Cant tell if oil is mixing with my coolant.

[ratty dart 340]

Hello everyone, I recently finished some college finals and have been hard at work on my dart. I had the heads machined, just installed them with felpro 1008 head gaskets. And torqued the head bolts to 95 lb/ft. I then installed my rpm airgap intake and made sure rtv the water ports and everything from there has been very smooth.

Today I went for the first start, and got it to a point of good idle and sounded good. However, there was a coolant leak , leaking onto the starter, and I am unable to find the source. My first thought was the header bolt and a water jacket. I tightened the bolt in question(closest to firewall) and it still seems to be leaking. Small drops every 10 seconds. I don’t think it’s coming from the head.

Next, there seems to be a similar thing on the passenger side, however it seems wet between the head and block, but maybe that’s just the way the coolant traveled.

Now for the sketchy part. I did this same job a couple months back and ended up with coolant mixing with my oil via a head gasket. I had torqued the head bolts down the un-torqued them. I learned this mistake. I drained the oil which was complete milkshake. So this time around I made sure to only tighten the head gaskets one time in three increments to 95 ft lbs.

I had the car idling today and it sounding very good. Open headers though so I could only hear so much. However, I pulled the oil dipstick and it’s white… it seems to have mixed the coolant again somehow.

However, looking at the valvetrain, it seems to be just oil. With maybe a small amount of coolant( can’t quite tell)

My question is… is it possible some residual milkshake was left from last time, and that’s getting moved through the engine, or is something still wrong with the head gasket/intake.

 

[junkyardhero]

for the leak did you put sealant on the bolts that go into the water jackets on the head (the end ones)? if not, that's where i'd start on the leaks. if that's not the case have a close look at the core plugs both on the head and block.

as for the milkshake, if you only drained and didn't take additional steps to flush it all out that may just be some residual that you're seeing. the other possibility may be if your heads were machined quite a bit that they no longer match up well with the intake manifold and you have an internal leak at the coolant ports.

was there any additional work that coincided with the initial emulsification episode?

 

[George Jets]

Yep, for starters the end exhaust manifold studs need to be sealed with high temp RTV before there is any coolant in the engine.

Lots of places here where anti-freeze can be seeping at the head gaskets, especially If you used a power wire wheel cleaning the deck to get old head gasket remains off.

If you feel the head gasket Is seeping here at the lower edge, this Dyke cooling system sealer works miracles if you don't want to tear it down. Have had great luck with this for annoying little coolant leaks.

I would first think leaking coolant ports of the intake manifold seeping into the oil valley creating milky oil. Want to use RTV sealer along with the intake gaskets at the intake end coolant ports.

Change out oil and filter Again and see if it cleans up. Put a little seafoam in the oil, warm up the engine to help pick up the coolant In the oil system before changing oil.

 

[Ironracer]

What They said!^^^^^^^

 

[RustyRatRod]

Post #3 is spot on. The end bolt holes in the heads go through to the water jacket. Bolts will never, ever, EVER seal in those locations. You need to replace the bolts in the ends with the proper studs and seal them. I use high temp red RTV. It works well.

 

[Dave999]

heads machined:- OK if the dowel holes are not deep enough after machining the head, the dowels can hold the head off the block and stop you getting the right crush on the gasket.

orginal dowels not usually a problem, aftermarket replacement can be, made to suit multiple applications.

Dave

 

[ratty dart 340]

All right sounds like I have some things to try. The rtv on the end bolts is obviously my problem. However for intake, I was sure to put rtv under and above the cork/felpro gaskets, and made sure to get some in the corner in and around the water ports. I used ultra grey rtv I believe. Is there a better one I should be using? Couldn’t seem to find a definitive answer.

There was nothing else done to extract the milkshake the previous time, other than draining it..

As for the heads, the intake bolts all went in perfect and the machine shop only milled a small amount( I know small amounts can be bad, but I doubt that’s what’s happening.

