What have I done now? Transmission cooler lines do not run to the radiator now, so it's definitely engine oil. it's not running any hotter than usual and it is not smoking. Oil pressure is good.

So, what's the lead suspect and the best way to diagnose the problem.

the truck is running pretty good. what's the risk of running like this for a while?

greg

 

It pretty much has to be some from an exchange of fluids in the engine itself. Usually in the head gasket area (I've only seen it elsewhere once). Doesn't mean that the gasket is blown into the cylinder. The water in the oil will show up soon. The exchange is always both ways, just not at the same rate.

 

well it could be a blown head gasket. but if you are not getting water in the oil it could be a cracked oil passage. there is one in the heads that run right through a coolant passage i had that problem on my 360. just take a push rod and cut it down and epoxy it in there. im pretty sure you have to use a pushrod with the hole drilled through it. i cant really remember that was a while ago. im sure someone else will chime in with wat i said and get it correct. but i think im right.

 

big block ford engines by steve christ covers that on pg 5 it would seem that if it was somewere else coolant in the oil would be alot more noticable since coolant pressure remains or goes up till engine cools

 

Sorry Greg..... looks like some heads need to come off again......
Generally its a head gasket issue, like between a water and oil passage, or even worse, a cracked head....

 

So, what is the state of urgency for such a situation? Can I continue to drive it ofr a whlie, maybe do a fluid change? Or should I start tearing it down?

Kurt, you got your ears on? How's it look if I go with that .018 shim gasket this time?

 

if its not leaking into the water fast. you can drive it just fine with no problems. just flush the coolant system everynow and then. my buddy is driving his around like that right now. we just flush the system when it gets real nasty. but it dont overheat or anything if that is wat you are looking for.

 

The more I think about how much you have in the motor, and the cost of a gasket set, the less I want to talk about cross contamination.

If it were some old beater with new head gaskets I'd say re-torque the heads, run some cooling system cleaner and check for water/rust on the plugs.

 

I really doubt it's a head gasket. Check your oil. If you see any signs of water contamination, you'll need to take it apart. You probably wont though. It's probably the previously mentioned FE cracked oil passage problem. Also, like was previously mentioned, the fix is on page 5 of the Steve Christ book.

I ran an old 360 like this for, well, hundreds of thousands of miles, if you include the distance my brother drove it. It would put oil into the coolant, but it never went the other way. Wether it's a problem for you or not kind of depends on how fast it's leaking out into the coolant. If it's so fast you have to add between changes, then I'd look into getting it fixed. On the other hand, if it's like mine was and only puts maybe 1/4 quart of oil into the coolant per 3000 miles, then you probably dont have to worry about it. The excess will just go out the overflow tube.

Head gasket:
I thought I mentioned this before, but steel shim head gaskets cannot be used with aluminum heads. Greg, if you really wanted to go this route, you would need to measure the deck clearance of your pistons first, to make sure it would be safe. Then, you'd probably want to have a set of early heads like C4AE's professionally ported.

I would definately send in for a used oil analysis. This will tell you definately wether there is ANY coolant in the oil. It's only like $35 for an analysis. It's worth it for peace of mind if nothing else. Here's a link to the company I use:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

thanks for all of the info guys.

I'll try to change teh fluids and report back on what I find later this week. Maybe I'll get that shift kit installed and put the extra 50 shot of NOS in and make a track trip. Maybe I can get a low 13 second pass before I dig in.

As I said, it's running pretty good. I installed complete new seat bels this weekend and put the AC pulley back in it's blowing cold. BTW, New seat belts with the shoulder harness and retracting bels are expensive!!!

the oil in the coolant just fit in with the rest of my weekend. I got my new boat back back from the shop, as it quit moving on it's first outing. On it's 2nd outing it still would not go into reverse, and actually surged forward when I tried to back up and damaged the front of the boat on the trailer. this after hauling it about 70 miles through the hills with my stressed Jeep. I took a rock in the windshield and now my 2005 jeep has a crack in the windshield.

the toys have not been good to me lately :-(


Oh, and to top it all off, the IRS sent me a bill for $13,000 for my 2004 taxes (they are mistaken, and I intend to prove that. But, getting that letter from teh IRS is still very stressful). the wife and I have sent over 100,000 ubcks to the govt. in the last two years and they still want more for 2004 and 2005 taxes... this really blows :-(

Anyway, back to sleep for me. I gotta work tonight so I can pay for my broken toys and the dang govt.

 

Be sure to do that used oil analysis. That will tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt wether there's any coolant in the oil. Coolant in the oil can ruin your day big time.

 

Is this oil passage problem possible on the Edelbrock aluminum heads? I mean, they are different animal than stock for iron heads. Are they that close to the Ford castings?

 

The passage we're talking about is in the block. It's the one that goes up to the rockers.

 

I'd take the time and fix it. My 390 developed this problem. What you're dealing with is a pressure differential issue. The cooling system runs at 13-15 psig, the oil pressure is running 25-70 psig (with the Melling 57HV oil pump). So, most of the time the oil is forced into the water jacket instead of the other way around. Most of the time. When you shutdown the engine the cooling system remains at 13-15 psig until it cools; the oil pressure drops to zero. Now which way are things going to flow? You're going to get some coolant in the engine oil eventually. Maybe not very much but it still is going to find its way in. I didn't run my 390 very long and still the top of my heads were sort of gummy. And it makes one hell of a mess in the radiator that is hard to get clean.

On the upside, I did use the water jacket crack in the 390 as an excuse to buy a 428CJ block. Didn't I hear some talk about you wanting an aluminum 427?

 

If possible, get it fixed as soon as possible. If you have water/antifreeze in your oil, you wont get the engine lubricated as well as it needs to be and it could possibly seize. However my girlfriend's mustang had that same problem and she drove it that way for probably 1000 miles before she had the oil changed and they found antifreeze in the oil. So it can be disputed, but get it fixed just to be safe.