[waltman]

...but water is not going into the oil!
Anyone ever hear of this? How is this possible?

Could my water pump that appears to not work as good as it should have something to do with it?

It sat through the winter with water sitting in the block (system was about 1/2 full) and 2 frost plugs popped out of the PS with the head on that side already cracked when I got the vehicle. Is it possible the other head cracked or the block is cracked somewhere? The #4 cylinder (the side with original head) is low but still at 125 psi and holds it.

This has me stumped. I'm going to proceed this weekend with a tear down as I may drop in the other 4 litre I have but if a fix is possible with a minimal cost and effort, it would be nice to keep the motor...but mostly I need to know why this is happening for future reference...it's really bugging me.

Thanks

 

[grumpyguy]

93 and 94 had a problem of the lower intake manifold bolts over the #5 cylinder loosening causing a loss of coolant and oil. I've had this problem with my Ranger several times. I assumed it is a Ranger, Try therangerstation.com. Good luck.

 

[waltman]

It's a 91 Explorer actually and I just replaced the PS head so everything is freshly torqued. However, someone from another site told me that if the lower intake gasket is improperly sealed it can create a suction during the cooling down process and causing my problem. Since i plan on removing the plenum anyways, I may as well remove the intake as well and if it IS the gasket, it should be apparent.

Thanks grumpyguy



I used to like the 4 litre...at least until now when i actually worked on one for the first time. What a piss poor design.

 

[steve604]

you can have a bad head gasket that lets exhaust and oil into the cooling parts but still have clean oil. it just depends on which part of the gasket is leaking to which part or which part of the head or block is cracked.

i had this happen on a vw many years ago. i drove it for about six months trying to figure out what was going on. flush the coolant, coolant black, flush the coolant, coolant black.

i figured it out one day when it was hard to start and then coolant blew out of the tailpipe.

 

[HMFI]

Same thing on my Perkins 4 cyl in my Lincoln welder. Head gasket.

 

[Tmax]

...but water is not going into the oil!
Anyone ever hear of this?

Thanks

yes i heard about it tonight

 

[grumpyguy]

My truck is a 93 so I have the typical loosening of the bolt over the #5. It caused a loss of coolant into the cylinder which was burn off during driving. The second time the shop didn't put enough/any rtv at the front and rear of the valley bottom. It may seem like I've had alot of problems with my truck but bear in mind that mine is a 93 that I've owned since 95 and have put 200,000 plus k on it. The 4,oh's are a good strong dependable motors. I've never heard much about cracked heads or blocks but gaskets seems to be as common as any vehicle.

 

[waltman]

Well I'm leaning towards the intake gasket since when I finished torquing everything, I noticed the gasket sticking up by about 1/8" (which I trimmed flush to the head) which normally would not be an issue, but with these gaskets having that rubber bead around the ports a little misalignment could cause this issue, from what I understand. If it does turn out to be a head or a head gasket, I will just drop the other motor in., I don't have another $260+ to blow on the gasket kit, even the cost of the intake, valve covers and plenum will likely set me back more than I want to spend.

 

[steve604]

i can't see your problem being the intake gasket because that would just cause coolant to get into the intake and get burned off through the exhaust, or fill up a cylinder and hydrolock it.

 

[frank]

You're sure it isn't trans oil from an in rad trans cooler?
Those things don't have any kind of engine oil cooler/warmer do they?

Seems like I've seen a lot of those engines with oil in the water and vis versa over the years, but I've never owned one, so I've never given it much thought.

 

[busguy75]

i've seen it a few times with diesel engines where a oil cooler leaked into the system but usually contaminates both coolant and oil. The only way i can see it would be a cracked head at a water jacket. as the engine heats up the crack closes and as the engine cools and creates a vacuum the crack opens and draws oil into the cooling system

 

[waltman]

i can't see your problem being the intake gasket because that would just cause coolant to get into the intake and get burned off through the exhaust, or fill up a cylinder and hydrolock it.

Not necessarily, but I'll find out by Saturday.

You're sure it isn't trans oil from an in rad trans cooler?
Those things don't have any kind of engine oil cooler/warmer do they?

Seems like I've seen a lot of those engines with oil in the water and vis versa over the years, but I've never owned one, so I've never given it much thought.

It's a standard and no it has no oil cooler warmer...that I know of.

i've seen it a few times with diesel engines where a oil cooler leaked into the system but usually contaminates both coolant and oil. The only way i can see it would be a cracked head at a water jacket. as the engine heats up the crack closes and as the engine cools and creates a vacuum the crack opens and draws oil into the cooling system

I hope it's just the gasket so I can have this drivable for Monday

 

[frank]

Okay, thinking about a bit:
Did you just get the truck? If so is it possible that the PO tried to deal with the cracked head by stuffing the cooling system with bars leak or something? That crap hangs around in cooling systems and makes your antifreeze brown and oily looking for a long time.
If it is engine oil I'd be very concerned about a crack in the block. busguy mentioned one possible way for oil to get into coolant and not vis versa.
Another way is if you have a crack between a water jacket and a pressurized oil passage. Oil will go to the water jacket because it has more pressure than the cooling system. (Assuming your engine runs with 20-60 psi oil pressure.)
If it was a leak between a water jacket and an oil drain back It would be more likely that you'd have coolant in the oil and not oil in the coolant.

Anyhow I hope it's something to do with the intake gasket. Good luck with it.

PS, you might want to take a quick look and be sure that someone didn't put the oil cooler/ oil filter adaptor off a 5 litre on there. If they did it'll have coolant hoses running to the oil filter area.

 

[waltman]

Well just to update and to give you back yard mechanics a lesson to learn at my expense...I inspected the gasket and saw nothing to indicate that was the problem so i removed the DS head and saw not only was the head cracked, but so was the block from a bolt hole to water jackets on either side of it. I should have checked both heads especially with the funky torque procedures but because money is tight tried to save money...instead it is costing me double what it would have.

Thanks for the input guys.