And finally the is it possible that the head gaskets are ok, and coolant from the header bolts are dripping down and sliding between the block and the heads, appearing as a bad head gasket?

Thanks for the quick informative responses.

The other thought I had that might be completely wrong… I saw that sometimes moisture can build up, and takes a white-ish look rather than foamy milkshake. Here in colorado, we just had a near historic amount of rain, and I can’t help but wonder if some moisture combined with the previous milkshake is why dipstick is white.

 

[66fyssh]

Years ago I took my 1966, 273 Barracuda to a show during cold weather. It wasn't too far from the house. Next day I checked the oil and the dipstick was milky. Warmed it up and changed oil and filter. Never had another problem. Hopefully moisture is what you're seeing.

Now, the coolant leak, you'll need to find. Hopefully it's coming from the end bolts.

 

[mygasser]

if this was the first time running after the milkshake issue and it's not been cleaned through i'd say you have milky residue in the dipstick tube at least. drain again, blast some brake cleaner etc down the tube to make sure it's clear. the rockers didn't look at all milky with clean oil pooled in them. if you want to check under the inlet then pull the dizzy and you'll be able to see that end at least.

 

[ratty dart 340]

if this was the first time running after the milkshake issue and it's not been cleaned through i'd say you have milky residue in the dipstick tube at least. drain again, blast some brake cleaner etc down the tube to make sure it's clear. the rockers didn't look at all milky with clean oil pooled in them. if you want to check under the inlet then pull the dizzy and you'll be able to see that end at least.

I drained the oil and it seems to be very milky. Maybe slightly less milky than the last time. Would there be enough residue from last time in there to make all of this brand new oil so milky?



And okay I will check Dizzy and inlet.
Also the oil appears to be clean in the rocker shaft, but I put some of it on the dipstick, and it also comes out white.

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

The golden oil on top...is lightly mixed, it would be more clear 'traditional non fancy oil'.
Leaking at crossovers, residual in filter or whtvr ..or both and what you might do is..
Pressure test the system...
But you could also put a finger down at the back of the head 'near where intake meets' and feel for coolant leaking aka wet. Feel if the header gasket lip at the bottom of the header is wet. If yes then it's the end bolts like everyone's saying.

 

[mygasser]

I drained the oil and it seems to be very milky. Maybe slightly less milky than the last time. Would there be enough residue from last time in there to make all of this brand new oil so milky?



And okay I will check Dizzy and inlet.
Also the oil appears to be clean in the rocker shaft, but I put some of it on the dipstick, and it also comes out white.

when you drained it the entire oiling system and galleries were still full of milky stuff so that'll mix with the new. i've always done a couple of changes with cheapy supermarket oil to flush the crap out then fill with the good stuff. when doing the cheapy flushes empty the same filter and refit. don't need to keep fitting new ones just to flush it through. but i am tight so.....

 

[1973dust]

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, you guys are referring to the end holes in the heads for the exhaust manifolds needing to be sealed rather than the end head bolts? Just wanting to prevent me finding a new way to screw something up during a future head swap.

 

[1973dust]

Never-mind, I should have looked at the pictures in post 3 before I asked. Pretty obvious now.

 

[ratty dart 340]

Never-mind, I should have looked at the pictures in post 3 before I asked. Pretty obvious now.

Yea. That back most header bolts, and front ones too. I totally forgot to put rtv and what not.. I am really hoping that the coolant is leaking down the side and appearing as if it’s coming from the head instead of the head itself. I think once I flushed the milky oil completely out, and redo those back bolts, I’m on the straight and narrow.

 

[1973dust]

In reference to the stop-leak in post 3, I had a 318 years ago that I did a freshen-up on with no machining. After a few heat cycles it started weeping coolant at the front and rear lower head bolt on the driver's side, although I never had any coolant mixed in with the oil. I ended up putting a bottle of Barr's Stop's Leak in the radiator on the recommendation of a mechanic and never had any more trouble. Not my proudest DIY moment but sometimes you do what you have to do. I got lucky enough that it didn't even plug the radiator or heater core.