I drove it up to my Mom's house and back yesterday, about 100 miles. This morning I looked at the dipstick and found milkiness and what looks like beads of water along the dipstick. Here are some pics.




Hard to see but there are little beads of water.






I got the the leakdown tester this week, so that's my next step when I have a chance.

 

Okay, I am officially baffled now. The beads of water have me confused.

If you had a coolant leak, I'd expect the oil to be completely milky, from churning while driving. Instead, we see mostly free water. This makes me think it's a condensation problem, as opposed to a coolant leak.

Definitely run the pressure test on the cooling system. That will confirm or rule out a coolant leak. But if you've got a condensation problem, here are a few things you can try in the meantime.

1) Gamble $3 on a new PCV valve. There's a possibility the existing one isn't operating on schedule, and thus not scavenging any condensation from the crankcase.

2) After replacing the PCV valve, check the oil immediately after a long drive. I'd say at least 20 miles, to be sure the engine is fully warm and the PCV system has completely scavenged any condensation present. If you see condensation then, that would point towards a coolant leak. Checking hours later like you did could indicate atmospheric condensation.

3) Is the cooling system running at the proper temperature? If cold, you'd get lots of condensation. Make sure the temperature is warm enough.

4) The fuel smell is gone, right?

 

There is still a slight fuel smell, which I attribute to leftover oil/fuel mix. I was planning on running this oil only about 500 miles before changing it again.

Now, the weather yesterday was miserable, heavy rain all day and 100% humidity most of the day and all night. So do you think it is condensation or maybe even water from the road somehow making ingress?

I only have the factory temperature gauge, which reads at the low end of "NORMAL", between the N and O.

I replaced the PCV valve last summer, but it's cheap to try another one.

And the tester I just bought is not a coolant pressure tester, it's a cylinder leakdown tester.

 

A leakdown tester will let you inflate (pressurize) each cylinder and check for leaks.

 

I don't know. Just making an educated guess, trying to rule out some possibilities. I think checking the dipstick for condensation right after a long drive will help. That will establish a baseline for comparison after the engine has cooled overnight.

Oh, glad you mentioned that. There are two basic tests you can do to check the integrity of the cooling system. Each has its advantages and shortcomings. It's important to understand exactly what is and isn't being tested with each method.

I'll gladly bore you to tears with verbose details, but to keep the two methods separate, let's assign easily remembered and non-judgemental names to each, in the spirit of inclusiveness. For my preferred method, a simple and efficient process that gives clear, concise results, let's call that 'right'. For Chris' preferred method, a drawn-out laborious process that can give misleading results, let's call that 'wrong'.

For the 'right' method, you manually pressurize the cooling system with a special pump that connects to the radiator neck. You then watch a gauge to see if the system will hold that pressure. If there's a leak, the pressure will drop off.

For the 'wrong' method, you inject compressed air into each cylinder one at a time. You have to position the piston at TDC on the compression stroke. If you have a leak from the combustion chamber into the cooling system, you will see bubbles at the radiator neck.

The 'right' method has the advantage of quickly checking the entire cooling system, but unless you see an external leak, it won't tell you exactly where it is.

The 'wrong' method has the advantage of pinpointing which cylinder is at fault. However, it's only effective at finding leaks from the combustion chamber. For example, if the water jacket had a crack that didn't extend into the combustion chamber, the 'wrong' test won't find it.

All seriousness aside, the 'right' and 'wrong' tests are complementary means to find the same information. I'd run both tests but suggest doing the 'right' test first, for a broader overview. If that indicates a problem, you can humor Chris and run the 'wrong' test to pinpoint the exact location.

 

I just get impressed with some of the bubbles I've seen.

 

Well I don't have a tester for the "right" test at the moment .

So I'll probably go "wrong" first

 

Got an AutoZone near you? They have a free tool loaner program:

Loan-A-Tool | AutoZone.com

 

Could that "milk shake & water drops" on the stick be what was stuck inside the oil tube and when you pulled the dip stick out it pulled the shake & drops out?
Dave ----

 

I haven't read the whole thread, but what thermostat is being run? If not a 190ish then the engine may not get warm enough in the winter to boil off condensation.

