oil in coolant...
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,812
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From: New Albany IN
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'06-'08-'09
oil in coolant...
OK so I took a strong block, had the heads re-done and milled slightly. New cam, lifters, so on. Broke it in properly on engine test stand. No noticable issues. Used a felpro shim gasket with copper spray gasket on each side. Torqued to specs.
So I get the radiator in. Engine runs strong. Noticed brown/foamy substance in coolant. It continues to flow out and foam. I was hoping it was some residual oil but it never stopped. Obvious answer is that head gasket is not sealing properly. Could there by anything I missed that is allowing oil into the water passages other than the gasket? It does NOT appear that water is getting into the oil.
So I get the radiator in. Engine runs strong. Noticed brown/foamy substance in coolant. It continues to flow out and foam. I was hoping it was some residual oil but it never stopped. Obvious answer is that head gasket is not sealing properly. Could there by anything I missed that is allowing oil into the water passages other than the gasket? It does NOT appear that water is getting into the oil.
Last edited by Bruthish; Nov 26, 2011 at 02:42 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,503
Likes: 33
From: McGrady NC
St. Jude Donor '15-'16
Sure it was a good block? Chevy blocks can crack across the webbing in the lifter valley pretty easily. I looked at several "good" 010 4 bolt blocks before I finally ordered one from Jeg's that was guaranteed as good. The cracks are difficult to see but open up when the head is torqued. I hope you just have a blown head gasket, but it could easily be other things.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,057
Likes: 4
From: Concord Calif
OK so I took a strong block, had the heads re-done and milled slightly. New cam, lifters, so on. Broke it in properly on engine test stand. No noticable issues. Used a felpro shim gasket with copper spray gasket on each side. Torqued to specs.
So I get the radiator in. Engine runs strong. Noticed brown/foamy substance in coolant. It continues to flow out and foam. I was hoping it was some residual oil but it never stopped. Obvious answer is that head gasket is not sealing properly. Could there by anything I missed that is allowing oil into the water passages other than the gasket? It does NOT appear that water is getting into the oil.
So I get the radiator in. Engine runs strong. Noticed brown/foamy substance in coolant. It continues to flow out and foam. I was hoping it was some residual oil but it never stopped. Obvious answer is that head gasket is not sealing properly. Could there by anything I missed that is allowing oil into the water passages other than the gasket? It does NOT appear that water is getting into the oil.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,231
Likes: 65
From: Seattle WA
St. Jude Donor '14
A steel shim gasket requires that the block deck and head deck be flat to .001...whereas a traditional gasket will tolerate quite a bit of wavyness in the deck - .003 or a bit more. I doubt that's the issue here, but just an FYI.
All the heat bolts should have sealant on them, and the gasket should have been installed on clean, dry decks.
First step from where I'm sitting would be to pull the head bolts and put a good coat of sealant on the first 1" of all of them and retorque...and we'll go from there
All the heat bolts should have sealant on them, and the gasket should have been installed on clean, dry decks.
First step from where I'm sitting would be to pull the head bolts and put a good coat of sealant on the first 1" of all of them and retorque...and we'll go from there
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,057
Likes: 4
From: Concord Calif
No. there is no oil pressure in the head to go to water! Even if one wants to say oil could leak by a bolt as soon as you start the engine water is at pressure and you have boo koo water in the oil. I believe the op say no water in the oil.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,812
Likes: 1
From: New Albany IN
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'06-'08-'09
When we broke the cam in we did not notice any dirty water in the radiator. I just confirmed that ALL head bolts had sealer put on them during installation. The head was milled flat but the block was not. Its a manual car, so not tranny cooling lines.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,231
Likes: 65
From: Seattle WA
St. Jude Donor '14
You noted previously that you put both sealant and torque lube on the head bolts - this combo basically destroys the sealant. Same for the intake bolts as mentioned.
I agree with Manuel that it's unlikely that it's the head gaskets.
I agree with Manuel that it's unlikely that it's the head gaskets.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,812
Likes: 1
From: New Albany IN
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'06-'08-'09
I will confirm that both were used. I did not put the heads on, my brother did. And I think I did misspeak..now that I think about it we only had ARP assembly lube and it was used on both the threads and bolt caps. Would this have been bad? Even if so, would this lead to oil in water?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 6,231
Likes: 65
From: Seattle WA
St. Jude Donor '14
Yeah, those bolts need sealant, not lube. I can definitely see that leading to the issues you're reporting. That would certainly be step one in my book - make sure you clean all traces of assembly lube off the bolts.
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He's goiing to tear down that engine for nothing.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,057
Likes: 4
From: Concord Calif
I will confirm that both were used. I did not put the heads on, my brother did. And I think I did misspeak..now that I think about it we only had ARP assembly lube and it was used on both the threads and bolt caps. Would this have been bad? Even if so, would this lead to oil in water?
Did you ever say what this engine is? If a big block see my first post to this thread.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,812
Likes: 1
From: New Albany IN
St. Jude Donor '03-'04-'06-'08-'09
So lets say I need to pull out the head bolts and properly seal them. Could I do them one at a time and torque them back down to specs, or should I pull all of them out and start from scratch?