oil in coolant

[MCS]

Hello,

I have only owned this 1965 BJ 8 for a year, purchased it with 2000 miles on a rebuilt motor, however the motor was done 15 years ago. The motor has been run every year, the car was driven every year. I have driven the car aprox 4000 miles since buying. Yesterday I noticed oil in the coolant , the eng oil is perfectly clean. I saw some oil in the coolant a few months ago, just assumed it was residual rust etc from all the sitting the car has done, guess i was wrong.
Compression was 130-135 in all cylinders, the car ran great, with lots of power.
I pulled the head off today, and was hoping something obvious would show up, cleaned the block surface, it is dead flat, can see some stains around the oil passage hole leading to the head, maybe that is where it is leaking. The head looked the same, I took the head to my local machine shop for inspection just waiting for his report. The block and rad had at least 1-2 litres of oil mixed with coolant **** of a mess to flush.
I am aware of a block repair kit for the main gallery, looks like it may be hard to source if needed.
I filled the block with water and closed off the oil feed, made a fitting for my air hose and attached it to the main oil gallery plug. Pressure tested the oil line to 60 psi ( high as my air reg would go} and looked for bubbles in the water jacket holes, nothing showed.
When I search through the archives, it seems to be a bit of a mystery, the fix is mill the head install new gasket thats it, hoping that is all i need.
Any ideas would be helpful, also do you thing my pressure test worked.
Thanks
Phil

 

[MCS]

 

[RAC68]

Hi Phil,

Take a look at this article that describes what may be your problem and how to address it ( https://www.healey6.com/Technical/Gallery.pdf) and then the thread addressing a similar problem (https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?86897-Oil-In-Radiator-Long&highlight=coolant). There is a possibility that the issue described in the article is not your problem but the thread discussion may identify an alternate. I believe Cape and Moss have the kit to address the issue described in the article. What makes it interesting is that this is an issue that usually appears after an engine rebuild and, as mentioned in the article, happens after the block has been cleaned of scale in the water passages and oil pressure is returned to original operation.

I would have expected that the head would have been milled to establish a flat surface during the rebuild.

Hope this helps,
Ray (64BJ8P1)

 

[dougie]

Hello Phil -

This information maybe very helpful: https://healeyspecialists.com/solution-to-infamous-3000-block-internal-leak-problem/

I've solved this problem in one of my race motors using this: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mor-35500

Go luck, keep us posted.

Best,

 

[RAC68]

Good article Dougie. This is a condition that seems to be more common then I thought. Why isn't the installation of these tubes a standard part of all Healey 6 cylinder rebuilds? It will be if I ever do my engine.

Ray (64BJ8P1)

 

[Bob McElwee]

My problem turned out to be a warped head, which i still think was a result of the impact with the chunk of whatever I hit on the highway. Since the head has been fixed i have put an uneventful 2500 miles on the engine.

 

[MCS]

Thanks for the replies, I have read all the threads mentioned several times and googled the problem daily. I keep seeing two fixes.
The first is mill the head put it back together and for some reason everything is ok even thou nothing obvious was wrong, bad gasket maybe slightly warped head, maybe dirt around oil passage hole.
Dougies thread link and is excellent, thank you. The ceramic sealer sounds like a good alternative.

I really do not not want to pull the motor, it is a pig of a thing. My sprite sits beside the 8 , happy does not complain, cost me nothing, wonder its gender LOL.
Will update next week after the machine shop calls me.
in the mean time I will go work on my sebring tribute car. Here is the latest
Cheers Phil

 

[BoyRacer]

The most common place where oil can get into the water is along the left side of the engine where the oil line and the bottom of the water jacket run parallel to each other. I know that you said you did a pressure test of the oil passage and no air came up into the water jacket. I wonder if that would also be the case under hot running conditions?
If that were the case, a good fix is to put a small amount of one of those sealant/ceramic/epoxy/block fill products into the lower part of that water jacket to seal it off from any oil penetration. This usually works best if the engine is out of the car and the water passages are completely stripped of all rust.

 

[HealeyRick]

Phil,

Your Sebring tribute is beautiful.

 

[Lin]

Phil,
the Sebring Tribute car is looking just great. What is the update on the fuel injection and steering?
Lin

 

[MCS]

Hello Lin,
The fuel injection has not yet been tuned, need to find a good tuner. The rack and pinion steering works great around the neighbourhood but have not tried it out on the highway yet, still a few months away. Here are a couple of pictures from today, got the nose done.
Thanks
Phil

 

[dougie]

Phil-

Your Sebring tribute car looks wonderful so far. I hope you have a hardtop to make it complete.

 

[DerekJ]

Dougie,

Do you know where I can get a high resolution file of that photo. I'd like it blown up and put on my study wall.

 

[Lin]

SWEEEET!
Lin

Hello Lin,
The fuel injection has not yet been tuned, need to find a good tuner. The rack and pinion steering works great around the neighbourhood but have not tried it out on the highway yet, still a few months away. Here are a couple of pictures from today, got the nose done.
Thanks
Phil
View attachment 34140View attachment 34141

 

[MCS]

Nical hardtop fitted before paint

 

[dougie]

Nice!

 

[dougie]

Sorry Derek, I can't remember where I found this photo.