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Also posted this in the Inline Six forums, but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask here too.
I've got a 300ci in my '66 and just noticed the milkshake sludge in the top of the valve cover indicating a water oil mix somewhere. Any suggestions where to check out? I've got a leak of some kind at the fuel pump, but I haven't begun digging in on that yet. Initial thought is oil, but there may be some fuel or water in there too. Do I need to check the head? I had a 6.0l powerstroke that had this issue and it was because one of the heads was cracked. Is that a failure point here? There's not a lot to this motor so I imagine there can only be so many things to check.
Open the radiator cap and check if you have oil in the radiator fluid there. Also pull the dipstick and check it for the milkshake look to the lower crankcase. Typically once a leak starts the milkshake spreads through the engine and it make it hard to know where it originated. Usually either cracked head or cracked block.
Yeah, so water is getting into the oil but oil is not getting into the water. Not a lot of options at this point. If you want to try to save anything that you have you'll have to disassemble it and have the head and block each pressure tested separately if you can't find the crack visually. You wouldn't want to keep driving it or things will probably get worse. Time for repairs or replacement it sounds like from here.
Well that blows considering this is my only operable vehicle currently. Alright. Would that mess also be caused by overfilled oil? Or would it just look more foamy and less white nasty?
There was a little at the very top of the dipstick and nothing in the radiator
I don't know if this would help but I have used this stuff in the past when I had water getting into my oil and it actually worked really well. Drove the car for a number of years and never had the issue again. It might work for you....maybe worth a shot before you go the major repair route. Nothing to loose except $15 if it doesn't work.
You have the telltale signs of water or anti-freeze in the oil. I've never seen an overfill condition where it looked like that. Milkshake, like you said. Odds are probably head. There is a chance it is the head gasket. If the head gasket failed between an oil passage and a water passage between the head and block. At least that wouldn't require too much - clean the block out good and replace the head gasket. I'd also replace the oil again fairly quickly after that to clean it out as best as possible.
But, you'll have to pull the head to find out if it might be the gasket. Can be tough to tell if the gasket gets messed up in the process but sometimes there are signs where it happened.
On my last truck it had a cracked head for a while before I got around to fixing it (I was ignorant of the effects at the time). Within a year I had several bearings go and destroy the whole engine. Not a fine time. I've got a head gasket arriving tomorrow. I'll be draining the fluids today and tearing the motor down so I'm ready to rebuild tomorrow.
I don't know if this would help but I have used this stuff in the past when I had water getting into my oil and it actually worked really well. Drove the car for a number of years and never had the issue again. It might work for you....maybe worth a shot before you go the major repair route. Nothing to loose except $15 if it doesn't work.
There is also a similar product called blue devil. It muxes with antifreeze so there is no need to flush the cooling system first. I have had a good success rate with that as long as it isn't trying to blow the cap off the rad because of combustion gasses in the cooling system.
Good luck, Dan
Are you loosing antifreeze? If you don't pressure test the engine you're just guessing. A pressure tester free from AutoZone will st least point you what direction to go.
I think I have lost some antifreeze, unsure where though. Moved a hose last night and lost some there so that could've been it. Just drained the oil and it looked clean all the way through. Pulled valve cover again and barely see a hint of the milkshake looking gunk. Seems like that K-Seal worked like it's supposed to (Thanks 66w352). I'm planning on replacing the gasket on the fuel pump (been leaking for a while, I'm having fuel starvation issues now so I'll start there and then move on to the carb) and leaving everything else as is.
How do you use the truck? If it is used for mostly short trips you can get that milkshake looking film internally because the engine does not run long enough to drive off condensation via evaporation. Make sure your breather is clean to ensure vapor has a passage out when engine is running.
