Hey Guys, Quick Question! WATER in OIL

89RedFoxGT

New Member
Nov 2, 2006
62
0
0
jackson, TN
Hey yall, Im new here and new to the mustang world. I've went from lowerefd trucks to bagged trucks to a z71 (still got) and now I finally found me a Fox GT 5 spd like I've always wanted. I got it really cheap from a older guy I've known for a while now and its a 90 gt 5.0 with a autozone motor in it with 5,800 miles on it. he said he had to put a lifter in it and after he put it back together ad cracnked it up it started blowin white smoke and he checked the oil and it had water in it, not a lot he drained it out and he showed me what came out of it and it wasnt much in there just enough to make a few milky shirleys in the oil pan. what all could it be? I'm going tomorow to buy head gaskets and intake gasket and plugs and wires(what do yall recommend for the plugs and wires?) what could have cuased it to do that? Maybe he damanged one of the head gaskets when it put it back together? how could I check the heads out and make sure they dont have any cracks (any certain way to do so?) and after I get it all back togeter How would I go about checking compression? and Should I drain all the antifreeze when I get the leak fixed and replace it with new when I reaplace the other stuff? \\

Thanks alot guys!:SNSign:
 
  • Sponsors (?)


I would ask him for more information as to why he "had to put a lifter in it".. it sounds like a blown head gasket, but he shouldn't have had to do anything that would've messed with the head gaskets in the process of doing that (unless I'm missing something here or having a brain fart.)

I'm not aware of a consumer tool you can use, but I would be thinking about potential warpage of the head or heads. I would figure out which head is the problem head, and remove it and take it somewhere to be inspected for warpage. You could do a dye penetrant test on them to check for cracks, but without the proper knowledge or tools, I would think that would be a pain in the butt.

A compression check is pretty straight forward.. just get a compression tester (even the cheapo Wally world brand works) and screw it in a spark plug hole, and go to town.
 
Yeah, I would ask about the lifter also. I remember reading a post where someone bought a parts store engine for his Fox and ended up getting a flat tappet block instead of a roller block.

If it ran fine before replacing the lifter, I would lean towards a leak at the intake gasket where it meets the coolant port. The gasket could have shifted when installing it and its never a bad idea to put a little RTV around the water ports between the head and gasket and gasket and intake.

If you are going to replace the headgaskets, make sure you put them on right. FRONT goes to the front even though 1 will be upside down. With the heads off, take them to a machine shop and get them magged. This would also be the time to replace seals, springs ect and to get the milled or at least resurfaced if you are concerned about warpage.

For head gaskets, the Felpro 9333-pt1 is excellent and has held up better than the more expensive 1011-1 for me plus you can get a pair for the cost of 1 of the 1011-1 at the parts store.

I also like the Felpro MS 93334 intake gasket which is also avalialbe at your parts store for around 10.00.

Spark plugs, I use autolite 25's and for wires just good ole fashion FRPP 9mm wires

If there is no oil in the coolant you dont have to, but your going to lose a lot of coolant in this process anyway. After replacing head gaskets, I just put my shop vac on the coolant passages on the block and let it suck out as much as it could, which was a lot. Refill with distilled water and coolant and a bottle of Redline water wetter.
 
I'm leaning more towards an Intake gasket leak... If not installed precisely correct, they'll dump coolant in either the combustion chamber (Causing the white smoke) or the oil channel (draining coolant into the pan) or both. I'm actually having this issue with my fresh 302 that I just finished installing. Make sure you use RVT sealant on the water jacket ports on both sides of the gasket. Use proper torque specs (12/16/22 ft lbs) and in the recommended order. Use RVT sealant on all the bolts to ensure no seepage on the threads. After you have it installed, let it sit over night before trying to start it. This will give the sealant time to tact.

If you have coolant in the oil, then you probably have oil in the coolant. It'd be wise to change both. Id change the oil 2-3 times with 5 min run time in between to clear out any coolant that may be in the engine. The whole procedure is relativly simple, you just have to make sure you drop that intake precisley on target. about a 3 hour job to remove and install.
 
Use a couple of studs to guide the intake straight down. Some 6" bolts with the heads cut off work well. I use 2, in opposing corners. After the intake is on, check down the ports and see if the gasket is protruding into the port anywhere.
 
My vote goes to the intake gaskets. The lower intake has to come off to get to the lifters and if it wasn't doing this prior to changing the lifter, that's the only issue it should have now.
 
could it just be from coolant that leaked down into the head when he removed the intake and he didnt clean it out and than he either forgot the change the oil or he didnt drain all of it and there was still water in it?

but im with everyone else in that its probably an intake gasket and not a head gasket