head gasket fixed, other issues

[HAVABEER]

hi everyone.

my brothers pulsar has a suspected leaking head gasket, which i intending on fixing. now the car has a big of the milky build up (i assume under the cap and dip stick)

my main question is, how long is ok to leave this milk stuff in the oil. i intend on fixing the car next weekend, but my brother might need to use the car in between then, aside from head warpage i'd hate to see him ruin his bottom end or anything due to shitty or useless oil?

[oldcorollas]

well.. once the oil has emulsified.. it's not really oil any more...

he might get away with it, but he might lunch the engine.

how much is cost of new engine vs taxi fare/rental car?

[Jorrs]

hey man, when i had the leaky HG on the old celica, it was leaking like you described and i left it and drove around for a few weeks and it was fine mate ?
there was no head damage, i just made sure it had oil and water in it all the time.

[hamgatan]

mind u ur forgetting he might be only able to drive it for 15 minutes before the temperature starts climbing past the halfway mark...

[kingmick]

if its just under the oil cap and just under the top section of the dipstick, you will find its just moisture air that has been sucked in etc. If he looks at the water in the radiator and it has a film or milk under the cap then you know for sure!

[Jorrs]

yeh, i should of said i was only driving the car for 5 to 10 minutes at a time as well...
so im not sure living in a city and sitting in traffic wouldnt be good for it ?

just be a good brother and let him drive the celica

or charge him

[kingmick]

Just charge him!haha and put a new oring under the oil cap and dipstick cap and i hope for you thats all thats wrong!

[oldcorollas]

but the crank case/ rocker/cam cover is vented to the manifold anyway? and most moisture comes from blowby?

[kingmick]

You mean besides the fact most of the milk deposit comes at cool down when the engine is stopped! heat gets rid of moisture and residual heat draws moisture.

[oldcorollas]

what you say is true for a thin film or very small mounts of "milk". as the engine cools, the water vapour int he engine from blowby can condense, and if still warm can emulsify the oil.
and yes, when the oil is heated, the oil can "un-emulsify" and the water boil off.

i am not sure what you mean abotu residual heat drawign moisture, as oil is not hydrophilic.

Havabeer, is there a lot of milky substance? as in, pull off oil cap and you can see it in the head? or it is just a thin film on the cap itself?
on the dipstick, does it come out like it has been dipped in yoghurt?

[kingmick]

The reason it draws the water vapor in, and has always been the case with even the best dry sump setups, is because of the fact most systems are open to air, even drysump setups have catch cans vented to air. Like the forming of fog it creates a condition called DEW POINT. Those that fly will know it well.It condenses the moisture that is present in the air to a point it becomes water as we know it.The water from intake air is usually spat out the exhaust as steam in 99% of combustion in a modern engine.The water that gets past at normal operating temps is usually passed out the breather as steam and if you dont have a catch can can condense and is converted to steam later or creates problems in the intake setup.

[oldcorollas]

actually, "dew point" is the name given to a temperature that can maintain a certain moisture content of the gas, ie humidity.
meaning, for a given humidity level, going below the dew point supersaturates the gas, resulting in moisture precipitating.
This is a basic concept for anyone doing experiments requiring a specific water content in a gas heat water above dew point(temp), pass your gas through it, then pass gas though a condenser AT the dew point (temp).. and you get your magic humidity level

what you are trying to say is that the humidity of the surrounding air is sufficient to cause emulsification of the oil? i still think it is more from blowby. if you leave oil outside (covered from rain) then it will not emulsify from humidity.

aaanyway, this is getting off track. so what we are both trying to say is that if it is just a tiny bit of (relatively) normal milky crap, then it is ok, but if the inside of head and sump is coated.. ie, all the oil is no longer oil.. then it is a bad thing right?

[HAVABEER]

yeah the car is down in Sydney and i haven't had a chance to get down there and look it. yeah the temp gauge climbs up pretty high pretty quick.

i'll talk to him tonight and extract some more information out of him. just hoping its not to bad/much of the stuff floating around in there.

as for the driving for only 15 mins at a time, i'm hoping some of that "seal up" or "chem i weld" might hold out for a bit.

thanks for the help so far

[TooF]

no. dont drive it.

dont chemiweld it.. thats a last resort "get you home solution"

it makes a complete mess of readiators and cooling systems in general.

tell your brother to get the bus and not completly ruin his car.

[HAVABEER]

ok so i have the car at my house. brother trailer'd it up here.

tried to fire it up and it turns over, but just wont start. had a look in the cap and a misty white smoke came out, and most of the inside of the rocker cover is cover'd in the caramel brown kinda stuff.

the dip stick is the same, oil seems more caramel brown then back/tanslucent brown.

took the all the spark plugs out to see the condition. most of em where blackish and cover'd in crap. the #4 one is pretty much rooted, there's a loose bit on the outside of bit of metal where the actual spark happens.


i need to move this car into my shed so i can actually drain the oil and everything to assess some more of the damage. cept i cant get the bastard started. trying to go through the spark, compression, fuel, and oxygen thing.