The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Engine Oil turns white

So here is the situation.
Oil is milky white
Full pressure 235
40 lbs oil pressure on the gauge
Sat in a heated shop for a year
Started and drove it home a few months ago
put in some sea foam and Changed oil, it came out black, drained out some sludge from the pan
Did a second sea foam sea foam treatment about a month later, some in the gas, full can in the crankcase
Anti freeze is green
change oil again
Ran it today, oil had turned milky white
Have had a couple good rain storms lately

Is it possible to have cracked something internally and not cross contaminate with the radiator?
I am hoping it is condensation or a water leak from outside. Or could I still have sea foam in the system affecting the oil.

Engine started and ran great, could probably use a rocker shaft clean out.

sure sounds like water in the oil, although I can't imagine condensation bad enough to affect more than just under the valve cover - did you drain the pan to get an overall look?

Bill

Sounds like what happened to me. Full pressure 235 it started, ran fine and waited while I removed the many pounds of rust. After 1 year it started and was fine...then the water in the oil. Mine was a head gasket. Pulled the head, had it magnafluxed, checked for flat and true, And it was good. New head gasket and it has been good ever since. Why did it leak? I will probably never know. My leak was bad enough to raise the oil level on the dipstick after about 10 minutes running, I had 2 extra quarts in the pan. All water. Never happier to have not put antifreeze in an engine in my life. Still a habit from when I was just too broke to waste that stuff. Test with water, run with antifreeze. My best guess would be improper head bolt torque and sequence. I have not used "Seafoam" so no opinion there. Pull the pan and clean and dry it as best you can. Pull the head if you think the leak is at the head gasket. Get help with the head, it is heavy. Good a time to clean rockers, shaft and whatever you find. Keep everything in its' proper place. There several different rockers, so don't mix them. Pull the pushrods and keep them in order. I used a board with holes drilled for the parts. Labeled with a permanent marker to keep me straight.

Sounds like coolant in oil, most likely a head gasket issue.pull the spark plugs and the one that is the cleanest will indicate the offending cylinder. But with that you may or may not see white exhaust. Another and more probable cause would be a coolant leak in head gasket from a coolant passage across to a oil return passage. A cracked head or block, would do that as well as a warped head but it would have to be an extremely bad warp.pressure test the cooling system and if it wont build and hold 12-15 psi then you have a serious problem.

Wow someone snuck in a reply while I was typing in mine! Yep to what he posted. Dont leave coolant contaminated oil in the eng long it attackes the coating on bearings, ie rods mains and cam brgs. Have fun.

you said it is milky white but when you drained it was black, it can't be both. Where are you seeing the milky white?

Is the oil showing over the full line on the dipstick?

I haven't done anything since my first post. To clarify, after I drove it back home, the oil was black when I drained it. Since it has been sitting in my driveway and after the seafoam drill, it gets milky white. The radiator had fluid, but I will look more closely at that and the oil level. Looks like a compression check and a pressure test are needed.

where are you seeing the milky white? the dipstick? Although I don't see it in this weather, these engines when not driven long enough to evaporate the moisture out of them, often get condensation that makes the area around the filler hole on the valve cover get all milky white. and the dipstick gets condensation just above the level of the oil. Now that might not be it at all. But it is something to think about. Drain the oil again, and see what it looks like now. Personally I would leave the seafoam out of my engine.

I went out and checked it again.
Pulled the dipstick, oil level was almost perfect maybe a little high. Oil was clear, not surprising because I have only run it at idle for a month or so, otherwise it sits.

Started the engine, the milky white started to flow at the rockers, the oil at the dipstick started to turn milky white.

Did a dry compression check.
#1=130
#2=135
#3=170, then 140 then 150 then 135 then 140
#4=130
#5=130
#6=135

It looked like there was some oil blowing out the plug hole in #3.

The water in the radiator stayed about the same level, maybe little lower, haven't done a pressure test yet.

I don't think it is just condensation, looks like the water settled to the bottom overnight and I stirred things up by running it this morning.

Usually oil will stay off color once water has been well mixed in, but the easy check is to let it sit over night then with the nose of the truck up hill(or jacked up) loosen the drain plug enough to start dribbling. If there is water it will come out first.
CAUTION the difference between dribbling and falling out is less than 1 turn.

I can do this easily. It is already on a slight incline.

Just did this, I got about a pint of antifreeze/water. Looks like I need to pull the head and hope for a head gasket problem.

Did have a problem like that one one of my trucks. Found it was rain water leaking both thru the hood seam down onto valve cover and endering thru valve cover air vents AND water going thru air scoop drain hose down onto valve cover and entering also thru valve cover vents. May help. I redirected the air scoop drain hose and leave a 2X4 on the valve cover to deflect rain water until ready to drive it.

I pulled the head and it looks like a leaking head gasket. Not a major blowout, but a leakage around #3. I took the head to a machine shop and they will check the surfaces for warpage and the head for cracks. They will look at the manifold surface too and surface the manifold as well. I had a lot of leakage there.

I thought of water running in too, but when I did the careful drain trick, it came out green, so I pulled the head. Actually, this will fix a couple issues that needed work and I will be better off in the end.