coolant in oil?
12-31-2002, 05:23 PM
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coolant in oil?
Apart from my "gross polluter" status at the moment, I noticed bubbles on the dipstick when checking the oil the other day. I checked it again today and no bubbles. It seems the dipstick doesn't have a really tight fit in the reservior for some reason of late and was wondering if possibly that might have caused the bubbly look that one time. I do not see any significant loss of coolant and apart from the issue of the car not passing smog, I don't see any other major warning signs. Is coolant leakage common in a motor around 100K miles? The car has not been abused and I give it a few kickdowns every time I drive it to keep from loafing at 2,000 RPM all day. I'm going to see if I notice any bubbles now that the car is hot right now (just got home). Paul suggests pressure testing which I may have done along with the search for the smog failure culprit.
12-31-2002, 05:28 PM
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Well, just checked the dipstick again and no bubbles, maybe the bubbles I saw the other day were not related to a problem after all and were unrelated to any leaks...we'll see after a pressure check since everything else is probably going to be checked out anyway. Coolant level has been steady-eddie.....
01-01-2003, 06:12 AM
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I had almost similar problem few month ago - My head gaskets was rotten and astually all gaskets in the ingine was 'ready' to be renewed (1984 145.000 km (90.000 Miles)- Use the search facility and see the discussion: 'Loosing cooling water - Head gasket' here on this forum
Good luck
Good luck
01-02-2003, 02:16 AM
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In some "short run" circumstances, you might very well get some condensation of water in the crank-case, especially in high-humidity environs. This will occasionally show as water droplets on the dip stick. Actual coolant accumulation in the crankcase usually appears as a foamy, frothy or milkshake-like substance.
If operated to regular operating temperatures for a reasonable period of time, the condensation will generally "flash" off from the crank-case.
It is this accumulation of condensate in the crank-case, on short-run cycles, that leads engine manufactures Continental and Lycoming to recommend against the "occasional running" of their aircraft engines during the wintertime storage period, up here in the Great White North. They have suggested that this condensate contrubutes more negatively to engine life than the one "first of the year" startup in the spring, after a winter of sitting undisturbed.
If operated to regular operating temperatures for a reasonable period of time, the condensation will generally "flash" off from the crank-case.
It is this accumulation of condensate in the crank-case, on short-run cycles, that leads engine manufactures Continental and Lycoming to recommend against the "occasional running" of their aircraft engines during the wintertime storage period, up here in the Great White North. They have suggested that this condensate contrubutes more negatively to engine life than the one "first of the year" startup in the spring, after a winter of sitting undisturbed.
01-02-2003, 12:56 PM
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My little spare time hobby includes some gas turbine issues. An interesting study a few years ago looked at the effects of various contaminants in lubricating oil. We were looking specifically at rotor vibration issues, but the study also touched on the effects of moisture in the oil. Moisture in less than 100 PPM levels would cause bearing life to plummet. The cliff on the curve starts at less than 80 PPM.
If you can see any noticeable moisture in the oil, change it immediately. Coolant in the oil will never flash off completely thanks to the glycol, and glycol is hardly better than water as a bearing lubricant. There are buffers in motor oil that will handle a little bit of moisture buildup, different from turbine oil, but by the time you can see any cloudiness at all the buffers have been overloaded.
Should you do short-run start cycles on your winter-stored cars? Um..., No! Change the oil for fresh in a hot engine, run it briefly (long enough to get it off the ramps...) and shut it down for the winter. If you want to get real serious, dose the cylinders with oil or with an engine preservative (check out the marine stores...), and turn the engine by hand with the plugs out to distribute the protection on the rings. The cylinder walls won't rust/corrode unless there's acid in the oil, and that's fresh, right? Put the plugs back in finger-tight, pull the ignition fuse, and go to sleep for the winter. In spring, pull the plugs, rotate the engine by hand again a few times, replace the plugs, replace the fuse, and fire the engine.
The engines for my vintage Lotus' (Lotii?) are pickled in kerosene for long-term storage. The last time I used one of them in a historic race, the inside was clean and corrosion-free (used a bore-scope for the inspection) and the bearings and lower block were as-new. The sump gasket was replaced following the inspection and the engine was installed. Except for needing some attention in the carbs (anybody remember carbs?) it ran like the day it was pickled some ten years prior. For the purists, I used a couple cans of battery terminal sealer to cover the outside. It washes off with mineral spirits, and the block and heads look like brand new. Engines are stored in plastic bags with a big dessicant bag inside, by the way, on little pallets with wheels on them.
<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />
If you can see any noticeable moisture in the oil, change it immediately. Coolant in the oil will never flash off completely thanks to the glycol, and glycol is hardly better than water as a bearing lubricant. There are buffers in motor oil that will handle a little bit of moisture buildup, different from turbine oil, but by the time you can see any cloudiness at all the buffers have been overloaded.
Should you do short-run start cycles on your winter-stored cars? Um..., No! Change the oil for fresh in a hot engine, run it briefly (long enough to get it off the ramps...) and shut it down for the winter. If you want to get real serious, dose the cylinders with oil or with an engine preservative (check out the marine stores...), and turn the engine by hand with the plugs out to distribute the protection on the rings. The cylinder walls won't rust/corrode unless there's acid in the oil, and that's fresh, right? Put the plugs back in finger-tight, pull the ignition fuse, and go to sleep for the winter. In spring, pull the plugs, rotate the engine by hand again a few times, replace the plugs, replace the fuse, and fire the engine.
The engines for my vintage Lotus' (Lotii?) are pickled in kerosene for long-term storage. The last time I used one of them in a historic race, the inside was clean and corrosion-free (used a bore-scope for the inspection) and the bearings and lower block were as-new. The sump gasket was replaced following the inspection and the engine was installed. Except for needing some attention in the carbs (anybody remember carbs?) it ran like the day it was pickled some ten years prior. For the purists, I used a couple cans of battery terminal sealer to cover the outside. It washes off with mineral spirits, and the block and heads look like brand new. Engines are stored in plastic bags with a big dessicant bag inside, by the way, on little pallets with wheels on them.
<img src="graemlins/yltype.gif" border="0" alt="[typing]" />
