water in oil after heads swapped

Looking for some info from those who have been there/done that. The issue is an 1989 318, 110k miles, with water in the oil after head swap. Started out as a blown head gasket from #7 hole that turned out to have a stuck closed intake valve and bent pushrod. Because of compression check done when truck was purchased, I know the valve was already stuck. Truck was driven about 400miles with no issues other than dead hole miss about a week earlier. The day before the blown head gasket I noticed the water was a little low and I added less than a half gallon, I thought that was odd. The next day I drove the truck, towing another car, about a mile and lost the head gasket on #7 hole. No big deal. I let it cool for an hour and drove it back the mile without the towed vehicle, coasting with engine off a third of the way. I don't believe I got it excessively hot doing that. Pulled the head (302's), found the stuck valve with cracked seat and planned to put a new head on it. Was talked into pulling other head and found cracked exhaust seat on #4, no other cracks anywhere. Replaced both heads with Victor gasket set 95-1072vr which says up to 1988. (Did not notice that earlier but can't imagine that being a problem.) Cleaned deck, did not notice anything unusual, torqued new heads, (302's), to 95lbs sequentially with 4 passes. End result, water in oil. Pulled intake and resealed, just in case, but nothing looked abnormal. With fresh oil and no water, engine runs absolutely dead smooth. (No I don't let it get hot.) When doing the swap, I took off A/C bracket and smog pump bracket which would remove tension from timing cover but I've done that before with no issues. The water is going into crankcase in less than a minute when the radiator is filled so it is a sizable leak. I realize I could have a cracked block but I've seen cast iron block/head engines run so hot they died and still run fine after they cooled down. Sometimes they smoked from cooked rings but they held water. 318's are not know to crack so I am wondering if there is anything about head gasket interchangeability between early and later heads. I'm at a loss since there was nothing extraordinary about the scenario as it played out. Should have been a simple head and gasket swap, but I've got a massive water in the oil situation. Anyone ever had this happen to them? Thanks for any comments.

Did you use embossed steel shim intake gaskets. Personally not a fan of those things. Another possibility could be that the intake vs heads angle is off. If the heads were surfaced and the angle wasn't right, the intake will be difficult if not impossible to seal. You can check this with a digital protractor.

If it's not skippin or blowin steam, I would suspect intake gaskets leakin. I think screws is on the right track.

rustyratrod said:

if it's not skippin or blowin steam, i would suspect intake gaskets leakin. I think screws is on the right track.

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all of these are good ideas BUT!
You said that you removed the a/c compressor right?

Could the coolant passage in the timing cover have a broke or cracked gasket were the cover bolt up to the block?

If so it could run coolant right down the from of the block and into the oil pan.

start by re- torquing them gasket. could you have to long of a bolt in that area that bottomed out before it got tight?( water pump bolts)

How about an update... After taking off the intake again to inspect, I discovered that the tbi intake runs water completely through its bottom, using the rear and front water passages from the heads. Alas, there was no problem there. I decided to remove the heads and look for something I did wrong. First, I checked torque on them and they were right. So off they came. I really, really looked them over but could not find anything out of the ordinary on the block or heads. I was using Victor gaskets instead of Fel Pro blue and wanted to blame them but again, nothing out of the ordinary. So there I was, annoyed and frustrated because I could not accept a cracked block, when I decided to take the water pump off since there were only three bolts still holding it on. Upon inspection I saw an 1/8" inch hole in the upper part of the timing cover behind the water pump. After poking at it with a small screwdriver I concluded that it was solid. Using an inspection mirror and flashlight I looked in the left and right block passages and saw additional 1/8 holes but couldn't get a screwdriver to them. After pulling the cover and cleaning it up a bit on the inside, I started poking at the holes but they too were solid. Crap! Since there was no problem there I continued with cleaning the cover on the outside and the inside. It was looking better but the inside block holes were real grubby. When I started scrubbing with the steel toothbrush it got grubbier and grubbier. Low and behold, the aluminum was disintegrating on the inside at the block end of the timing cover. WooHoo!! So I am now wondering if the 1/8 inch holes are a sign of aluminum disintegration and a red flag to look closer at the component. So thanks to those that responded, I appreciate the thoughts. I made this a bit longer so that it might show up in a search about corrosion, blown head gasket, cracked block, water in oil, etc. Tomorrow I will go to the Upull and find another timing cover and all should go well. Will update that all is well when finished. dan...

while you have the intake off look along the lifter galley for cracks. I had one crack from being frozen up it ran great but had coolant in the oil.

Well, finished job. Apparently a corroded timing cover is not too uncommon, as the first timing cover I pulled at the Upull was also eaten thru at the block side. Replaced cover and no more water in the oil. What a nuisance, pulled the intake twice and the heads trying to find something that wasn't there. I've never seen a corroded through timing cover but that's what happens when antifreeze is not used. I think the problem was there for some time. The original owner installed a new water pump and new radiator, probably because it had a mysterious slow leak that could not be found. I can imagine that it kept getting low on water but he wasn't able to find the leak. No wonder, it was internal. Anyway, thanks again for the responses. dan....

Thanks for the update...it's always something!

I assume the corrosion is due to acids building up in the cooling system that are not being neutralized by any additives. Diesel truck operators check for coolant acidity with test strips on a regular maintenance basis and add neutralizers if needed.

The odd thing is that I am an old school Mopar guy with big and small block experiences. I do not remember ever seeing a corroded timing cover in the block passages. The thing is, in those days it was common to run water only. The blocks got nasty but I don't remember any corrosion. The only thing I can figure is that in 1985, a 318 would only be about 15 plus years old where this truck is an '89 which makes it 25years old. Anyway, 3500 miles later and life is good. Compression went up an average of 30psi with the new heads, runs smooth, and got around 14.5mpg overall towing a Dart wagon on a tow dolly from Ca. to Fla. Not too shabby. Just wish I was smart enough to have gotten the 308 heads instead of the 302's since I had to pay the cores.