Head gasket bad?????

Mike Combs

Registered User
I'm sorry to put a Chevy question up, but I figure it is a generic problem and you Ford nuts might be able to help.
My brother has been complaining about intermitent low oil pressure for the past week in his Full-size 1991 PU with a 4.3l V6. It stabilizes at 30lbs, but drops almost to zero intermittently. It has burned oil slowly for the past couple years so I thought it was either low oil or a bad gauge connection.

I pulled the dipstick to find a corroded engine oil dip stick. It looked to have maybe a drop of oil at the bottom of the dipstick and a trace of water(or coolant) going halfway up the stick. I checked the engine oil right after driving it home and found that the engine oil was up to the full mark if I didn't let the engine sit at all.

To me:
Currosion= bad head gasket
Low oil pressure= bad oil pump or low oil

The problem I see is if the head gasket is bad, why isn't their a solid trace of coolant high on the engine oil dipstick?? And why is the oil higher on the dipstick if I don't let the engine oil settle??


It was too late for me to drain the oil today to check for coolant, so I put up the post because I'm really worrying about it.
 
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