Good day,

I'm running an 85 351W with a stock 2 barrell manifold and carb. I have no real complaints about how the engine runs. I've been slowly losing some rad fluid. I always have some mositure in the oil during the winter as I do mostly short trips. I've changed the oil this spring, and the problem has come back.

I was fairly certain that I had found all the small slow leaks in the coolant system, I'm still losing fluid. The spark plug back on the drivers side, as always been a real mild white when I pull it. I'm getting alot of blow by from the PCV, but it appears to be largely water that sits in my breather.

I've done compression tests and the motor runs from about 115 to 125 PSI of pressure, not great, but within spec ? I'm not sure of the mileage on the motor, but I do understand that the engine is going to require some work. Although the truck is a daily driver, its also a beater. I have looked at the price of a rebuilt engine, but its not something I have the money for.

I was hoping to solve the majority of the problems, leaking OIL, leaking coolant and blow by with a new set of gaskets. I will not be able to remove the motor from the vehicle, so I really do not want to tempt the oil pan gasket. I'm curious as to what brands of gaskets you would recommend ? I strongly suspect that a head gasket somewhere is leaking ?

There is also what appears to be oil that sits on top of the water pump ? What would it likely be and where would that leak come from ? Can you replace the gasket on the timing chain with out replacing the oil pan gasket ?

Thank you for any help you can provide ?

Monza

 

Ok first off: The oil on the top of the watter pump is from Ither a leaking head gasket, or the front end Intake gasket. Simple fix. Now as for the watter in the oil (very bad thing). Do you get white puffs from the exhaust or maybe even water in the exhaust? If yes then this can cause your exhaust to rust out. I would go to the parts store and ask them how much a top end rebuild kit would cost you. You could take it apart and do it yourself if you have the time and tools. And it is fairly cheap. Donot use any type of pour in selants, like oil leak sealers that you pour into your engine, they will gunk stuff up and cause you even worse problems in the future. Also do a leakdown on each cylender and post the results. Hope this helps.

 

Be careful about water dripping from your exhaust pipe because it doesn't in itself mean that anything is wrong. Usually exhast pipes will sweat on the inside and the moisture gets blown out the tail pipe when it goes from cold to hot. (Similar to a beer can when taken out of the 'fridge) Water in your oil and stuff like that is a problem though. I would suspect a leaky head gasket, or maybe even warped heads or block, though this may not be the case--just my opinion. As racerdave said, try to post some leakdown test results. I'm no expert by any means, but some of the other guys in here can surely help you out. Oh, yeah, and white exhaust smoke is a bad thing, just a little water dripping out can pretty much be disregarded in my experience though. I'm not trying to step on any toes, just help out the best I can.