dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

Im on the finishing steps of swapping a 74 olds 350 into my 87 cadillac brougham. I just recently got it running and have noticed a couple things that really worry me. I checked the oil and it has a milky color to it. I think that mainly has to do with the fact that it sat outside without the hood on for a couple weeks and could have gotten a bit of water in it.

Next off, today i drove it for the first time since i pulled the knocking 307 out of it. Since i fixed some vacuum issues and timed it, it idles great and drove nice too. However, when i parked it and popped the hood i noticed that water was boiling out of the intake near the bolt holes to the head, and along the crease between the head and intake.

I dont have hardly any experience with these particular engines and i bought it from a guy that had rebuilt it and pulled it from his truck after a couple hundred miles because he said "it didnt have enough power to haul my fifth wheel".

So basically im just looking for some clues to what it could be because im hoping it isnt the worst (cracked head). Any advice would be great, i just recently joined the forum and have used it through out my build and its been incredibly helpful!

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site. Milky oil is a concern and I would change the oil/ filter for starters and not run it until that's completed. I would also suggest a compression test to see whats going on with the heads. Is the coolant in the radiator maintaining a constant level or does it look like its dropping?

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

Yeah i already have the filter, sacrifical oil, and mystery oil to put in it to clear the water out. I havent had it running for long enough to watch the water level drop but it doesnt appear to be leaking anything externally except the water at the manifold. Do yu have any suggestions for a cheap compression test kit?

Thanks for the reply

oldcutlass

Sears, Amazon, Summit, Jeggs, your local auto parts store, etc all sell gauge sets. How much over full does your oil measure on the dipstick? You may have to change the oils a few time. Have you or the PO have the intake manifold off recently?

CutlassDad

Do you know anything about the 350, other than the fairly fresh rebuild and insufficient towing power?
Head gaskets can fail in ways that will not have external drips, but that will result in milky oil.
Since there are no external drips, look for questionable compression readings between two adjacent cylinders that would indicate a leak.
Also, what was the coolant temp when the coolant was boiling from the intake? Air escaping will look like boiling, even with a relatively low coolant temp.

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

I plan to go get the compression test kit when i get off today and ill get back to yall with some numbers. I dont know much else about it, i bought it for 200 bucks and was assured it was rebuilt. Ive put a new timing cover, water pump, and oil pan gasket on it since ive had it. It had a new timing kit with metal gears instead of the stock nylon, and the bottom end looked like it had new pistons and seemed to be clean and in good shape. The coolant temp couldnt have been that high, i just got gauges and havent hooked them up but it was running for a total of 5mins when i drove it. But it left puddles on the intake manifold..

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

Thanks for the info. The intake hasnt been off but it was missing 4 bolts while it was sitting and i transfered some over from the 307 and torqued to spec.

Professur

My take .... 'doesn't have enough power' means he probably had a buddy throw a kit on it without having the heads trued, didn't break it in right, and near certainly overheated it. If it was still loose, I'd tell you to pull the oil pan and look up into the cylinders to see if you see any crosshatching. Fresh rebuilt and he didn't offer receipts mean it wasn't done by a pro, so you may as well just consider that statement to mean ... someone recently monkeyed with the innards and I don't know what he might have done in there.

oldcutlass

Based on what your saying it may just need a new intake gasket since you were missing bolts and it sat. Water could have entered the oil through an intake leak and corroded the gasket since it sat for a period of time. Just a thought.

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

Yeah thats my main fear.. Thats why i talked him down to 200.. However he had a super nice 2 bay shop garage with a 68 ss camaro sitting outside and a 71 cutlass frame with a big block chevy and 6 speed trans in one of the bays. Id figure hed have enough money to have it rebuilt right, but you never know! Besides the leak it doesnt knock or anything but ill compression test it and see if i see anything unusual.

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

Im gonna test the compression and then do the intake gasket because it did sit for quite a bit with the holes not being filled, although most other ports and what not were covered.

oldcutlass

When you check the oil with the dipstick, how much over full does it show?

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

It is about half a quart below full.

Fun71

Was it doing this on one side or on both sides? Near the front, middle, or back?

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

I only noticed it on the passenger side, from the front of the engine to about halfway back

oldcutlass

Was that the side with the bolts missing?

johnnyjaws

1st take out the thrermstate and put it in a pot of boling water if its good it will open on a lot of cars u don't use the end gaskets on the intake just a thick bead of atv I learned the hard way I put I the end gaskets on the intakeand it mixed the water and oil 2gether don't trust no one when buying a motor nice cars in garage or not theres a sucker born every minite

Octania

What if you were to retorque the head bolts, and the intake bolts, and add a can of stop leak to the radiator? None of that can hurt, but it sounds like a blown head gasket frankly and if that does not cure what passes for a problem, then you are just back to tear down and inspect.

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

Well, as of now i have checked compression, removed the intake manifold, cleaned the gasket off, and drained all the oil. The compression on all the cylinders was between 120-130 psi. As for the intake gasket, it was corroded and showed signs of leaking coolant into the valley. I included a few pics. I think this was the main problem, also 2 bolts were not torqued completely to spec The underside off the manifold has a white pasty residue of oil mixed with water near the back closest to the distibutor. Also the pcv valve has the same residue from where the water boiled off.

Also i drained the coolant and it had no oil in it at all.

Three of the lifters were replaced and they had a tiny amount of slack, where as the others had about none. Should i be concerned about that? I am unfortunately going out of town till sunday so i cant put the intake valley pan in yet.

oldcutlass

Seems your head gaskets are fine and your leak was the intake. I don't understand your statement on the lifters, were they worn on the bottoms or were you just wiggling the rockers? It was supposed to be a rebuilt engine.

Take a rag with some solvent (varsol) and wipe off the milky residue. Rinse the PCV with some solvent. You need to do a couple of short term oil and filter changes to get that gunk out there. Make sure you follow the directions for the intake gasket and pre-fit it prior to putting the RTV on the water ports.

dcyalowitz@yahoo.com

What i meant is the lifters (pushrods) had a tiny amount of play side-to-side under the manifold before going down into the block. And it was only on the 3 that were definately replaced.

Ive already done one change and have the oil and filter to do another before then putting the long term filter and oil in.