2O getting through?

[Longhorn Man]

nope, the head gasket looked fine.
I checked for bubbles before I started...there were none. (the antifreeze looked fine, no oil getting into it)

[68C15]

is this a SBC or the caddy mill? it sounds like a cracked head. most likely somewhere in the area above the casting or in the valley pan area. (where the oil is returning & not under pressure)
whatever it is, it doesn't sound good. are you going to throw some brgs in it just for good measure?
those compression #'s are indicative of burned rings, not a crack or blown gasket.

[Tx Firefighter]

Andy, don't pay 80 bucks for the Fel-Pro.

Ask for Fel-Pro part number KS2600. They usually run about 35 bucks. It's a complete Fel-Pro blue stripe gasket set in a brown box. They market them to the mass engine rebuilders. That's all I've ever used since a rep told me about this part number. Same gaskets with a boring box, but when you open the box it's all premium quality happiness (with two puckers, er...pickers....or...packers)

[68C15]

Tx, do they have the same kind of thing for a Gen VI BB?
(sorry about the thread jump)

[Tx Firefighter]

Yes, they have a full line of "KS" series gaskets. You'll need to find a parts guy that's patient enough to look it up for you rather than selling you the mega expensive set.

These are premium gaskets. These are not cheap junk. I worked 12 years full time as a mechanic and I've learned never to cut corners on something like this. I have never, ever had an issue with any Fel-Pro gasket.

[stllookn]

TX...cool info...I am going to look for some today!

[Longhorn Man]

Bummer, i wish I woulda held off on buying gaskets. I figured I'd get them through the shop and pay him back later. (credit for parts)
This is on the 350 in the SWB GMC.
I got one head off last night and took it in and threw it in the dish washer and looking at it by the naked eye, it all looks good.
Once I get the other one off (here in a little bit) I'll run it to the shop, clean it all up and get them both mag'd.
I oughta go ahead and buy bearings and a pump for it, the oil pressure has been on the low side for a while. I can get the pan off by jacking the engine up with a jack and unbolting the motor mounts, Right?
As far as the compression test, this is an aftermarket cam with lots of overlap, so the numbers were never real high to begin with. That one cylinder with 120 pounds is higher than I have ever seen in this sucker. It's always been in the 95 - 105 area, consistantly since I bought it.

[stllookn]

I was getting water in my oil like you. My engine got hot due to low water in the rad. When I changed the oil I found the white emulsion in the breather. I pulled the heads, could not find the leaking head gasket so checked everywhere else for leaks and could not find any. My engine was consuming about 1 qt. water/50 miles. No bubbles in rad and not even a trace of combustion gas either. Put it back together with new gaskets, reman heads(prechecked for compression and leaks), new water pump etc. Same problem! Got some engine stop leak and it has run great since. It still bothers me that I could not find the problem and my compression was 160-145 in every cylinder! Next time I am going to check the compression and then go right to the engine stop leak...LOL! If it ain't dripping on my driveway...it ain't broke...LOL!

[Longhorn Man]

it looked something like this? Notice the total lack of sludge and carbon build up in there. I haven't even removed a valve cover in almost 2 years. I was kinda impressed on the cleanliness in there. I chainge my oil every 3000 miles, give or take 1000, and it may take me 5 or 6 months to get to the 3k point.
It's about enough to make a man cuss.
...I'm stuck pimpin in the stinkin lincoln now.

[stllookn]

Isn't it amazing how well that steam cleans the inside of the valve covers!!!!!!!!
That is the same stuff I found in mine...water/oil emulsion! If your oil pan is not filled with this...your bearings should all be fine... especially if your oil pressure did not drop to 0.

[Longhorn Man]

Being that the rad went down by a gallon in 10 or so miles, I'm sure there is plenty in the oil pan.
My oil pressure never dropped.

The engine is coming out on thursday weather permitting.

[racedvl]

Wow man, that is no fun. . . .

[68 Suburban]

dang, you can see that milky stuff in the lifter valley!