antifreeze in my oil

G

gmp30

Registered User
I had recently changed my head gaskets but when I put the vehicle back together it ended up being worse than what it was before, it had filled up with antifreeze. Are there any tests that can be performed to find out how antifreeze is getting into my engine. I have already tried putting air into the cylinders with the intake manifold off to see if I can see any air coming out but I have had no luck. Does anyone think that it may be the front timing-waterpump cover that is causing me this problem.
Thanks for any replies

1990 XR-7
73000 miles
 
If you didn't have your heads checked while they were off then one of them could be cracked or warped. A compression check might be a good place to start, kinda a pain in the butt on an SC though.
 
An I/R test could be done to check for HC in the cooling system.
Anything over 20ppm is a good indication of head or head gasket failure.(hard to do at home)

Is the car missfiring? If so you could locate wich hole is missing, remove that plug an check for coolant on the spark plug or in the cylinder.
 
I did have my heads sent to a shop and had them cleaned, milled, and pressure checked and had new valve seals put in them, When I first started the vehicle it ran rough for a minute but then ran fine it was blowing quite a bite of white smoke at first, so when i finally thought it was okay i took it for a ride and it started running hot and when i pulled over i noticed air bubbles coming up through the resevoir tank just like before i did all this work.
 
Did you drain the oil and flush clean oil through the engine after the heads were installed?

Did you run the car until t-stat opened, shut car of let cool, bleed air out of radiator, refill coolant?

These all should have been peformed before driving the car. It's a good idea to get as much of the air out of the cooling jackets as possable.
 
yes I did use new oil when i put the vehicle back together, and i let it run for maybe 20 minutes till i thought most of the air was gone then i drove it and it started running hot so i pulled over and added antifreeze twice when it was running hot. then i get home and notice alot of antifreeze in the oil. i don't know what the @uck..
 
Did you use thread sealer on your head bolts? Ive heard that if you do not do this then coolant can get into the oil. In the service manual im using the change the HG now said to do so.
 
I was thinking before that you where supposed to seal the bolts, but after looking through the 91 Factory Service Manual, It doesn't say anything about sealing the head bolts. It does say that for the lower intake bolts though. Which manual are you using (If it's a haynes or a chilton, burn it and buy a Helms or used Ford manual off of eBay, the Haynes I have is worthless).
 
Hi, the oil and coolant can mix when you have a really bad timing cover gasket leak as the coolant passages are venerable and they are very close to the timing chain area(thin aluminum-1/4 ").This is a very common problem and repairing as soon as possible would be a good idea.You can usually tell if they are leaking because the external leak will be noticeable.You should also clean out your coolant recovery bottle as well as possible so you can monitor any mixing of the two fluids.Just another opinion.Good luck with it.
 
my friend who's a mechanic also suggested that it may be the front timing cover and not the head gaskets. maybe i'll do the whole job over again and see what happens. Do you guys think that i should send out the heads again.

1990 XR-7
73,000 miles
 
If it were me , I would just check the head surfaces for straightness and go from there.You wouldn't want to remove any more material or raise the compression any more for that matter either.It would be uncommon for one of the heads to be cracked.The gaskets should tell the tale if you do take the heads off again anyway.Also check carefully around the coolant passages on the intake manifold and heads to be sure that coolant isn't escaping and entering the valley there.
 
I have already removed the intake manifold gaskets to see if that was the problem but it was not , at this time I have the valve covers off along with the pushrods and rockers. A friend of mine is going to do a pressure check to see if we can see a drop of pressure or to see if any antifreeze for some reason comes through the head. I have a good friend that has been a mechanic at the dealer for 20 years who is helping me with this and even he is dumbfounded by this problem.
He seems to maybe believe that it's the timing chain cover, again we don't know.

So I have been getting different opinions on whether you have to use thread sealer on the head bolts, does anyone know if you do or do not, for a fact.

Thanks again for the replies

1990 XR-7
73,000 miles
 
well...

I am debating the same thing as of right now, what i know for fact is that on the reg. 3.8L's you HAVE to use sealer becuase the head bolts do break into the water jackets. I do not beleive you do on the SC though after some non-scientific testing.
 
test

pull out plugs check for water,,and compression if no waterand compress is good probably got to be some where else,, drain oil leave plug off fill with water, if it drains out oil pan remove front cover look for signs of leak,, if this looks good remove valve covers look for water at head bolts,, if still nothing , now for the bad stuff ive had a 3.8 with a cracked cylinder before, looks good until pressurized, how underside of lower intake? look for cracks or pin holes. good luck Im out of sugestions for now, hard to diagnos on line.
 
Thank you very much for all your tips and information, i will relay all this to my mechanic so that he may investigate, I hope that we can come up with something. We are going to take another look at it on tuesday.

1990 XR-7
73,000 miles
 
The short bolts use teflon pipe sealent and you lube the rest with oil.
I hope you used new bolts, keeping in mind that the SC's use TTY or Torq To Yield bolts.
 
I know that on the non SC's there isn't any sealer required. I did the HG's on my 91 Base almost a year ago, no sealent, no leaks. I've read and reread the factory service manual and have yuet to find anything that says sealent is required. The only bolts that it does say need sealent are the intake manifold bolts for an SC.
 
Yes I did use new thread bolts but unfortunaltley I did not use any thread sealant.What is the sealant supposed to do ,keep the bolts tight or keep antifreeze from seeping through.

1990XR-7
93.000 miles
 
Well the sealent is used to prevent coolant from damaging the treads. i do not believe that coolant could leak past these theads and get into the oil without also showing an external leak. remember these are the outer short bolts that use sealent.

The problem also could be at the intake,timing cover.
also if you could give me any more info it would help.
Like when the car got hot, did it push coolant out of the over flow? did it heat up fast? was all coolant (that was lost) get lost internaly?
have you been able to pressure test the cooling system yet?
Last thing i want to happen is you doing this job all over again for nothing:(
 
When the vehicle got hot it did not push any coolant out of the overflow tank. I just saw small bubbles bubbling in the tank.When the vehicle started to run hot after 5 miles I pulled over and added more antifreeze, but when I opened the radiator cap the coolant temp cooled off after the pressure was released.Tommorow I will be pressure testing the coolant system to see if I can find anything. I presently have the valve covers removed along with the pushrods and the rockers. I will pressure test the system with all these compnents off to see if maybe a leak is seen somewhere. If I decide to go ahead with the removal of the heads can I reuse the new headbolts I had installed or do I have to buy new ones. I only drove the vehcile about 14 miles after I originaly completed the job.

Thanks again for any repplies

1990 XR-7
73,000 miles
 
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