Water In My Oil. Never A Good Sign.

[YukonJack]

I recently corrected a carb problem that was making my 47 Plymouth run very rich. After correcting the carb problem I drained the oil. At first the oil was normal, then the last minute it came out clear. At first I thought this was excess fuel in the oil because it was clear and not green like anti freeze. I added fresh oil and ran the engine a few times, weather in Chicago prevented me from driving it. Checked the oil last week and it looked a little milky. Checked the breather cap and it had a little milky residue in it. I pulled the spark plugs and they were black from the previously corrected carb problem, but no signs of coolant on them. Could this be a blown head gasket? How would the head gasket allow coolant into the oil without getting into the cylinders and showing some sign on the spark plugs? I haven't done a compression test yet but I did pressurize my cooling system to 7lbs and it very slowly lost some pressure, lost 1lb in about a minute. Engine runs about 185-190 degrees. I added a little coolant but originally attributed this to a slight leak at the thermostat housing. Wouldn't coolant show up on the dip stick as a green liquid at a higher level than the oil level? Any ideas?  

Edited March 7, 2015 by YukonJack

[Don Coatney]

Could possibly be a condensation issue. Have you brought the engine up to full operating temperature such as a 30-40 mile trip? Starting the engine and letting it run for just a few minutes will cause condensation in the crank case especially at this time of the year.

[55 Fargo]

I recently corrected a carb problem that was making my 47 Plymouth run very rich. After correcting the carb problem I drained the oil. At first the oil was normal, then the last minute it came out clear. At first I thought this was excess fuel in the oil because it was clear and not green like anti freeze. I added fresh oil and ran the engine a few times, weather in Chicago prevented me from driving it. Checked the oil last week and it looked a little milky. Checked the breather cap and it had a little milky residue in it. I pulled the spark plugs and they were black from the previously corrected carb problem, but no signs of coolant on them. Could this be a blown head gasket? How would the head gasket allow coolant into the oil without getting into the cylinders and showing some sign on the spark plugs? I haven't done a compression test yet but I did pressurize my cooling system to 7lbs and it very slowly lost some pressure, lost 1lb in about a minute. Engine runs about 185-190 degrees. I added a little coolant but originally attributed this to a slight leak at the thermostat housing. Wouldn't coolant show up on the dip stick as a green liquid at a higher level than the oil level? Any ideas?  

The appearance of a tan colored milky substance is from running this engine in the cold weather without a real true warm up driving the car and allowing the engine oil to heat up.

That is quite normal as the other poster pointed out.

What does the dip stick say, do you have a ton of antifreeze in the oil pan, has your coolant level dropped in the rad.

How did you do a pressure test on a non pressure rad, if infact yours is stock?

Head gasket, always possible yours is leaking allowing some coolant into the oil , do a compression test and see if you have any issues, and do a vacuum test too, that can show a bad head gasket.

Black carboned sparkplugs, yup you be idling or driving around the block, they look much different if you are driving the car with engine load for a sustained period, with engine good and warm and burning fuel correctly.

What temp is your T/stat, as 185-190 in winter, sitting idling sounds a bit warm unless you are running a hotter t/stat to begin with.

Please post your findings and solutions when you get there....

Edited March 7, 2015 by Fargos-Go-Far

[Dave72dt]

Oil sits on top of water and coolant but if you've churned it into a milkshake it can be anywhere. With an internal leak, after sitting at least overnight and cracking the drain plug, water or coolant should be the first liquid out.

[Tom Skinner]

Take out your plugs and read them. While you are at it smell them. Do they have a faint burnt anti-freeze smell to them?

I had that problem, and re-torque my head bolts. They were as low as 50ft lbs for the front 2 cylinders.

Once they were down to 70 ft lbs the problem went away.

Remember Torque only a warm engine with cast iron head. a cold one if the head is aluminum.

The Chrysler Gods smiled on me and my head gasket held the new torque and solved the problem.

Tom