Checked my mother's old 79 today before she went to work. It had a little water scum under the oil-fill cap (no scum on top of the rocker arms that I could see), and a drop or two (very little) on the very tip of the dip stick. No white smoke, no symptoms of head problems that I could see visually or hear as it idled.

• No white smoke, no symptoms of head problems that I could see visually or hear as it idled.
• No oil in the antifreeze; radiator isn't gurgling or chugging like a blown gasket.
• Oil level isn't excessively high (mid to 3/4 safe range), and doesn't appear to be "milkshaked".
• Low temp or no thermostat in the truck she says.
• The PVC is disconnected from the breather--meaning she's sucking in cold air through the oil-cap when the truck is running.
• She only drives 40 miles (tops) round trip in a day, with 6 to 8+ hours shutdown between each leg of the trip. She says the truck doesn't get up to the warm line on cold mornings till when she's about at work/home. I figure that's counts as a short-drive for this type of engine.
• Below freezing temps the last few days.
• She doesn't idle it very long before driving off.

I'm thinking it's a likely cold-weather condensation under the cap and maybe them same for the dip stick; with it pooling up and running down the dip-stick. I don't think it's anything to worry about in the immediate, but should be checked to see if it's gets worse.

Opinions?

 

Sounds like a bit of moisture got into the crank case and is working its way through. My sister had this happen on a 4.6 mod motor. Sort of a milky brown gunk on the PVC valve and on the oil cap. We ran a can of SeaFoam in the oil and it cleared right up. Try that and see where you get.

 

'could be just condensation forming in the crankcase due to a rapid change in temperature and not enough heat in the engine to heat up and evaporate it.

Clean it up and avoid short trips. Monitor the coolant level.

 

Figure I'll get her to swing by the autozone and grab some heater hose and get the oil-cap reconnected to the breather; that should help with some of it. If nothing else swap the filter out, and get an oil change in it as soon as I can.

 

Normal for short trips around town, though in 40 miles mixed highway not so much? Suggest a new thermostat if anything.

 

20 miles (give or take) to work; 6 to 8 hour or more shift, and then 20 miles back home. All cold weather driving the last week or so.

That's what I've been thinking. She's not even sure it has one in it, which means it's probably not getting no where near to temp. Especially on the mornings that are down next to single digits. Add to it that the oil-fill cap isn't hooked up to the breather and the engine is pretty open to the air, I figure she's gotta be huffing in a lot of cold, moist air.

 

I saw that. New thermostat for sure, and don't discount a tuneup - a well running motor warms up noticeably quicker. Maybe hotter ignition? Not sure, but it definitely helps.

 

Unless the problem gets a lot worse, I don't think she's going to be needing to redo the head gasket anytime in the near future. I just don't see it being that.

But she's asking for more problems if I don't take care of getting that engine warmer in these cold temps.

 

Sea foam is snake oil. Enough said!

 

I say forget the snake oil, put a new thermostat in with the correct heat range for that engine. Change the oil and let it warm up before driving it might help a little. Short trips are engine killers in the winter time and hard on them in the warmer weather. I bought a new Ford Falcon back in the stone age , 1964 . my wife drove it 3 blocks to work and back with a few out of town trips. In one year we had that problem , learned it the hard way.

OH, we still have the falcon so they can be saved.


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If it's that cold, consider reducing the amount of grill area that is open to oncoming air. Maybe even block off the whole thing like the big rigs sometimes do.

I have always wondered why the grill openings are bigger than the radiator ... prolly just for styling - it's not like aerodynamics were a consideration for trucks.

 

Make sure the PCV system is functioning correctly.. Had this problem on the 305 chebby in my boat.. It just had two breather hoses that were open to the air.. Always had a lot of snot on the inside of the oil cap, and at the top of the dipstick.. Installed a PCV valve in place of one of the breather hoses, and routed its hose to the tap on the intake manifold and the snot/moisture in the oil caps and on the dipstick went away

 

Gave it the once over over the weekend: Oil is good (needs changed, but no water in it), no oil in the coolant, no bubbles. Took it out Saturday and opened it open and got it up to temp and ran it around for about 30 minutes and then idles it for another 20 or so as I rechecked everything. The scum cooked off, and it was running fine.

Now jump to today: Mom just called. When she went in to work the truck stuttered and lacked get up and go till she drove it about 10 miles or so. It's in the high 60s today, so I know it's not the air temp, but she did say the gas gauge is nearly on empty. I told her to put some high test in it and dump a bottle of STP into it and see if that makes a difference.