And, then on to the "right" vs "wrong" testing. I had a 351W in the '82 that would push coolant out of the radiator and overflow the recovery bottle if you drove faster than 45 MPH. But, it passed the "right" test. Apparently the 14 or so psi in that test combined with a cold engine wouldn't show the problem. But it failed the "wrong" test, possibly due to having 100 psi in the cylinders. So, I agree they are complimentary tests.

 

I don't have any official tester-type of tools, nothing more advanced than a fitting that allows me to connect the air compressor hose to a spark plug hole, I don't measure rate of loss or percentages or any of that. My pure use of it - if I put air in the cylinder and bubbles come up the radiator, there's a problem there.

Sure, there could be some other failure modes where you won't see bubbles and instead you'll hear air leaking into adjacent cylinders or into the crankcase (for example) but now you've got a good idea as to the source of the problem.

 

Dave,

Hopefully this doesn't scare you too much, but it seems we often think alike. I awoke early this morning, entered DeepPonderMode(tm), and did a little research. Just as I'm about to post my earth-shattering theory and preparing to pat myself on the back, I see you've beat me to the punch! Well, if I can't beat you with timing, I'll go back to sleep and make up for it later with word count...

Specifically, I wonder about the seal between the dipstick and tube. With a property functioning PCV system (and not too much blowby), the crankcase should be under a slight vacuum. Normally fresh air is drawn in through the mesh filter at the edge of the air cleaner housing. However, especially if this filter was restricted, air could be drawn in through a dipstick that wasn't fully sealed. That by itself could explain the beads of moisture collected there, especially if driven in heavy rain.

And then as Dave has suggested, you could have old sludge collected in the dipstick tube. This could make you think you've got fresh moisture buildup taking place, when in fact it's old stuff.

I'm not sure what kind of seal Ford has between the dipstick and dipstick tube, but there should be something. Take a look inside the tube, too, and see if any crud has accumulated. Cleaning it out would be easy enough if you can remove the dipstick tube. Don't try cleaning it in place, as most of the crud would fall into the crankcase.

I'd suggest testing the PCV system as described at either of these links. Try the test before and after replacing the PCV valve, to see if there's any change:

Tech Tip: Don't 'Blow By' PCV Inspections

https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/H...PCV-valve-test

The only issue I have with those articles is the rattle test. A clogged valve won't rattle, so for this style of valve, that is conclusive proof of a bad valve. However, if the valve does rattle, that's no proof it's good, so don't let that throw you.

Back to the dipstick seal, I'd even take it up a couple of notches for troubleshooting.
​​​After making sure the dipstick tube is clean inside, reinstall the dipstick. Put a plastic bag over the end, and seal it to the tube with a rubber band. Run the engine for at least 20 minutes or so. If the bag collapses, that means the dipstick seal is bad and it would have been letting ambient air sneak in while driving. That alone could have explained the moisture seen there. I'd also try driving that way and put some miles on it. See if the moisture returns when you know you've got a good seal on the dipstick.

 

Some times I scare myself that I come up with something like that


He did post the temp gauge is between N&O of normal so might be running too cold to boil off any water/condensate in the motor.


To clean the dip stick tube I would use air. Remove the oil fill cap and use high PSI air and blow it into the pan. What running the oil filter should trap any dirt that is pushed to the pan and when it get up to temp should boil off any water that is pushed down.
After the air cleaning run the stick in & out a few times to make sure it is clean.


Oh wait (scared my self again) small bore rifle cleaning kit, say 22 gauge with the cleaning pads push it down and back up till cleanish as I don't think you will get "eat off" clean.
Dave ----

 

All good ideas. I have a couple days off after today so I'll do some work on it. Of course it's supposed to rain again tomorrow. This is the wettest winter I've seen in my 14 years in AZ.

 

I forgot to suggest one more thing. If you're planning to change the PCV valve, replace the breather filter, too. This is that foam piece at the outer edge inside the air cleaner housing. If restricted, this will reduce the ability of the PCV system to scavenge moisture and other yuckiness from the crankcase.