[75_ranchero_429TJ]

Hi guys/gals,
I have this Pontiac 400 that I had stroked to a 467. The motor sat for 1 year and 1/2 till my son and I dropped it in the car (78T/A). When I fired it up w/ the intention to break-in the cam, it smoked a LOT but I thought it was due to the car sitting for 15 years and the smoke will eventually go away. I noticed a puddle of oil and water on the floor coming from the right tail pipe and turned her off. There was a creamy substance that shot out of the #6 and when I pulled the dipstick it was creamy in color. We took the intake out and the valve covers and all was clean. That, I guess rules out anything related to the head since they were very clean (no water/creamy mixture). The water then is somehow going straight down to the combustion chamber. Please help, where can the water be coming from??? Any help/assistance/suggestions will be highly appreciated!!!

[biggeazy-e]

intake gasket?

[75_ranchero_429TJ]

all gaskets were good, no cracks or anything on them when we took out the intake manifold,

[DoubleVision]

this is common on a engine that hasn`t been ran. Most times it`s condensation, if the engine doesn`t have a skip, and doesn`t run hot, then I`d say that`s all it is, the water will evaporate in time, but get the most out you can with the oil change.

[75_ranchero_429TJ]

It's really creamy, like something you would see when you have a busted head gasket. Except in this case, my heads are clean. Also, I live in the high desert where it's been pretty hot lately.......lol. What do you suggest I do?

[Jmark]

This is not a good sign......"There was a creamy substance that shot out of the #6 and when I pulled the dipstick it was creamy in color."

So you pulled the PLUG on #6 and it shot out goo? Did you crank it over when this happened?

Have you pulled the HEADS or just the valve covers and intake? I'd put my money on a rotted/bad/messed up head gasket or cracked head. The "goo" seeped past the piston and into the pan and now shows up on the dipstick.

time to pull it down some more.

Mark

[75_ranchero_429TJ]

No, I didn't crank it w/o the plug. I did though, pull all the plugs out and it was only #6 that was crappy. We didn't attempt to pull the heads out since they were extremely clean, no sign of the creamy mixture. Shouldn't the creamy substance be every where (heads and all) if the heads were defective or a busted gasket? The car ran all together, I would say for about an hour.

[Jmark]

The top of the heads and the intake can be squeeky clean and still have a bad head or gasket and still run. If the oil is that gooey, it most likely never made the trip up to the rockers or if it did, it drained back into the pan after you shut it off.

What does the water in the radiator look like? Was it low when you decided to fire it up? If so, it most likely slowly drained down into a cylinder (probably #6) and then into the pan.

You could let it sit overnight and then pull all the plugs and crank it over and see what comes squirting out of the plug holes.

OR............... change the oil and filter and add some stop leak to the radiator and give it a go! (but I still think there are some serious problems!)

Mark

[75_ranchero_429TJ]

I was reading your replies out loud so my son can hear. He mentioned that when we were pouring water /coolant into the rad, he heard it like it was going straight into the motor. Which also reminds me, the rad never got the chance to fill up since I guess that's what it was doing; draining straight into the pan. What do you think might cause this?

[lust4speed]

First thing to do is to pull the drain plug on the pan and see how much water is sitting below the oil - water will be the first thing out before the oil flows. Remember that the pickup is at the bottom of the pan and you will be pumping water instead of lubricant and you don't really want to do that.

There is no direct connection between water and oil in the engine, and if it is running into the pan that quickly you have a big problem (hole). A bad head gasket would not explain that volume of water disappearing that quickly. If you do have any amount of water in the pan, it's time to start pulling the engine apart.

[75_ranchero_429TJ]

Is there a way to test this without taking the motor apart? What if we take the oil pan out and pour water into the rad??? I'm just wondering if there is some sort of an elimination process to this.

[tdkkart]

Since #6 is in question, take the rocker arms off that cylinder, hook up an air hose to the spark plug hole, put in 25psi or so and see where the air comes out. Sounds to me like you'll find it coming out the water jackets.

[RippinRon]

A few years back I had a 89 tempest with a 2.8 that started blowing white smoke and had a bad case of the chocolate milk oil. I was 17 or 18 at the time and was just starting to get into cars. I assumed it was a head gasket so payed for all the stuff to fix and a box of beer to pay a friend of mine (who was an apprentice mechanic at the time) to do it. After getting it all back together it was worse than before. I was a little pissed so decided to tear into myself and fix it. I got it all apart and found a one inch crack in one of the cylinders. I'm not really sure if the head gasket went bad then overheated and cracked the block, then re torquing the head worsened it. I guess what i'm trying to get at is don't rule a crack

[75_ranchero_429TJ]

I just got off the phone with the builders and they themselves hinted that there might be a crack on the block. I reiterated that I had them do all the long block work for a stroked 467. The only down-side is that I had this done in Dec. 2005 to which I wasn't able to complete the motor and drop it in not until 1 month ago due to spinal surgery. They said that they will discuss this with the machinist that did the work and get to me.........no word yet, still hanging. I'm hesitating to break it down before I hear from them.

[ChevelleSS_LS6]

Originally Posted by 75_ranchero_429TJ

I'm hesitating to break it down before I hear from them.

probably the best thing to do at the moment. Did you get the block checked for cracks when you had it built?

Also- did you prelube the engine (at least pull plugs, squirt a little oil in the cylinders, and crank by hand a few revolutions, then reinstall plugs and give it a go, using the drill and distributor guts method is better though)