Car eats coolant, milky oil in VC

[CaptainHenreh]

Ok. Please, someone tell me it's my head gasket.

Here's the story.

My exhaust cam broke about 3 weeks ago, just stopped running getting on the interstate, and we thought it was the timing chain. We take off the valve cover, notice the chocolate milk colored oil in the valve cover. That's when we notice that the exhaust cam is broken. ****.

So I buy a "new" pair of cams, we install them, and then decide that, while we have all this crap off, we might as well do my TC guides.

So we drop the pan, unbolt the oil pickuip, and take the timing covers off, taking great care not to damage the head gasket coming out of the engine. (which, frankly, I think is retarded) So we put everything back together (after checking one of my bearings) fill it with coolant and POS wal-mart oil.

Start it up, add more coolant, no problem.Huzzah! My car works.

Now the problems:One, It doesnt' want to start at first in the cold. I've got a 1991 intake cam and a 1993 exhaust cam. (because I didn't feel like possibly screwing up my timing by chainging the intake cam, though I probably should have. But it starts once you crank it, so yeah. Whatever.

Two,It eats coolant. I fill up the tank, and it will be fine for a few days, and then all of the sudden BAM! It'll be pratically empty. My heat gauge also sometimes (not all the time) climbs up and gets hot, then I beat on it a little and it just DROPS. This is usally an indication I'm low on coolant. I then fill it with coolant, and it's all good.

I haven't taken my VC off yet, but I took off my oil cap, and the same milky oil was there. Also, when I drained my oil, there was definitely some milky stuff there, and we're pretty sure it's coolant in my oil. Now, I didn't notice this milky oil when I changed my oil but I switched to Synthetic about a month and a half before this happened, and I hadn't changed it until after the car broke down.(if that makes any sense)

Now, I have an FSM on CD (I do now, anyway. I didn't when I did the repairs) and I have a full garage with lots of shiney tools. I also have a spare KA that's supposed to work, but I don't know for sure. I was going to rebuild it for turbo, drop that in, and use this KA for a doorstop.

I have an 1991 Coupe, With god knows how many miles because I sure as hell don't. The ODO didn't work when I got it, and the ODO reading didn't match the title. So who knows? I don't really care, though, the body's in pretty good shape.

Anyway, what I'd like to hear is this:

"No worries mate, it sounds like your head gasket is leaking and you'll just need to change that. it'll suck, but you'll be alright."

I do not want to hear this:

"You're screwed, Captain. You'd better blow the dust off of that other KA and abandon your turbo plans because your block/head is cracked and you=teh fuxxord."

I don't blow any white smoke, but is that always a for sure sign?

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

[CaptainHenreh]

I also just noticed this thread

I had a leaking problem initially on my thermostat elbow, so we took it off and put it back on better, but could this be why I have coolant in my oil? My coolant is clean, btw. No problems there, no oil in coolant.

There is also this little metal o-ring thing on the passenger side (slackside) lower timing cover, I hope I'm making myself clear. I'm not sure if I put it back in right (it fell out when we took the TC off) I put it in flush with the block.

Thanks for your time.

[C-Kwik]

well before you make any conclusions, you should try to figure out where the coolant is making it's way into the oil from. I think there might be a tool that you attach in place of your radiator cap to apply pressure to the system with the car off. You can then look and listen for leaks. I gotta wonder why your cam broke. Those things are pretty tough to break period, let alone during during normal operation.

[IvoryJ30t]

by driving the car with coolant in the oil, you have probably scorched the bearings.

you can most likely see bubbles in the coolant if it is a headgasket problem. since the car is not smoking out the exhaust, its a little weird. it may be a cracked head/block.

that motor is definately not getting a turbo without a thorough inspection, and most likely a rebuild/replacement.

[kahoots240]

sounds like a head gasket to me. when you took the head offyou didnt put a new gasket on? maybe when the cam broke itcould've cracked the head. Swap the head from your other motor.

[IvoryJ30t]

he never said he took the head off.

[kahoots240]

my bad. I thought he did when he said that he wasnt trying to damage the head gasket coming out of the engine.

[CaptainHenreh]

Grr, computer ate my first post.

Firstly, I never took the head off. The valves seemed ok after the cam breaking, so we didn't fool with it. However, part of the head gasket sticks out over the timing cover, which is what I was referring to.

I never had any intention of turboing the engine currently in my car. My intention was to build and turbo the one sitting most squarely in the middle of my garage, taking up an inordinate amount of room.

Now, first thing in the morning, right after class, I intend to go to Autozone and find one of those things to pressurize my coolant system. Barring that, I'm going to drive it to operating temperature, and then as quickly as possible jack up the engine, drop the pan, and see what I can see.

I'm also going to see if there's any kind of coolant condensed inside my cylinders tomorrow morning. Maybe something involving some paper towels, I don't know. Maybe my hard start problem and my coolant problem are related?

I'm really hoping it's a cracked head, if not the gasket. A cracked block would piss me off hard core.

Any other ideas?

Also: Regarding the broken cam. Apparently, this is a quasi common problem. The upper Timing Chain's upper guide (the eliminated one) apparently puts stress on the chain when it fails, causing the cam to snap a the sprocket, where the large oil channel is. I've seen many used heads on car-part or in junkyards with broken exhaust cams.

[DAEDALUS]

Highly unlikely your cooling system will hold pressure...it's pretty certain coolant is getting into the oil somehow. Forgive my ignorance, but is your engine not an interference type? Trying to figure how you could not have bent a valve when the cam broke. All we can do is guess at this point. Usually it's the head gasket, but the broken cam worries me. A lot of kinetic energy had to be absorbed quickly when it broke, and maybe the head or block cracked. It didn't shear inside a bearing did it...that would be bad. When you go down to Autozone, see if they have a compression tester too, and check your compression.

[CaptainHenreh]

I thought it was really strange that I didn't bend a valve either. But, my plugs weren't smashed, and engine compression did blow my finger off of the spark plug well. Not exactly scientific, but suited us that it held compression. I have a compression tester someplace, just have to run it down.

Also, you have to realize, that when the cam broke, the cam gear kept turning, independent of the cam itself. I'll take some pictures of my broken cam so you can see what I mean.

And, as i mentioned, we checked all of the cam bearings (they were fine) and one of my main engine bearings (the front one) and there were no signs of premature wear, so we threw 'em back in.

Still puzzled. I'm going to change my oil today, to see what I can see there, and maybe send some off to get tested. I remember seeing a place on the web that would test it for 20 bucks....anyone know what I'm talking about?

[DAEDALUS]

Absolutely. http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

Don't put your finger in a spark plug hole to test for compression. I've heard stories from my shop teacher (19 year ASE master tech) about guys who did that. The finger gets sucked in, and every now and then they have to remove the head and cut it apart.

[CaptainHenreh]

Well, I didn't put my finger in it, my dad did, and it was more "over" rather than "in". Still, I agree. Keep digits away from moving parts.

Anybody have any other ideas? I'm going to unbolt my "new" transmission from my "new" engine tonight, just in case we have to yank the bad engine and put in the "new" one.

I really don't want to, though.

*sigh*