The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Water in #1 cylinder

About 5 years ago I bought a sweet running 235 that I pulled from a 55 first series pickup. Owner wanted V/8 power. I drained the radiator and discarded hoses when I pulled it but did not drain the block hoping that It had antifreeze in it. I pulled the spark plugs and squirted in a lot of mystery oil for storage. About 4 years later I tried to turn over the motor with the fan blade and found it to be stuck. I remove the starter an broke it loose with a crow bar. It wasn't stuck too tight, but after about one revolution, It belched out of cylinder #1 about a cup of water, followed by the mystery oil that was underneath. Question is: Should I even consider rebuilding this engine or even pulling the head to check out the damage. My neighbor suggested than the water left in the block might have breached a head gasket and I might get by with only a head gasket replacement. Hate to rebuild an engine that ran so good. Any opinions or experience with ice damage?

Do an air pressure test. Loosen the adjustment on both valves on cyl. #1, turn the crankshaft so the piston is at the bottom of the stroke, and put air pressure into the cylinder. If there's a major crack or a blown cylinder wall, you'll get a big volume of air escaping from the radiator hose fittings and no pressure buildup. If it pressurizes, the engine might be rebuildable. Either way, I'd consider it to be a "rebuildable core" at best. Sometimes the expensive lessons are the most lasting ones.
Jerry

Heed what Jerry says -- A lifetime of experience there.

In more than 20 years of running this forum, we've never had *anyone* report back after ignoring advice like that... It's either "Yeah, I took your advice and rebuilt the engine. Man, you should have seen the bearings/crank journals/cylinder walls/cam lobs/etc -- they were trashed! Thanks for the advice" or we get crickets.

My guess is that no one wants to admit "Yeah you told me to rebuild it but I went ahead and ran it anyway ... and now the engine is a bunch of little pieces of scrap metal. Just like you warned me."


Happy rebuilding!

Well, thanks for the advice but I have already pulled the head and noticed the valves in #1 cylinder to be wet with water, covered with a brownish dirt colored corrosion, and probably stuck. All other cylinders had black carbon residue. I scraped about 1/4 inch of gray dirt colored crud off the top of the piston. At this point, I suspect a crack in the head or maybe a mouse had crawled in through the exhaust .

Now that it turns over use, this moment to do a compression test to detect other problems that suggest a rebuild.

The head's off- - - - -I'll bet he gets zero compression!
Jerry