I put 100 miles on my rebuilt motor, including an early break in involving several 30-50mph runs WOT in 3rd as advised by Haynes + these guys http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

I noticed a little bit of smoke at initial start up but it seemed to go away and for those first 100 miles there was nothing in terms of smoke visible behind me when sticking my head out the window to look.

Well I pulled the valve cover, adjusted the valves, and changed the oil + filter and now I am blowing white smoke which will NOT go away after getting the motor up to temp, but yet it is not a LOT of smoke, just enough to make a bit of cloud while stationary.

Have not driven it any distance after changing oil/filter, just started and idled/rev'd in place for a few mins.

Morning after, checked the dipstick... has watery contamination on it.

Opened the oil cap, looks like a darker brown than the oil I put in (Rotella T conventional 15w-40 for breaking in).

Now am VERY concerned that I have a HG issue or somethign else letting water into the crankcase/combustion chambers.

Also something I noticed is coolant leaking at two hose connections one on the firewall and one on the top radiator hose, had to tighten the clamps a little to get that to stop. Was not leaking during the first 100 miles.

Figure a cyl pressure test is next to do but will not get to do it until I am back home in a couple days.

So am I screwed or what. Is there ANY way removing the valve cover could have buggered this up?

 

Did you replace the timing cover? It maybe that your timing chain wore through the timing cover and it is still leaking coolant into the system causing the blown head gasket symptoms.

 

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...effort-193885/

List of parts in there. I built it from the ground up. Engnbldr sourced parts including gaskets. Block was decked, honed. It was not my original block though, machine shop killed that one.

 

I don't know the specifics on the decking, I actually do not have a good knowledge of the condition of the block I had due to it being an exchange from my original block which was ruined by the same machine shop. I will explode with rage if the block turns out to have a problem after all I've gone through with that _apparently reputable_ machine shop... I would actually prefer it be my mistake on something like a gasket at this stage.

Will call Ted after doing some more diagnostics; need to run a compression test. Also will drain the oil that is in it now (and has only been in for a few minutes of idling) into a clear clean container to look for water/oil separation to confirm the degree of the problem.

Have heard that an insufficiently tightened intake mani can cause this too? I did replace all bolts ont he intake mani-block interface w/ studs, aside from that super long one, that is.

Also one thing I always wondered about; why does the top bolt on the oil pump require sealant? I did use a thread sealant but now realize it might not be the anaerobic type that is required... does that bolt possibly enter a water passage and require sealing for this reason, to stop allowing water entering the oil pump? Still I doubt if that was true that it would be letting enough water through based on how much I saw on the dipstick.

We will see, wish me luck.

Oh, is it possible to remove the head w/o pulling the motor? I had a hard enough time taking the valve cover off due to those bloody heater lines going into the firewall... Maybe I can just unbolt off the mounts and lift/shunt foward the motor, flexing the tranny mount to get an extra inch of room... I hope so... It's going to snow soon and I need 4WD.

 

Crazy question... could a blockage on the water pipe that leads from the head to the firewall heater intake cause the water pump to force water through a gasket, or cause a head gasket failure by doing the same? I RTV'd a pipe that I missed a gasket on... I was careful not to get much RTV near the hole but it occurs to me some could have squished in there and setup... but still it would not likely have FILLED the hole... Hmm just a thought.

 

head can ABSOLUTELY be removed w/o pulling the engine.

see my thread below.

as OLHARLEY asked, was the timing cover / guides checked and replaced??.....see my mess from the chain.

 

ok, now i read your rebuild and saw your pics.NICE!

is it possibe you are not torqued enough or is it possible you need / needed a spacer due to machining?

 

Wow, that is a really good point.

I torqued down to 80lb/ft, as spec'd by ARP for the stud kit I converted to. Thank christ I did that... should make pulling the head a lot easier.

I used the ARP lube so they specified 80lb/ft for that stuff, they spec a higher torque for using motor oil on the top and bottom threads of the studs.

 

You know I just recalled, I remember seeing the machine shop guy banging in the pins with a mallet. Definitely they were not "sized"... . I should have realized that adn checked the pin height... well, I guess we will see as at this point I see no alternative but to pull everything off the block to check.

 

Thanks will try that if the compression test fails. Or might just yank the intake side mani and check it out with my eyes

Hey I am reading a lot about use of RTV in ADDITION to the paper style gaskets. I did not use anything in addition to the gaskets, except for some high tack gasket location/sealant stuff for a couple that were a pain to locate (e.g., rear main seal, timing cover side gaskets.) Is that wrong?

I did put a very light bead of RTV on the timing cover vs block and vs head seams and main seal cover vs block seams. If there wasn't enough put in there, could it be leaking up from the water pump through those seams into the head?... still the amount of smoke and water-in-oil suggests a decent leak.

 

Well here is hoping its an INTAKE gasket issue, and the compression test shows good #s all round...

Question: If that ends up being the case, because I have had water in the oil, are my bearings shot now? What about wrist pin bushings? Con rod bearings? ARRGGG!! I have 4x4 and I don't think these can be replaced w/o pulling the damn block out again... don't think the pan can come off w/o disassem front end

 

nothing is shot that fast from some coolant in the oil ...

 

i would highly doubt damage on the lower end unless it was hydro locked, which it was not. And , likewise, you did not run or abuse this engine in that state, so I would worry very little about the lower end. And you also haven't left it sitting like that for a year behind the shed, so I would worry little about corrosion.

my opinion.

 

And you haven't let it sit inside a shed breaking cam gears and hitting it with hammers ...

haha ...

 

nice.

hate you.

 

Ok i'm done in this thread, i'll only torture you Toy in your own personal thread, no reason to seperate my efforts

 

I guess the plot is thickening...

Compression test yields 180, 175, 175, 178 psi on cyls 1-4 respectively. Am I correct that this means there is NOT a head gasket problem? My next step should be to pull the intake runners and check the intake to head interface gasket, I presume?

Plugs are badly fouled! Does this look like oil??

 

seems like your compression is perfect.

your problem is coming from either intake or exhaust.

 

Exhaust? How is that introducing water into the oil...

I am guessing intake at this stage. Here is a pic of the valve area. This oil is only a few minutes "old", already turning into coffee.

 

pardon a stupid question, but is there really water in there?

i'll show you water! OMG!

that looks like totally transparent oil.