If you get bored, just skip down to THE POINT

I had my engine stripped down to the block, and sent off heads to be checked, they came back good and were cleaned. I was going to put the heads back on, but wanted to make sure I didn't ding the head gasket. (I was going to use a swing set to guide them into place with help since I don't have access to a cherry picker). Being the first time I was taking my time and my brother had some guy who he swore was a great mechanic who had been working on old Fords forever AND had a cherry picker. Long story short, dude screwed something up and didn't even bring the picker when he did the heads.

He dropped the head on the driver's side onto the gasket but couldn't find the guider things so he kept rubbing the head on the gasket (he said "you can't hurt a head gasket). Now I have milk oil, which I replaced 3 times ($33) to be sure it wasn't just some moisture in the engine. (Also $43 gasket set, and $32 for intake gasket which I will have to replace all of)

He forgot to put a bolt in the valve cover gasket and left a bolt hanging out of the exhaust manifold.

THE POINT
My neighbor is thinking he might not have tightened the Head bolts enough. Is there any chance I might be able to tighten the head bolts the rest of the way or will the HG have probably been blown out if this is the problem. Is it even worth trying? Or should I just get a new gasket set.

Also would I be able to siphon the oil off the top of the bottles I saved and run it just long enough to check if the gasket is blown or will it have antifreeze in it (even though the water seperates) and if so would this still be possible or just a bad idea?

Lesson learned, no-one touches my truck from now on. At least a learned a LOT.

 

It is *possible* that retorquing the head bolts could stop the leak. That's assuming it hasn't blown the head gasket, or the intake isn't where the leak is occuring.
Very doubtful that the oil will seperate from the water fully, particularly with antifreeze added to the equation. Water alone will seperate eventually, or even boil off after a while. Antifreeze won't.
It's common for a small amount of water to form in the oil when a vehicle is driven very little, or only for short trips. It is from condesation. Running it for a while will heat the oil up enough to boil it away.
New oil is a cheap option, compared to what can happen with water/AF mixed into the old stuff. There's always the option to use a gallon jug of the cheap "house" brand oil from a parts store or walmart. Having the engine a quart low on oil won't hurt it, if it's not driven hard. After having had water/AF mixing with the oil, you're going to want to change it pretty soon anyways, as you will flush more out when it gets started up. That stuff can puddle up in the darnedest places.......

 

I ran it for 20 minutes with 5 quarts and it seemed ok outside of burning off fluids that spilled. Pulled dipstick and saw milk. Drained engine, changed filter (water when plug was barely loose). Poured oil into both valve covers to force water out. Ran for about 5 minutes same result, same response except I pulled the valve covers and and put an old sock on a BBQ skewer (round side) and sopped up as much as I could (wasn't much in there- 2 small puddles). Ran more extra oil through, then refilled.

It was rediculous how obvious it was when pulling the drain plug that almost pure water started leaking before I saw oil come out.

Thanks for the heads up, I was hoping I could use the old junk just to see if the gasket was jacked but, yeah, I'm just gonna do it right and not cut corners. I'll just get a new gasket set too and start from scratch, don't wanna waste another intake gasket.

Just noticed
?

I had no mixing of fluids before this change, what else could have gone wrong.

 

Unless the engine a 351M/400, there is a water passage across the front of the intake. If the intake gasket is leaking, water can drain into the lifter valley.
You didn't give an engine size, but the reference to "heads" would indicate a V6 or V8, and the 351M/400 is the only "V" engine that has a dry intake.
You also didn't state the year model, and the 351M/400 was only used 80/81, and *maybe* early 82. So, I took a WAG.....

 

My bad, yeah I have the outcast, 1980 F350-400z.

 

Ok, so the odds were not in my favor.....
This info does rule out the potential for an intake gasket to allowing coolant into the oil. Pretty much leaves the head gasket(s), head(s) or block as the main suspects. It's also *possible* that the front "cover" (plate, in this case) gasket is leaking, allowing coolant to enter the oil pan thru the timing chain area.

 

These things?



This is the wrong set for my truck but the pic works (mine takes the pan).

I think there was a hole on the top of the head that had a bunch of RTV in it, we cleaned it out, don't think it was filled on the other head.

I'll check it out but I'm still thinking he dinged the gasket. There was one point where he lifted the head off to rest and the main water jacket hole (entrance to head) on the head gasket was leaning a good inch off the block.

Edit: Also the #5 spark plug had oil on it- the only one that was wet, though it wasn't milky. This is just under that spot.

Edit2: I also don't think the block because I didn't have this problem before changing the head gasket. And the heads were fluxed/cleaned and passed.

 

The 351M/400 does use a metal "pan" type intake gasket, since there's no coolant that flows the intake.

I'd bet either the gasket is damaged, or the bolts weren't torqued correctly. Not only is there a specific torque number to reach, usually in steps, but also a specific pattern in which the bolts must be torqued down.

 

10/4

My neighbor thought the bolts may not be torqued right and the guy wants to come back and retorque them (he was aware of the sequence and I had the book) but I was afraid and mechanic at work told me that the pressure of the engine probably blew the head gasket out if that was the problem.

I never moved the truck BTW, this was all in the driveway.

 

its pretty standard fare to retorque head bolts after a few cycles to make sure they're still torqued correctly. heat cycles can affect them. but, normally the oil is good. I know the feeling, and it sucks to have to redo the job, but it sounds like you need to pull the heads again. I've reused HGs on demo cars and such, though I wouldn't recommend it for the long haul. if the HG was hanging over the edge and pinched, its probably shot. pulling it it should be obvious where the fault is. also, make sure the deck surface is perfectly clean.

You mentioned the heads were fluxed and cleaned, did you have them decked? decked heads on an undecked block will leak every time. the engine and heads seat to each other, and if there is enough of a difference, there will actually be a gap between the block and heads, no matter how well you do the HG install

 

No, they said they didn't and I didn't see any signs of resurfacing. I'll check again, but at $36 for the pair I'm sure they didn't. All they said was that they weren't warped and they held pressure when tested.

I did have to send one back in because they forgot to tap out 2 exhaust bolts that broke off, I'm hoping they didn't do anything then (I didn't really look it over because I already had when they first came in). But again, they only charged me $30 for the tapping- I'm sure they would have noted the extra work.

Edit: also I'm sure we got the heads on the right side because one of the Cylinder Head Dowel Pins was stuck in the block and the other one I forgot to take out of the head, but they returned it. The other side had both pins in the block still. Unless of course they cleaned one, then stuck the dowl from the dirty head into the clean one.... I'll see if they can find out. Is there any other way to be sure?

I'm thinking I can also check some spots on the exhaust manifold may line up with some corrosion/?? spots on the exhaust side of the head. One was pretty rough.