Water in Crankcase

I had a bad head gasket about 3.5 years ago. So much water in the engine it was coming out the tailpipe.
Installed a new head gasket and milled the head and all is well.
Al
 
friedmac said:
My Brother and I have both had oil in the radiator, what would cause that. The difference between mine and his, is that his is a rebuilt engine, mine is old and used. Thank you Craig 321-427-7861 cell, Melbourne, Florida.
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Over greasing the water pump?
 
Do NOT start or even crank that engine with that milk-shake in the crank-case !!!! You don't want to pump that cr@p up into the valve chamber !

First of all, was the cooling system filled with plain water, or with anti-freeze solution ?

( Anti-freeze has a very corrosive effect on babbit. Destroys it. )

Drain the crankcase. Leave the plug out and let things sit overnight.

Pull the valve cover, and if things look milky in there, blot it out with paper towels, then flush with kerosene, or similar solvent. Leave valve cover off for now. If you found the milky oil in the valve chamber, you might want to go ahead and pull the manifolds, so that you can see inside the valve pockets.

Fill radiator with clean water ( Valve cover still removed, oil-pan drain plug still out ).

Pull the spark plugs.

Let stand, and look for water drips in the valve chamber, and out the oil drain. With a strong flashlight, look down the spark-plug holes, toward the valves (look all around each hole) for water.

If no water detected, let stand several days, checking the above each day.

If no water detected, move on to pressurizing the cooling system to about 5 psi, and checking again for drips / presence of water.


If enough water got into the crankcase to register all the way up the dipstick, that is serious business. It could be something simple, such as a head gasket leak ( especially around stud # 8, since you mentioned disturbing that ), and hopefully that's all it is... but...

My '28 coupe, with un-rebuilt engine showing 80,000+ miles started seeping water into the cylinders / crankcase. I was driving the car daily, so most days I didn't notice anything terribly unusual, perhaps a little extra white vapor out the tail pipe when starting cold. But, if I let the car sit for a few days, the next time I would try to start it, the starter would stall on the first or second compression stroke, then gradually overcome the resistance, then when the engine started, it would missfire, and blow copious clouds of vapor out the tail pipe, and even spray water droplets out the tailpipe... eventually it would clear-out and the engine would run fine.

Long story shortened, turns out my engine has deck cracks from cylinders #2 and 3 towards the exhaust valve pockets, and upon long standing, water would seep through those cracks, and collect in the valve pockets ( thus the white vapor in the exhaust ), and the cylinders, occasionally getting past the rings.

I tried doping it up with block seal, and that seemed to hold while running clear water during the warm months, but when I switched to 50-50 antifreeze, the stop-leak would eventually fail.

All of which is to say, inspect thoroughly before you go cranking that engine over...

I hope it is something simple, and easily repaired.


Frank
 
Everyone should THROW AWAY that blasted Ignition Cable Clamp! They've caused a lot of GRIEF!
Henry would agree, it was NOT one of his "BETTER IDEAS"!!
SA Bill W.
 
Al 29Tudor said:
I had a bad head gasket about 3.5 years ago. So much water in the engine it was coming out the tailpipe.
Installed a new head gasket and milled the head and all is well.
Al
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Sorry for digging up such an old post but was all I could find close to my problem. I have a coupe that has quickly started running rough. I put it back in the garage and later on noticed what turned out to be water running out the carb. Checked the dipstick and milky oil. Drained the oil and water in there. Pulled the plugs and water in n01 and2.wound over with plugs out, Put fresh oil in and started it for a very short time and it goes.Question before I get into taredown ,would a head gasket let that much water through? When I pull the head are cracks easy to see? Thanks.John.
 
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A blown head gasket won't cause water in the oil. There is no way for the two to mix that way.
These motors are notorious for cracking the blocks between the valves (usually the exhaust valve) and the cylinder. When that crack starts heading down the bore, it isn't long before water finds its way into the oil and , if the crack is from an inlet valve, into the manifold which would give you the symptoms you describe. These cracks are usually in either #2 or #3 pot. It sounds like yours is in #2.
I suggest you remove the head and WITHOUT TOUCHING ANYTHING, look closely at where I have described. You are likely (but no guarantee) you will see the crack.
If that is the problem, the block is so badly cracked that you should start hunting for a new block to rebuild (after crack testing it)
Sorry to be he bearer of bad news - there is no way of putting lipstick on this pig.
 
Looks like you will be pulling the head. In addition to possible causes already mentioned, be sure to check your head for cracks.
 
Chuck Sea/Tac said:
Synchro909 said:
A blown head gasket won't cause water in the oil. There is no way for the two to mix that way.

I disagree. Just worked on one . The water gets into the cylinder and runs down through the rings. If it sits to long, it will rust to the wall.
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Yeh, that's right but we are talking about an engine that is in use. not one that has been sitting for a while.
I'm still thinking a cracked block.
I'm looking forward to hearing back from MANAGER when he inspects the block.
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