Moisture in my engine??

Got a 292 with moisture in it, not a lot and its not in the oil> You know what I mean no milkshake, The ranchero has sat a few months, like six or so. But after a few hundred miles its still there and no coolant loss??? Any ideas?

 

Is there moisture buildup or mineral deposits on the plugs? Where do you see the moisture?

 

Water drops on the dipstick, and very slight shake on the edge of the dipstick above the oil line. Car is runnin good antifreeze so the water makes no sense to me. Plugs look good, but it does run like a slug.

 

Sounds like condensation.
And if the motor doesn't get hot enough when driving,it can't evaporate.
That's why latemodels run such a high thermostat.If the coolant is 190+,
then the oil is 220 and the condensation evaporates.

 

I used to have a high mileage 350 that would do this every now and then. It scared the **** out of me the first time I saw it (the milkshake stuff) on the cap. I wiped it off and crossed my fingers and it turned out to just be condensation. I personally put 70k miles on that car and my buddy (newbie HAMBer OldCarPilot) probably has about 15-20k on it. No problems with heads, gaskets or block. Just condensation.
Keep an eye on your coolant and your oil just in case.

 

I agree with Unkl Ian, we see it all the time over here especially in the colder months, lift the valve covers & clean out all the sludge paying attention the the crancase breather system on it also, may have a gauze filter in there somewhere!
Only cure is to make sure the engine is coming up to temp & most important more frequent oil changes.

 

You might check the road draft breather and the oil fill breather. If either is clogged the breather system won't take the moisture out of the crankcase. It builds up and recondenses when the motor cools.

 

Heres a problem we have in Ohio with the temps being 65 during the day and 0 at night is that the outside ambiant temp going up and down so much that it will create condensation inside of engine or other componiant. On all of my heavy equipment i sample and send all of the oil off to the lab to be sampled. My lab freeks out as well. But they dont label it as a bad sample but an abnormal sample Its not harmfull amounts (not enough to make a milkshake).
But Tommy is right as well. I had a 235 inliner that the road dribble tube was plugged up with gunk. The way i cleaned it out and this will sound crazy it i removed it from the car and burnt it out with a little fire. Remember also I live on a big farm so a fire in the driveway not anything that the whole fire station is going to come running to. If you live in the city or suburbia someone might notice.

 

You guys are fukin too smart for me, just about everyone hit it right on. The oil was old, the bottom breather is plugged and the T-stat is like a 160 im guessin by how long it takes to warm up.