radiator fluid in oil in my flathead!

J

jhaas63

Junior Member
Hey guys. I am very happy to be a new member here. My name is Jim and I live near Madison, Wisconsin. I have a 1953 f100 with the flathead and the fordomatic. I love the truck!


I could use some advice. My flathead has the smallest amount of bright green radiator fluid in the oil. The oil is not milky and the truck runs great...even on hour long trips. It blows no smoke. I got the truck recently and it had sat for four years previously. I only see the fluid when I change the oil. My concerns are that it may have a blown head gasket or worse, a small crack in the block.

You guys have a lot more knowledge than me. Any assistance is appreciated!
 
I would retorque the heads to make sure they are right, be sure to follow the proper sequence.
Tony
 
Welcome aboard jhaas63. Love them 53 f100's. Your right its either a head gasket or a crack in the block but lets just hope its a gasket. If it where me I think Id buy a new set and install them and like paleot said make sure ya torque the head bolts down in the correct pattern and see that cures the problem. How about some pictures of that 53 ?
 
Like palelot&bige said,retorque the heads,change the oil and put some alum Bar's leak sealer and run it .You don't seem to have much of a leak.IMO I would try this before I would do anything major.Phil
 
Here are some pics of it men...

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trainguy said:
Like palelot&bige said,retorque the heads,change the oil and put some alum Bar's leak sealer and run it .You don't seem to have much of a leak.IMO I would try this before I would do anything major.Phil
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I would do this, including the Bar's leak sealer. If that solves the problem great. Don't go looking for a cracked block because you may find it. If the above suggestions get it back to keeping the water and the oil separate, you win.

Neal
 
If it is a head gasket, it should show up by doing a compression test. If you have a low reading in one cylinder, you have a clue as to where to start to look for a problem, head gasket or cracked block.
 
have heads trued when you have them off, or at least check for warpage, first thing tho is to torque heads and add a block sealer, check directions because some say dont put in engine with anti freeze
 
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I second the compression test idea. I wasted a bunch of time not doing one. I guess I was afraid of what i'd find. i hope its a gasket for you. I've read of water pumps doing that but that could just be urban legend.
 
A slow leaker may not show on compression tests. The great thing about flatheads is the ease of pulling a cylinder head. It involves no manifolds and no valve train and a head gasket set won't break the bank. If the engine has been in service for a very long time, a head bolt retorque may not move any bolts plus the gaskets have likely deteriorated to some degree. If it has had some recent work then a retorque could fix all ills. Best brand gaskets have a good rep if you decide to yank the heads & have a look.
 
Suggestions above are all good but I am at a loss to see how a head gasket leak will result in coolant in the crankcase without any white smoke (steam) being evident out the exhaust. I'm thinking a dose of a block sealant type product may be the way to go.
 
I had a similar problem with my 36. Compression check was good on all cylinders. I pulled the heads which is not always as easy as some would indicate especially if they have been on for a long time. I found signs of pitting on one head gasket near a water passage and 2 cylinders. You could also see that the tops of the pistons near this area were clean. No Carbon Buildup. Replaced the head gaskets with Best Graphtite gaskets and torqued as per specs. Problem solved.
You might pull the plugs and take a look to see what little bit of the pistons you can see look like.
My problem was similar to yours also, that the truck had been in storage for about 4 years when I started working on it.
Good Luck!
 
I agree with BillM. No oil passages in heads, no water passages in intake. Has to be a crack in lifter valley or crankcase. Hope not, Harley.
 
Coolant will go right down into the cylinder when the engine is non-operational for a time. The coolant will eventually leak past the rings and down into the crankcase. It's usually just a little bit at a time but over a period of several months can equal a larger amount. Once the engine is fired off, the remaining coolant will go right out the exhaust. The heat in the combustion chamber will expand things enough to seal the leak until the leak turns into a blown head gasket which can sometimes be a long long time on these low compression engines.
 
rotorwrench said:
Coolant will go right down into the cylinder when the engine is non-operational for a time. The coolant will eventually leak past the rings and down into the crankcase. It's usually just a little bit at a time but over a period of several months can equal a larger amount. Once the engine is fired off, the remaining coolant will go right out the exhaust. The heat in the combustion chamber will expand things enough to seal the leak until the leak turns into a blown head gasket which can sometimes be a long long time on these low compression engines.
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That's what you hope, sometimes a bent rod, broken piston, broken bore.

Water in a cylinder doesn't always leave the way it should or the way you want it to.

Harry P. Hunter
 
Reading through this thread made me wonder if water pressure (after the engine has stopped) can get into the oil galleries to the water pumps. If that was the case, I would expect a bad bearing in one of the pumps.
Anyone know if this can happen?
 
you could also do a combustion gas test with the radiator to see if you have combustion gases in the coolant.Its a NAPA item and well worth the money.i had loss of water from the rad and none to little white smoke,did the gas test it came back positive and so i pulled the heads and the drivers side first piston was clean,yep head gasket.oils was a weird color,because i use brad penn oil which is green so its hard to see it real milky but it was a different color,i drained the oil and water came out first.Put new gaskets on new ARP head bolts,torqued to specs and according to the heat up cool down cycle.I ran the engine with some standard oil and MMO for a while to flush out any water in the passagers.Filled it up with brad penn,and repeated the gas test and it was negative..problem solved
 
HP Hunter said:
That's what you hope, sometimes a bent rod, broken piston, broken bore.

Water in a cylinder doesn't always leave the way it should or the way you want it to.

Harry P. Hunter
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You could get a liquid lock but the chances are less so on a flathead with all the clearance volume they have. It just depends on how bad the leak is. Generaly anything more than a seep will show up with vapor out the exhaust pipe before it gets that bad. At some point the leak will go both ways and the compression will be low on the affected cylinder plus the chance of overheating is much higher.

If you fill an old loosey goosey flathead cylinder up with marvel mystery oil one day, all the oil will be in the pan by the next morning. Piston rings without pressure on them don't hold much back. On the old round engines I used to work on, you arways had to rotate them through before fire up since the bottom cylinders could be full of oil. Liquid lock was a real problem on them.
 
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