ok this is on a 350. I pulled my valve covers to put new gaskets in, and then I found that my oil is very milky. like water had gotten into it. in not sure whether to just go ahead and change the gaskets or is there a way to determine if its the gasket or the head?
The heads can be pressure checked at a machine shop for leaks. Make sure you clean the block real good and inspect for cracks there.
Depends. If its just some condensation on the inside of the valve cover I don't think I'd worry about it. What kind of crankcase venting are you using? Short trips not allow it to get hot enough,long enough to boil the moisture away. PCV's will help if you're running just breathers. If you do have a crack/gasket issue get a tester from a local parts house and follow the directions. It will show if you have combustion g***es in your cooling system. What heads are you running? Some of the later lightweight castings are pretty notorious for cracking around the exhaust valve seats (especially the center two). We need some more info. What does the oil look like on the dipstick?
Two other things to do: 1. Check the radiator cap to see if it is milky rusty color. That usually says exhaust in the cooling system. You can also check water being spit out the exhaust pipes after warming up for awhile. 2. Take the car to a radiator shop and have the tech run a block test. This will tell you if you have exhaust in the cooling system. The milky oily stuff in the valve cover usually accompanies the rusty radiator cap, along with exhaust in coolant.
Either way, the heads would have to come off. I would do the pressure check first. Is it overheating? Have you needed to top off the radiator at all? Any white smoke from the exhaust pipe? It could be anything from a little water from rain, or pressure washing the engine, to a leaking intake gasket, bad water pump gasket, to an actual head or gasket problem. A serious problem usually shows itself alot more than just some condensation. You can pull the spark plugs and look at them. If they all look the same color, etc, I don't think you have a big problem. i worked in a shop that would sell a head gasket or engine job for a little condensation on the oil cap. I thought that was plain wrong.
Here's my symptoms. Ive been losing coolant big loss in power exhaust spits out a bit of water oil is like a milkshake The motor did overheat quite badly once. Ideas? I was planning on just pulling the motor, i'd rather do the heads with the motor out plus we're having to re-wire the car and it'd be nice to have an open engine compt. And if it comes down to it, maybe just drop in another 350.
Looks like youre going to be pulling the heads. That is a little more than condensation. FWIW, my wife cooked up her 77 impala until it shut off. I towed it home, changed the oil, replaced the water pump that was leaking, and it is still good to this day. Just because it got hot, does not necessarily kill it. But the symptoms you provided are looking like a head gasket.
Thats what i thought. Granted I'm no master mechanic, just a kid who's wanting to learn lol. I guess I'll pull the motor, pull the heads and everything, check my motor, put my other oil pan on and clean the thing up. Thanks guys. The way i see it, a head gasket set is $20 and then a few other misc gskets. , and the only other thing involved is my time. So if i end up needing a new motor, im only out the price of the gaskets
if you want to learn, then learn to do it right. pull the heads. look for EVIDENCE of a blown head gasket. (yeah, its probably blown, but look for WHERE its blown and what a blown head gasket looks like). figure out what cylinder (s) were affected. who knows, maybe the rings got washed out.... send the heads out for a pressure check. drain your oil. remove your oil filter. open up your oil filter and look for traces of metal. drop your pan and check for loose rods. FLUSH your motor!!! when you put it back together, dont use cheap *** auto zone parts. use a quality head gasket like FELPRO
The Jalopy Journal
