mayonnaise in my engine?

[j.ash]

hi, when i went to check the oil in my 1.3 ohv 1990 escort the other day i found it to be VERY low. bought oil, popped the cap and Oh! something like mayonnaise in the engine. Very strange. after a think, something about gaskets came to mind, Head?? but seems to be no loss of coolent and no overheating. any thoughts?
Thank for the help.[/b]

 

[Porker]

Normally this stuff is an emulsion of oil mixed with water. Can be caused by a number of things including condensation but if there is a lot then this is unlikely. If not condensation then suspect a leaking head gasket, warped head, cracked head or block etc. Won't necessarily lead to overheating, depends on the exact fault but things are likely to get worse I'm afraid particularly if you have lost significant amount of oil. If it were me I would take the head off to see if I could determine cause. Replacing head gasket alone might work but in my experience there is usually another underlying cause. Given the age of the vehicle and whether you can do the work yourself this may be terminal. Another option is to drop another engine in. You could pick one up pretty cheap I would suspect and changing one is a half to 1 day job but you do need some idea what you are doing.

 

[j.ash]

ah, didn't think about cracks in block, diagnosis gets tricky for me. too many things to go wrong causing same symptoms. quite a lot of stuff in the engine. can do work myself, most tools, no hoist or pit though. i just really need the car to be running for another 3 months. do you think changing gasket will give it any more life, or should i save the work, treat her carefully and hope for the best?

 

[JohnD]

tell us about your driving pattern.

Long journeys to get it throughly hot for an hour, or 10 minutes down to the shops?

When you you last check the oil?
When did you last change it?

 

[j.ash]

Oil. last change about 4-5 months ago. driving wise, the odd 180 mile round trip every month or other (keep it at about 65-70 less than 3Krpm....she is old) and the 14 mile round to uni when it is wet (quite a lot over the recent months but less now) last oil before this week was about 7 weeks ago. no goop then.

 

[jonnyfishing]

I agree with JohnD's thinking, Short journeys, lack of regular oil and filter change (at least annually). Level check at least every month.

If you are not loosing water and you do not have signs of oil in the coolant expansion bottle, I think your engine will be o.k.

I would remove the rocker cover clean out as much emulsified oil as you can,fit new rocker cover gasket, add engine flush (follow instructions). Do oil and filter change.

 

[JohnD]

Oil. last change about 4-5 months ago. driving wise, the odd 180 mile round trip every month or other (keep it at about 65-70 less than 3Krpm....she is old) and the 14 mile round to uni when it is wet (quite a lot over the recent months but less now) last oil before this week was about 7 weeks ago. no goop then.

Do you mean no journeys of less than 14 miles?

 

[j.ash]

no, sorry. 90 mile journeys there and again back (once every month or two) i don't go above 70 mph and 3krpm on the motorway. and a few trips to university which is about 7 miles there and seven back.
cheers

 

[JohnD]

Do you mean no journeys of less than 7 miles?

 

[j.ash]

no. some infrequent 90 mile journeys and some more frequent 7 mile journeys. so to reiterate i make a 90 mile journey to my home town and 90 miles back every one or two months (for the weekend) and maybe 2-3 times a week i will drive a 7 mile journey to uni and 7 miles back again.

 

[JohnD]

What I'm trying to find out is if you do short journeys when the engine doesn't get fully hot (when the engine is hot any water in the oil will evaporate off). I don't care about your long journeys.

You have not mentioned any journeys of less than 7 miles each way.

You seem to be saying that none of your journeys are less than 7 miles. Is that right? No short trips to school/shop/pub? No starting it up to park it? Does the engine get fully hot in that journey?

 

[j.ash]

ah, i see. some for parking up and moving. not much else though

 

[JohnD]

If "some" means not many, once or twice a week, then yes, it is quite likely a leak, probably the head gasket. The head might be warped in which case it may leak again if you change it but you can have a go if you are a handy DIY mechanic. If the engine has been frozen with no antifreeze then it could be anything and is probably irreperable.

If you are thinking of scrapping the car soon it may not repay the cost of repair. Start saving for a new one and look at the dipstick before starting every day for signs of water droplets which are a bad sign. Check your water and oil levels frequently. You may have a cap on the top of the radiator as well as one on the expansion bottle. Look in here. If the engine has an internal water leak it may not be generating suction to draw water back from the expansion bottle.

 

[j.ash]

cheers thanks a lot for the advice. sounds about right. will keep an eye on it. it's running fine, little less power but otherwise fine. i will have it apart this weekend and change the gaskets anyway, replace oil ect.

 

[kking183]

if its not overheating should make another 3 months even if it overheats you can rewire the fan so it stays on permantly