Hello all... I have oil in the coolant. The guy who I bought the truck from had a NAPA 360 engine installed right before they parked it back in 04 or 05. He thinks it only has a couple of hundred miles on the new engine. When I bought it the coolant had very good green color with some oil spots floating thru. Now after maybe 10 hours at the most of run time the coolant has a solid layer of light brown/green ish in the coolant.

The oil is fine. Changed the oil when bought it and 100% oil. Check the oil after about 6 hours of off and on running by taking oil drain plug out and letting just a little oil out. Again, oil 100% good.

I saw a diff post taking about head torque maybe as issue. So what are the torque specs for my 360 FE?

And any other thoughts on what is going on?

Here's the link to my build page:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-progress.html

Thanks - Shawn

 

Since you have oil going into the water, and not the other way, or both, it is probably coming from a pressurized area through the head gasket near the bolts that carry oil to the rocker shafts, or through a crack in the block.

After 10+ years, I don't think a re-torque is the answer.

Try new head gaskets and keep your fingers crossed.

 

While the heads are off check the mating surfaces with a straight edge. Any bolts going into a water jacket need a thread sealer.

 

Don't forget that the oil passage for the rockers passes up through the head right by water passages. When those rust they can leak oil into the coolant. Whenever you have heads rebuilt it is always a good idea to have the machinist check that. If there is a hole then the repair is by sleeving with a pushrod.

332-428 Ford FE Engine Forum:

 

So if there is a place that is thin are you saying it would be on the head and not the block? It will be a couple of weeks before I can pull the heads. But I will try new head gaskets for sure. I'm rebuilding the carb so that will already be off.

With the heads off should I have a machine shop check them? Is that something they could check?

Thanks - Shawn

 

A machine shop could 0-out any high spots, but if the engine is New out of the crate as you say it shouldn't require any fiddling. from it sitting a decade the gaskets may have just gone brittle on it.

 

You still need to get a 12 or 18 inch straight edge and check it. JMHO.

 

I will check the heads with a straight edge.

On the engine, the guy said it was a short block that was put in. Look at the pic below. Would that be on a factory original 360 FE?

If it was a short block does that change the approach? I think it might have been a long block because of the pic and how value covers and intake and oil pan are ford blue.

 

 

 

A lot of rebuild shops put that on their engines. It is used to tell them if their engine was overheated. If it's melted or removed you have no warranty.

 

Good point. That would be the top end right? Or would I be looking at a pull and replace all gaskets?

Thanks

 

F2501972... I would run the engine little more. 10 hours of running like you stated is not a solid indicator that the head gasket is blown or not torqued properly. It is cheaper to flush the coolant and put a new one than taking heads off and inspecting the gaskets.

Another thing I would do is take the valve covers off and check for coolant spots. I know you said oil is clean, but I guess I am a person who would inspect things first wherever possible before making final calls and start pulling engine apart.

Lastly. If you decide to take the heads off, make sure you buy quality head gaskets (x2) and torque them to factory specs in the correct order (cannot stress enough on how important this is).

If your motor holds good coolant pressure and oil pressure then the problem is not major.

Hope it works out for you.

Nick

 

As tbm3fan mentioned you should check to see if oil is entering the water jacket thru a crack in one of the 2 rocker oil feed galleries in the block. This is a common problem with FE blocks and when you find oil in the coolant this is almost always the cause. Below is a link to 2 different service bulletins that show how to fix this issue. Sorry for the poor quality pics but if you zoom in you can kinda read them. Let me know if the link does not work.


https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lg9db9xox...kxJjDRnEa?dl=0


Another potential cause is a crack in the block deck between one of the rocker oil feed holes and the nearest head bolt hole. If you are lucky and this is indeed the case (instead of crack way down in the block) then you can possibly fix it by using the repair method described below.


332-428 Ford FE Engine Forum:

 

wsu0702,

Thanks for posting info. I have been working on other items with the truck and have not been working on the oil in coolant issue. But doing research, so appreciate the link.