changed head gasket, still milky oil

[barnesjtsl]

79 2000, blew the head gasket 5 months ago. Has been sitting over the winter. Had the head resurfaced. Drained the milky oil. Changed the head gasket, added new oil. Put on a new timing belt.

Started it up let it run for about 10 minutes and the new oil is milky? And water is dripping from the tailpipe?

Could that gasket have blown again in 10 minutes of running? Am I dealing with some condensation issues from letting it sit over the wet Oregon winter? Is the block cracked?

Any thoughts?

jb

[So Cal Mark]

merely draining the oil won't get all of the muck out of the pan. Does it show symptoms of a leaking gasket? Did you have the head checked for flatness and cracks?

[barnesjtsl]

I had the head resurfaced by a very good machine shop. Don't know if they checked it for cracks. I probably should have asked them to.

I am going through the process of getting all the bubbles out of the cooling system. It seems to be holding water.

Will I need to change the oil multiple times to get all the gunk out?

Thanks for the Saturday reply.

jb

[Kevin1]

It doesn't take much water in the oil to turn it milky. Our old air cooled VW would do it just from the condensation that formed from the atmosphere. In your case I would say run it, change the oil and filter again, and see if the milky look goes away. It wouldn't surprise me if it took more than one oil change to get it all out.

[barnesjtsl]

Should I get some engine flush and run that through once?

jb

[narfire]

Perhaps you drained just the block and water /oil mix was still in the heater core...

[majicwrench]

Water from tailpipe is usually just from combustion and no worries.
How milky is it?? If it looks like milkshake, you still have something wrong. If you can see some creamy traces in oil is just left over. I do lots of head gaskets jobs and just change the oil once.
Keith

[SLOSpider]

Did you change the oil filter too? If so you may want to go ahead and drain the oil out and refill. At this point though youll still have some oil up in the cam boxes so a few changes maybe needed. There are some shops that have flush machines if you want to go that route till clean.

[barnesjtsl]

Thanks for all the responses.

I talked to a mechanic who recommended not using engine flush. He suggested draining the oil, then refilling with 1 qt automatic transmission fluid and 3 qt oil then running it for 20 minutes. Then draining and changing the oil and filter.

Worked great. After doing this, the oil was clean, no milkyness.

Thanks again everyone,

jb

[TX82FIAT]

Folks, I get why this would work for a quick clean. I think the ATF has dispersants not detergents in it. Therefore a quick 20 minutes in and out should not produce much damage if any. I've heard this mechanic quick fix method before and can not discount that it works. In fact, I know a person that swears by it and runs it in his Chevy. However, ATF is not formulated to withstand the combustion environment inside the engine. Our engines, while durable, can also be fickle. For that reason, I don't like it.

[majicwrench]

Ya, not my fav thing either. Running another change of straight engine oil thru it would likely get the same results anyway.
Keith

[So Cal Mark]

atf works pretty well for cleaning things, I wouldn't be concerned using it instead of flush but I wouldn't run it in lieu of oil for any length of time. Back in the day, this was a great way to free up stuck hydraulic lifters