Coolant in the oil - AGAIN!

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MB43

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I was winterizing the Duster last week, opened up the radiator to drain it and very little coolant came out, maybe a gallon.

So I pulled the dipstick, already knowing what I was gonna find... chocolate milk. The oil pan was full of coolant again. I opened up the oil pan and drained it, I got about half oil and half water.

The last time I went to start the car it wouldn't turn over at all, I thought the battery was dead so I charged it for a few hours. Then I went to start it and it was very hard to crank, but finally did and then started up normally. I'm wondering if the combustion chambers were full of water and that's why it wouldn't crank.

Last time I had this problem it was the intake gaskets. Around the ports on the intake it looks like the gasket is wet, so I'm assuming it's the same thing. The heads were milled, and when I first put the intake on I had a hard time getting it to seal. Finally I had to use silicone instead of the cork on the ends and that did the trick, or so I thought.

I really wasn't planning on doing much to the motor this winter, but it looks like I've got to pull it apart again.

Any comments or suggestions here?
 
Since no one is responding.

Mikel did you pull any of the plugs to see which cylinder or cylinders had the water in them?
I'm not a super mechanic but I would think this would tell you where your problem is starting from so you could isolate the investigation.
 
Bummer. Thought you had that problem licked last year.

So are you just going to pull the heads off again, or pull the whole motor and go through everything?
 
I had this exact problem this summer, or a very similar one, although on a big block. I chased a water leak from roughly July on. First I was getting water droplets in the valve cover breathers. Thought it was suspicious. Then when adjusting the valves every week i noticed milk in the valve covers only. More suspicious. Then milky oil. A dose of heavy duty block sealer cured it for a couple of weeks then a cylinder filled with water and the motor would not budge. Pulled the plugs turned the motor over and water poured out of number 3. Changed the head gaskets with more block sealer. Went less than 1 trip to the track before water was showing in the oil again. Got home and had another different cylinder fill with water. All done. Pulled the motor and tore it down. Pressure checked the block and found 3 cylinders with pin holes. Porosity. Holes big enough to poke a pin in and through if you pushed hard enough, which i did. I'm not saying this is happening to you but it did happen to me this summer. Very frustrating. I hope you find your problem and it is minor.
 
moparracer said:
I had this exact problem this summer, or a very similar one, although on a big block. I chased a water leak from roughly July on. First I was getting water droplets in the valve cover breathers. Thought it was suspicious. Then when adjusting the valves every week i noticed milk in the valve covers only. More suspicious. Then milky oil. A dose of heavy duty block sealer cured it for a couple of weeks then a cylinder filled with water and the motor would not budge. Pulled the plugs turned the motor over and water poured out of number 3. Changed the head gaskets with more block sealer. Went less than 1 trip to the track before water was showing in the oil again. Got home and had another different cylinder fill with water. All done. Pulled the motor and tore it down. Pressure checked the block and found 3 cylinders with pin holes. Porosity. Holes big enough to poke a pin in and through if you pushed hard enough, which i did. I'm not saying this is happening to you but it did happen to me this summer. Very frustrating. I hope you find your problem and it is minor.
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I'm not listening to you, because I'm not going to have that problem. Or so I hope.

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Tony - I'll pull the plugs and see if there's anything in there. I've already drailed the coolant & oil, so I don't know if they'll be anything in there. One thing to note is that I re-filled the radiator with antifreeze for the winter and ran the water pump for a little while, and it looks like the coolant level hasn't dropped at all.

GotDart - I'm gonna pull the intake off first and see what it looks like. If it looks like that's where it was leaking from I'm gonna leave it at that. Otherwise I'll pull the heads (again) and see how that looks, and if I can't find it I guess I'm gonna pull the motor out and tear it down to see what the real deal is.

The problem is I told the wife I wasn't gonna spend any money on the car this winter... :sad2:
 
onehellofadart said:
Your telling me this is the first time you lied to your wife about the car?
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No, but she's on to me after last year and will be watching what I'm doing... :wack:
 
How much did you have shaved off the heads, because if it's to much you have to mill the intake to sit lower as the heads are lower now. And the big indicator of your problem was the intake having a sealing problem. Most likely your water crossover is leaking straight into the lifter galley.
 
64dartwagon said:
How much did you have shaved off the heads, because if it's to much you have to mill the intake to sit lower as the heads are lower now. And the big indicator of your problem was the intake having a sealing problem. Most likely your water crossover is leaking straight into the lifter galley.
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I didn't have the heads milled, they were done before I bought them. The previous owner didn't know how much they had been cut, either.

They are 'X' heads (894) with 64cc chambers. Stock they were 70-72, I think.

From what I remember it was 1cc for every .005 milled off, does that sound right? If that's the case these were milled .030-.040. And I don't think the intake face was milled at all, just the deck.
 
Yeah that will do it as it will lower and bring in the ports, so most likely your intake is having water and vacuum issues. I would bring it to a good machinist to get it figured out. Unless you know how and where to measure it.
 
64dartwagon said:
Yeah that will do it as it will lower and bring in the ports, so most likely your intake is having water and vacuum issues. I would bring it to a good machinist to get it figured out. Unless you know how and where to measure it.
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Bring what to a machinist? The heads? The whole motor?
 
I am looking for the info I have as to double check my memory. But from my recolection you leave the heads on the motor and measure from the meeting point of the head and block at the edges up to the bolt holes. And compare that to the intake measuring the mating piece. Measure both distance and angle to compare. It works best with bolts in the holes to give you somethin to measure off of it.

If you have any good machinists around there, I'd stop by and ask them and they might be able to show you. As that is how I learned how. Lot's of measurements, and finding angles.

Good luck.
 
Don't try and crank it with the cylinders filled with liquid either oil or water as it will hydro lock and could Fudge up your motor, I.E.= bend rods, blow gaskets, blow a hole in a cylinder. Been there seen that.
 
Why not tow the car to a machinest or motor man to check if you don't want to pull the engine. If the problem lies in the intake you don't need to pull the engine.
 
talk to the machinist and explain what you know as to the motor and what is going on. find out from him what he recomends you to do and or what to bring to him. that would probably be the best thing for you to do at this point.
 
I'd first verify if you're getting coolant in the oil through the cylinders/heads. Check all of your spark plugs. You could pressurize the cooling system and remove the spark plugs to see if there is any coolant seapage. Another possibility is a rotted timing chain cover allowing coolant into the front timing chain area. Jim
 
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