'92 3FE oil contamination

[barkbuster]

I pulled the valve cover off today to do a routine valve check and adjust. When I got the cover off, I was shocked to see what I'm assuming is antifreeze hanging in the cover (see pictures).

The engine has been running fine with plenty of power for a 3FE. I have been having to add antifreeze for the last 3 months (a gallon or gallon and a half total). I found a couple of those carter pin clamps had rusted in two and failed under the floor board that go to the rear heater. After fixing that, I found another heater hose that was leaking where someone had cut it and put one of those Prestone tee fittings in. I just got the new hose yesterday and replaced it. I assumed I would be done with coolant leaks. I replaced the PCV valve a couple years ago. I would not recommend doing this, but I took my finger and tasted the film and it has an extremely sweet taste, similar to antifreeze.

Any help/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Bomar]

also looks like an oil additive.

i would adjust the valves and clean the cover and run it and then check it again.

 

[barkbuster]

I have never used any oil additives, I use Castrol GTX 10-30 dino oil, and toyota oil filter. I had the valve cover off 19,000 mile ago for a valve adjustment and I did not have this contamination.

Thanks Brad

 

[CJF]

Sure looks like antifreeze to me.

You never noticed it on the underside of the oil filler cap? I'll bet it's gunked up there as well.

Curtis

 

[Godwin]

What's the condition of the side oil cooler? That's a potential spot for oil and coolant to mix.

 

[sdbrassfield]

x3. looks like you have some coolant mixing somewhere and Godwin makes a good point. I had one rig in the past that the internals of the oil cooler failed (a 60). If it is your DD, it can easily be bypassed till you get it fixed. Regardless, find and correct it now before you ruin internals/bearings. Coolant is real bad on stuff like rod and crank bearings...

 

[poppy walnut]

Agreed. Get it fixed quickly or you will cook your bearings. You can always send your oil to Blackstone for analysis.

 

[barkbuster]

Thanks for all the responses. But has any one had the oil cooler leak antifreeze into the oil? It seems to me if it was going to leak, because it has more oil pressure then water pressure it should push oil into the coolant. I may by total wrong, just asking.

 

[sdbrassfield]

I had one rig in the past that the internals of the oil cooler failed (a 60)...

Yes. Alot of the time your oil pressure at idle can easily be overcome by the water pressure in the rad. I do not know if the ingress happened then, but it happened. It happened at around 200k on the 60. I ran it bypassed for over 15k miles before I fixed it. I do not think it hurt the truck at all. Hell most cars are not over engineered like these beasts and do not even have an auxiliary oil cooler from this era. The oil cooler has been known to fail in the 2f/3f systems as they are essentially the same cooler/part. It could be something else like a cracked head/block or head gasket, but the cooler failure seems to be more common. May want to start there, but I would check the other stuff out also.

 

[barkbuster]

Thanks sdbrassfield, after thinking about it more I see your point. Also after shutting the engine off the oil pressure would drop to zero but the cooling system by have pressure for an hour.
How do you bypass the cooler?

 

[sdbrassfield]

You just want to disconnect both hoses from the oil cooler and loop/connect them. I bought a 3 foot (or so) piece of hose and bypassed from the top coolant tube (the one that connects the hose into the rear portion of the cooler) toward the front and connected to the lower coolant tube that the other lower front hose was connected to under the ac compressor area near the block. If I remember I think you can also do it from the heater hose fittings near the firewall (passenger side) to the top coolant tube but it requires a tighter bend in the hose. I chose the former, the less bend and straighter shot. Had to get under the truck to connect to the lower tube but overall took 15 minutes. Make sure the o-rings are not really blown out on the cooler and check to see if the oil cooler leaks oil afterwards. Mine did not...

You said you had gradually been adding coolant lately...That was mines symptom over about two months. You still need to check the other stuff to be sure 100%. One quick way may be to pull the plugs and see if you have one blasted clean...Do a compression check, leak down test, all easy to do yourself.

Good luck...

 

[Godwin]

Are you seeing any oil in the coolant? I'm just thinking that if the oil cooler is the culprit you may have cross-contamination with the oil.

 

[barkbuster]

No, I have looked and don't see any oil in the coolant.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS]

barkbuster, ?, Is the primary use of your vehicle for short trips or do you drive it long distances? The reason I ask, I have seen this before on vehicles that don't get driven very far. It usually accumulates in the winter months on vehicles that don't get driven very far. You usually see it immediately under the oil cap. It's caused by condensation that can accumulate on the inside valve cover that the oil tries to disperse and can't because the engine never really gets hot enough to release it. How's your engine temps? Are they abnormally cool? Thermostat out? As you stated if there is no oil in the coolant, I say, clean it, change your oil, watch your AF and oil closely and run it.

 

[barkbuster]

The cruiser is my wifes daily driver. She drives it to pick up our kids at school every day. Only 4 miles each way, however 2 miles of it is dirt road so the drive takes 12-15 mins. I just flushed the radiator and replaced the thermostat (oem) this summer. The motor has not overheated since I have owned it (2 years), according to the temp gauge, it runs midway between C and H.

 

[SUMMIT CRUISERS]

Temps sound good; however, I still think your not driving it enough (higher speeds with higher rpms) to eliminate the snot. By no means am I advocating your wife to drive like Mark Martin to pick up the kids. If your AF level stays the same and your previously mentioned AF leaks are fixed, you should be fine.

 

[barkbuster]

Thanks, I think I'll put it back together tomorrow. I may also send a sample to blackstone. And I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[CJF]

Thanks, I think I'll put it back together tomorrow. I may also send a sample to blackstone. And I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Well, ok...

I for one would be much more pro-active than that. As for the condensation: Yes, it happens, but there's no corresponding loss of coolant in the overflow.

At the very least, *definitely* send Blackstone a sample asap, and watch your coolant level like a hawk. A coolant system without issues should literally maintain the same level (with the engine cold) for many months. It's not like the oil: If you're ever "topping off", you've got issues.

Best of luck,

Curtis

 

[barkbuster]

In the past few weeks, I've ordered a Blackstone oil kit and bought a radiator pressure tester. I pressure tested my radiator with engine cold to 20psi. At that pressure, I found 3 leaks... 2 small coolant hoses and 1 was a brass sensor threaded into the thermostat housing. I have ordered all new coolant hoses and I'm waiting on them to arrive. After removing the radiator cap a few times, I did notice a small droplet of oil in the filler cap. Just today I received my Blackstone report back and they said that there is antifreeze in the motor. Tomorrow I plan to pull the oil cooler to try to pressure test it. I haven't driven the vehicle in the last 3 weeks. Just thought I'd give an update. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

For some reason they got the engine type wrong. I emailed them and hopefully they'll correct that soon.

 

[elprup87]

Nice update, makes me worry about my oil cooler now after my overheat issue. Just another thing for me to check while doing my head job.
Impressive enough, my valve cover was simply black. The top of my head (rocker area) didnt show signs of coolant either. Coolant aside, your valve cover looked a heck of a lot better than mine when I took it off. How many miles on yours?


3SFE eh? Must be the sportier version