I really wanted to do a formal introduction and project post but I'm in need of some wisdom from those familiar with these great vehicles. Spring/ early summer of 2018 I picked up a cheap 94 FZJ80 that was a stalled head gasket project started by the previous owner. Most of the engine bay was in boxes but the cylinder head had still not been separated from the block. Also I should mention that this thing had sat for roughly 8 years.
Now I'm a glutton for punishment and have made a habit lately of buying dirt cheap vehicles in non running condition and bringing them back to life (keeps me out of the bar right). My recent examples are an 88 BMW e28, 93 Toyota Pickup 4x4 and a 89 Volvo 245. You can see the pattern, but I guess what I'm saying is this is not my first rodeo, but I'm still very capable of overlooking something.
So going in I knew this thing was going to be a bit of an undertaking, but I wanted to take my time and just sort of recondition the vehicle and bring it back to life. Long story short I've done the head gasket job, resealed the majority of the engine and bolted on a bunch of new/ refreshed parts along the way. And for the record the head was sent to the machine shop, checked for cracks, and resurfaced.
So my problem, I'm to the point where the truck is running again, however the engine is dumping coolant straight into the oil pan. Think of it like this, I put 8 qts of oil in, did an oil change and pulled 15 qts of milky oil out after minimal run time. At first I thought it was residual coolant left in the engine or gas in the oil, who knows. Now keep in mind I have less than 10 miles on the truck since I've buttoned it back up. So this is happening while the truck is sitting off and/ or when it's running idle in my garage. So I change the oil again after the refill, and same thing, increased oil volume, though less this time and milkiness. I am not, repeat am not, burning coolant, I also do not have oil IN my coolant, the only symptom is coolant being dumped into the oil.
My next step after this discovery was to do a pressure check on the cooling system. It will "sort of" hold pressure in that it will drop slowly at times but sometimes it holds. My ext step was to remove the oil pan and just try to identify where the coolant was coming from. And that's where I found my best evidence yet. The coolant seems to only be coming down these 3 holes on the side of the engine block. I ASSume these are oil drain back tubes but am looking for some insight here.
Pic when head was off to show holes:
At this point what should my next step be? What is likely causing this? My assumption is that something was not right on my head gasket work and I will need to remove the head again, is this a safe assumption?
TLDR version: Man buys cheap truck, fixes said truck, coolant is dumping through oil drain back tubes, why?
Now I'm a glutton for punishment and have made a habit lately of buying dirt cheap vehicles in non running condition and bringing them back to life (keeps me out of the bar right). My recent examples are an 88 BMW e28, 93 Toyota Pickup 4x4 and a 89 Volvo 245. You can see the pattern, but I guess what I'm saying is this is not my first rodeo, but I'm still very capable of overlooking something.
So going in I knew this thing was going to be a bit of an undertaking, but I wanted to take my time and just sort of recondition the vehicle and bring it back to life. Long story short I've done the head gasket job, resealed the majority of the engine and bolted on a bunch of new/ refreshed parts along the way. And for the record the head was sent to the machine shop, checked for cracks, and resurfaced.
So my problem, I'm to the point where the truck is running again, however the engine is dumping coolant straight into the oil pan. Think of it like this, I put 8 qts of oil in, did an oil change and pulled 15 qts of milky oil out after minimal run time. At first I thought it was residual coolant left in the engine or gas in the oil, who knows. Now keep in mind I have less than 10 miles on the truck since I've buttoned it back up. So this is happening while the truck is sitting off and/ or when it's running idle in my garage. So I change the oil again after the refill, and same thing, increased oil volume, though less this time and milkiness. I am not, repeat am not, burning coolant, I also do not have oil IN my coolant, the only symptom is coolant being dumped into the oil.
My next step after this discovery was to do a pressure check on the cooling system. It will "sort of" hold pressure in that it will drop slowly at times but sometimes it holds. My ext step was to remove the oil pan and just try to identify where the coolant was coming from. And that's where I found my best evidence yet. The coolant seems to only be coming down these 3 holes on the side of the engine block. I ASSume these are oil drain back tubes but am looking for some insight here.
Pic when head was off to show holes:
At this point what should my next step be? What is likely causing this? My assumption is that something was not right on my head gasket work and I will need to remove the head again, is this a safe assumption?
TLDR version: Man buys cheap truck, fixes said truck, coolant is dumping through oil drain back tubes, why?
