Brown and Bubbly Oil in my 96 Cruiser

[JamesStuart11]

I just recently changed the oil on my 80 and the oil was a little brown and a bubbly. I looked this up online and it seems like it could be from coolant leaking into the engine. It also produces white smoke that is only visible in the morning when its cold out which I've heard is another symptom of coolant in the engine, but my catalytic converters need to be replaced so I've always assumed the smoke was that.
Some other info:
5500 miles since last change
Head gasket blown and replaced by previous owner at 170,000 miles
Now at 206,000

What do you guys think? Is it coolant inside the engine block?
Also if it is what I think it is, what should I do next?

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Send a sample of oil to Blackstone for a difinative answer.
It's possible to get contaminiation through the oil cooler under the exaust manifold, not just via a blown head gasket.

 

[JamesStuart11]

Ok, I didn't know you could do that. Thanks

 

[Fj80oregon]

You could also do a block tester for blown HG about $30 from any local auto parts store. If the HG was previously done you would probably want the head to be machined this time around if it was not done last time. Lots of variables here as what to do next. If you are leaking coolant into the oil (sounds like you are with milky oil) that coolant is destroying your bearings and you might need a full rebuild, if it hasn’t been doing it long you might be ok with just doing the HG hard to tell with the limited info. Whatever you do get that old oil out and fresh oil ran through a couple minutes to get everything lubed with clean oil. The. Try not to drive around until you figure out a solution, these engines can take a beating but once you loose a bearing your engines done and will require a full rebuild.

 

[JamesStuart11]

Ok thanks for the input.
I was looking at other forums and full rebuild is very expensive. It's hard to justify putting 5-10k (according to other rebuild forums) into a truck work $15k
I guess I have a hard decision to make.

 

[CrabCake]

Problem is...now that $15k truck is worth half of that if you are lucky, so at least a rebuild gets you your cruiser back at a not so hateful price in the end.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Ok thanks for the input.
I was looking at other forums and full rebuild is very expensive. It's hard to justify putting 5-10k (according to other rebuild forums) into a truck work $15k
I guess I have a hard decision to make.

Easy fix it or sell for way cheap

 

[calokie]

Ok thanks for the input.
I was looking at other forums and full rebuild is very expensive. It's hard to justify putting 5-10k (according to other rebuild forums) into a truck work $15k
I guess I have a hard decision to make.

Most un-suspecting new owners don't find out their 15k 80 series needs a 15k repair... until after they dump 15k into new mods.
Always upload picture to your post, what you might thinks isn't normal might be normal