HELP Please - new motor - water in oil???

Hay there guys and gals, need some help.

Ran the motor (1972 Chevy 350) in the '49 for the first time today and after only one minute of her running I have white milky oil!!! The motor is a fresh rebuild with zero run time. Where should I look to find the problem, head gasket? intake? cracked block perhaps?

I am not the one who built the motor and I have no contact with the guy who built it.

Thanks for any advise/help you can give.

I am so depressed now, all the wind has been taken from my sail...

 

Do you have, or have access to a coolant pressure tester?

If so, use it to pressurize the coolant system and watch the gauge. If it's steady. You may have just had some condensation from sitting. If it drops then you have a problem.

 

I agree with Elpolacko....if it pressure checks OK then you should be breaking in the cam. By the time you get the cam broke in any condensation will be boiled off. Another easy one to check on a fresh build is for the proper type/adequate amount of sealant on the cylinder head bolt threads.

 

Drain the oil, and change the oil and oil filter. Start er up again, to see if it was not just condensation. If it is the milky oil problem again, then you know that there is interchange of enginely fluids. Maybe then add some block sealer to the radiator. Man, it could be a few things causing this. I once had a leaky intake manifold gasket cause this problems....

 

I would drain the oil, and the afc. recheck the head bolts. torque them in the correct sequence. the antifreeze is a killer to the bearings in a motor. I would also check the plugs before you go any further. Don't run the engine until you get the old oil out.

 

No antifreeze in the system yet. Pure water for start-up and leak tests.

Off to buy a coolant pressure tester.

Thanks guys.

I will report back.

 

Just rent one from Autozone. Or not, they are handy tools to have.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in my 30+ years of building engines, I have never seen condensation provide enough moisture to turn the oil white. I will bet money he has an engine that has an internal colant leak...and it probably will not be easy to find. Sorry to hear about your engine woes. I can relate....bummer!

 

I tend to agree more with Corndog...I once had an engine that was rebuilt by professional builder who sleeved a cylinder and the sleeve did not seal...GOOD LUCK!!!

 

I disagee I had one motor Fresh rebuild Oil was milky white upon start up .That was 18 years ago.Still have motor and installing it no.3 car. I think mine was from when block was washed.I also drop a tube of that silver stopleak in every motor I rebuild.

 

I agree. You can hope, but there's water getting in there, not condensation.

 

It would have to sit a long time with an oil cap off for it to have that much condensation. I have had motors sit for years with no water build up. Small block chevy right? re-torque your intake manifold bolts, or better yet, take it off and put new ones on. The front of the manifold is a water p***age and if it slipped when ***embled, can leak water under pressure. Also, check the torque on your head bolts, builder could have just snugged them up and not finished the job.

 

I use RTV for my intake manifolds, never had a problem with leaks. My guess without looking at it would be its probably the intake manifold leaking or your head bolts didn't get sealed properly. Which has been previously said x10.

Its probably alot cheaper to check everything now, than to rebuild the motor again tomorrow. Also, if someone else built your motor call them first. They know where they cut corners better than anyone .

 

I bought a new crate motor from gm had 9 lbs of oil pressure,they said bad pump changed pump the same, installed high volume had correct oil pressure 4000 mile blew head gasket piece of **** gm said sorry not installed in original type vehicle no warrenty p***ed 1year

 

I would change the intake gaskets before I settled on a blown head gasket, or cracked head or cylinder...

 

It could also be the pre lube that the builder used on the bearings. If they used lubri-plate then that will turn the oil white pretty quickly.
Brian

 

sounds like an intake gasket issue. Does it have a miss? Any smoke from the tail pipe?

 

Head Bolts into water jacket..did you seal them before you installed the heads?..did you install the heads? if not check there 1st
2nd check intake gaskets .

and as advised..do a coolant leak test..I got a feeling this aint condensation unless you live in the swamp..or that engine has gone thru extreme temperature fluxuations alot lately

Oh drain that oil and pull the filter..change em both please dont use a Fram

breaking in a cam with contaminated oil is a gamble at best

 

First off I want to say thank you for all the replies, the HAMB rocks!!!

Just bought a coolant pressure tester and tested - held at 15 psi and slowly came down a very, very, very small amount from 15 psi. Pumped to 25 and developed a leak on the lower rad hose.

I am going to pull intake and reseal - check head bolt torque - I did not install the heads.

Also will drain oil and replace filter. Hope for the best.

ARG! One step forward 4 back!

 

hey man check the studs on the rocker arms too, i had a motor leak a CRAZY amount of water from there!!!

 

Yeh, that is what I was trying to convey in my above post.

 

When you pull the intake look close at the sealing ports at the ends. Probably the gasket slipped or was over tightened and split the material. Good luck

 

....another good point.