My truck has milky oil!

[54belair]

You have two GOOD indicators. One-- You said the engine had "good power" and two--you said the engine still held 45# oil pressure just before you shut it off.

Chances are youre bearings are fine (for an old engine).
If I wanted to keep this engine start out replacing the intake gaskets and yes, the timing chain cover gasket.
With good engine power chances are its not a head gasket . Remove the intake slowly and easily trying not to tear or damage the existing gasket (so you can do a good visual inspection. I would change the timing cover gasket simply because you already know it leaks!

Now--with that said, before I removed anything Id check every bolt for tightness before I loosened them.
You said the PO "started" doing some stuff and didnt finish-----maybe he didnt do what he Did do correctly. Im always skeptical about someone elses project--even if they finish it. Just because he said he did something correctly---doesnt mean it happened that way.

If you get the intake gaskets off and see no indication of leaks, then Id go ahead and pull the heads and replace the head gaskets---once again, get a torque wrench and check head bolt tightness Before you break them loose.
After you do all that, since you will have the distributor pulled, go ahead and spin the oil pump with a drill motor to make sure everything is prelubed with good oil before you spin the engine again.

Anyway, good luck----this is the procedure Id use on my own engine.

[mcbassin]

Very good write ^^
I agree with everything he just said.
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[cleszkie]

I highly suggest that you use a teflon thread sealant on all of your intake manifold bolts. Some of those bolt holes are not "blind" and go directly into a water passage. Water will leak up past the threads and really put the gasket to the test where it is thinest between the mainifold bolt hole and the cylinder bore.

Not to piss in your wheaties, but a cracked block or head could cause the same oil milking issue. Seems strange that the PO sold the truck with no oil or water in it. Kind of like he was trying to hide something???

[54belair]

Very good point Cleszkie. Normally I wouldnt suspect a crack----but selling it dry???
might be an indicator=========suspect everything on a previous project!! Ill cross my fingers for you.

[SnS C10]

ok everyone, i was able to pull the intake tonight. milky oil sitting by most of the lifters. lots of carbon build up and just generally dirty. the intake gaskets did not seem to be leaking and i was unable to find a spot on the block or anywhere under the intake or mating surface that showed signs of leaking coolant. i drained all the oil and coolant earlier today. all the oil was milky. right at first, seemed very thin and pretty thick like normal oil as it ran out. distributor was also soaked in milky oil. also, i turn the engine over to put it at tdc for when the distributor goes back in. with my 3/8 ratchet, i could not really get the leverage to turn the engine over with no plugs in it. im a big guy as well 6'3 220 pounds and strong. switched to the half inch ratchet and it turned fine. its probably nothing it just seemed abnormally difficult to turn with no plugs and ive turned a lot of engines in my time. so next, i will pull the heads and see whats going on there. hopefully i find something. here are some pictures, let me know what you guys think. thanks for all the wonderful advice too, i appreciate it!

[SnS C10]

another

[SnS C10]

Not sure what I should do here as the engine inside looks like it hasnt been maintained at all
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[mcbassin]

Doesn't look like they were using coolant/antifreeze at all. I guess you don't get cold weather in Redondo?

[SnS C10]

Why do you say that it looks like there was no coolant at all being used?
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[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Shaun23a11en

Why do you say that it looks like there was no coolant at all being used?
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It just looks like there is more than usual rust in the cooling ports. Maybe not, just looks that way in the picture. It could be it's just an old motor....

[custom1970]

Hard to tell in the pics, but I'm curious as to why one head shows the remains of a red gasket and the other side looks blue?? Or is that just old RVT silicone? if it is, looks like there was a lot used on that one side. If the gaskets weren't a matched set sounds like the PO maybe pulled the intake and tried to re-use old gaskets?

[SnS C10]

Yea the ports are pretty rusty but there was coolant in them. One gasket stuck to the manifold while one stuck to the block. They did use a generous amount of sealant as well. Hoping when I pull the heads the the head gasket is broken
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[magwakeenercew2jh]

Just a sideline, here, Folks:

I want to thank all you posters and Shaun23allen. This thread is incredibly interesting to me, for one. I'm sure it's helping a lot of other folks, too.
Even if, like me, they (thankfully) don't have the problem (right now!!!).

[SnS C10]

I have a feeling the head gasket is blown on the number 8 cylinder as when I pulled that plug out, it was a a nice color very dark brown maybe a little rich but it looked wet like there was water on it and it wasnt oil
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[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Shaun23a11en

I have a feeling the head gasket is blown on the number 8 cylinder as when I pulled that plug out, it was a a nice color very dark brown maybe a little rich but it looked wet like there was water on it and it wasnt oil
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Did you have a misfire? You said it was running pretty strong. I would think the plug with the water leak would be clean?

[SnS C10]

I did not have a misfire. Infact all the plugs look almost exactly the same. I did have some white smoke out of the exhaust though. The day before I drove aroumd the block, I topped off the coolant. When I drained the radiator yesterday, the coolant was about 3 to 4 inches low
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[custom1970]

Like you've said the white smoke is telling you water is getting into the cylinders. So pulling the heads (to me) seems like your next step. Maybe after you disconnect your headers you might get lucky and see or feel some moisture in one of the tubes. Now you've got me wondering what you'll find. Hopefully just a bad head gasket like been said already. Good luck

[GASoline71]

Pull all the spark plugs out. If water comes out of any of the holes... bingo. Either a blown head gasket or worse... cracked head... or worse... cracked block.

Gary

[truckster]

Another dead giveaway (once you pull the heads) is a clean combustion chamber. The coolant will clean most of the carbon from the top of the piston and the area around the valves.

In fact, back in the day we used to slowly pour water into a running engine to clean out the combustion chambers.

[54belair]

Its really hard to tell from the pics---but Id say IF you did have an intake gasket leak, it sort of looks like the front left port------but I dont see any evidence of a water trail where a leak might have ran down??

Is what I see under you heat crossover ports Large chunks of carbon inside the valley?
Ive never seen that before if it is. I hope the guy you bought it from isnt a good friend.

[SnS C10]

ok guys pulled the passenger head off. some water passages look to be nearly blocked. something was hitting the number 8 piston as well, its all chewed up. gasket is corroded and very thin in spots and broken in another. one water passage on head was completely blocked. time for a complete rebuild.....on a good note...the block has never been machined before, stock 4.00 inch bore

[54belair]

Im sorry for your prob.s, always seems to happen when you least need it!

Just to let you know youre not alone------when I bought my 54--the guy told me it had about 20k on a "jasper" rebuild and the trans only had about 15k on it. The engine had a miss when I bought it and he "thought" it might be points or plugs?? My thought was if it was easy, cheap and simple he would have already fixed it! Anyway, the trans went out 15 miles after I trailered it home and the engine had head issues and was an old shadetree rebuild. Took a crate motor and a new auto. to fix those ailments---
unfortunately it happens to us all (still doesnt make it easier to swallow)

The good part is----a year after you fix it--you wont feel bad about the expense and youll enjoy your truck more knowing it is solid.

[BB72CHEVKT]

Well that sucks. At least you will know you will be good for a while once it is replaced.