this is not good

rob63mess

rob63mess

Well-known member
Checked the oil before taking the wife on a nice spring drive....first time this year. The oil looked somewhat milky. I drained the oil and it also looked milky. There was plenty of antifreeze in it when i parked it for the winter and the coolant level appears to be close to full. I filled it back up with oil and away we went....The old truck ran flawlessly about a 25 mile excursion.. I checked the oil when we got back and it looked good. What could be the culprit....Im pretty sure the block is fine because she ran so good...head gasket? Give me a little input please
 
I think I'd suggest draining the coolant and using just distilled water and anti-rust additive until it is determined whether there is a problem or not. Has any work been done recently [head gasket, etc] ? Retightening the head retainers wouldn't be out of line either.
 
I'm going through the same issue with my 29 P/U. Did you blow any water out of the tail pipe when you started up? That's a sure sign of water getting into a cylinder.

Pressure from a running motor can prevent water from getting into the cylinder. Also, any water that does get in will burn-off in the cylinder while driving, which may be why you found no milky oil after your excursion.

Fill the radiator and run the motor. Look for bubbles in the radiator which is usually a sign of a bad head gasket. In your case it my be a small leak that took all winter to leak down. Keep and eye on it, as it will only get worse over time. In any case, you may have to pull the head to be sure.
 
If the antifreeze were leaking inward on a cold, parked engine during storage there would be no formation of that 'milky' emulsion. The two would remain separate and you would see small droplets of green settled to the bottom of the oil. The milky emulsion forms from extreme crankcase mixing of water, (either from blowby condensate or leaking antifreeze) in an engine that has been run but not hot enough (minimum ~180) or long enough to vaporize the water from the oil and expel the vapor with crankcase gasses through the vented filler cap.

That said, it appears to me that your last run before this season was a cold and/or short one.
 
I would check the oil now, before cranking the engine. If the level of the oil is above the full mark after sitting over night, its leaking coolant into the crankcase, somewhere. It could be a head gasket leak. I would firsttry retorqueing the head.

Years ago, I had one that would run good all day but would leak water into the oil when it would sit over night.I first retorqued the head and took it up to 60 ft. lbs. torque and there was no difference. I had heard about a product called water glass or sodium silicate. I got a bottle of it at Auto Zone for just over five dollars.I followed the directions and it is still working after over 10 years. At the time ,I really didn't want to pull the head, there is always the risk of breaking off a head stud in the block. usually the average will be at least two will break.
 
crack the drain plug and see if you have water in the bottom of the pan.
Also after the next run tighten all the head nuts to spec(55 ft lbs). Don't know the history of your motor from your post.
Bob
 
Could it be condensation? Was the car in a place that had a lot of temperature changes over the winter? When did you change to oil last before you spotted the difference in the oil ?
 
thanks for all of the posts....a little history.....the last drive before parking the truck was short....the only work that has been done to the motor the past winter was the removal of an old cracked exhaust manifold with attached heater and i installed a new exhaust manifold from snyders. I then started the motor long enough to check for leaks.....this was about 3 weeks ago.
 
retorque head then put in some block sealer, bars leak, then run it for a while, if its a small problem with a head gasket or minor crack the sealer will fix it, just keeping the oil and water
 
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