Water in oil pan

[fwi]

I was wondering why the coolant was low, now I know.
Fired the car up today it didn't want to idle, like it normally does, after I ran it for a couple of minutes I shut it off, got out and noticed a fairly large puddle of liquid under the right header collector, it was coolant coming out of the pipe.
I checked the dipstick and it showed way too much, like 2-3 inches higher than the full mark and it was obvious that there is water in there.
No leaks around the outside of the block anywhere, but I have had a hole in #4 header just about 3 inches from the head outlet.
Oh and it's a 1968 block 440.
Just wondering where I should start looking?

 

[mmissile]

Hopefully you didn't ruin the bearings while it ran.

 

[zyzzyx]

Drain the oil out of the pan, (and the coolant). leave the drain plug out. pull the plugs on the right bank. fill the radiator with water, and use a pump to pressure check the cooling system. If water comes out of the spark plug holes, it's probably a head gasketor a cracked head. If water comes out of the oil pan drain plug, then it's a cracked block. Whatever you do, don't start it again! The unknown now is are the bearings ok from the short run-time with the coolant mixed with the oil?Good luck!

 

[Cranky]

Might try putting some air on each cylinder to check which side puts bubbles in the radiator.....

 

[Bruzilla]

Definitely sounds like a crack somewhere. I know it didn't recently freeze in Las Vegas, so I'm wondering what would have caused it.

 

[gtxno1]

Z is right apply compressed air to each cylinder and watch for the bubbles to come out of the radiator before you pull it apart to identify which cylinder is giving you the problem hopefully it is just a bad head gasket leaking into the affected cylinder

 

[Cranky]

Drain the oil out of the pan, (and the coolant). leave the drain plug out. pull the plugs on the right bank. fill the radiator with water, and use a pump to pressure check the cooling system. If water comes out of the spark plug holes, it's probably a head gasketor a cracked head. If water comes out of the oil pan drain plug, then it's a cracked block. Whatever you do, don't start it again! The unknown now is are the bearings ok from the short run-time with the coolant mixed with the oil?Good luck!

If it has a split/cracked cylinder and the piston is down, water can still come out of a spark plug hole. Either way, sounds like the heads need to come off to take a look. I've seen cracks just above the lifters before too. Hopefully, it's not a cracked block.

 

[fwi]

Should I first do a compression check on that side, or will cranking it over damage the bearings?

 

[Cranky]

Should I first do a compression check on that side, or will cranking it over damage the bearings?

Is the oil milky looking? If so, chances are the bearings are already damaged. Just pulling the plugs and looking at them might tell you more than a compression check will.

 

[fwi]

Pulled the plugs, #4 looked a lot cleaner than the other 3, but basically they all look like pretty normal burn.
Yes the oil is milky looking. I am draining the oil/h2o now.
I am going to pull the head off the one side and see if I see anything.
Plugs look ok:


When I was talking the header bolts out of #2 and #8 a whole lot of coolant came out of the bolt hole:


And this came out of the oil pan (it's 10+ quarts):

Good looking rockers though:

 

[zyzzyx]

The header bolts go directly into the water jackets. No problem there. The oil/emulsified with coolant tells the story. Keep disasembling till you find it!

 

[fwi]

Thanks I didn't know the bolts went right into the cooling passages.

 

[Cranky]

#6? (the one next to #8) looks cleaner than the others plus the upper part of the threads are discolored....looks like rust? Threads do not make a perfect seal and can compression will usually push water up and and out. Did you see any sign of water stains on the head like water was leaking out? The base of the plug looks a bit corroded but so does #8. Did the engine ever want to back against the starter?

 

[khryslerkid]

#6 defalently had water in the cylinder. Water will clean all the carbon off of everything. Top of the piston, valves and the plug.

Hopefully just a head gasket...

 

[fwi]

#6 was barely hand tight. Motor always fired up easy and ran fine...... until yesterday when the trouble started. No evidence of coolant around the plugs except for the one plug being a lot cleaner.
Tuesday I will pull the head off and see what I find.
btw, they are 915 heads 1967, not that it matters.

 

[shag766]

thats a LOT of coolant in the oil and my guess is it didn't just start leaking over night. if you have some money in parts in the motor i would be pulling it and hoping for the best. sorry but i really don't see much good news with that much coolant in the oil pan. good luck.

 

[fwi]

Well the news is not so good.....hairline crack in #6 cylinder and as this engine is bored .060 over its time for a new block!:angry1:

 

[reeltime]

Well the news is not so good.....hairline crack in #6 cylinder and as this engine is bored .060 over its time for a new block!:angry1:

Just have a sleeve put in at a machine shop. Around $ 100.00,some work,some gaskets,some oil, maybe bearings. I am doing mine right
now same thing happened. More common than you would think.

 

[fwi]

The guy told me a sleeve would be pointless since it is already bored out so far, also other cylinder walls are pretty scored up.

 

[Cranky]

Shouldn't matter if it's .060 but if other cylinders are messed up too, then it would become fairly expensive to install more than a couple of sleeves.