TR2/3/3A Water Inside the Engine

[DornTRoriginal]

I decided to drain the oil from the engine and drop the oil pan to look for the missing pin from the rocker arm that fell out just before I sent the car to the body shop 3 years ago, I completely rebuild the engine and cylinder head. What I found inside the pan was some very cloudy ugly looking “milky crud”. It seems to me that the car was left in the weather, by my now famous body shop guy, and water got inside the engine through the valve cover that did not have a gasket or some other way. I pulled the rocker arms and removed the pushrods and noticed that the pushrods had a lot of rust on them and looking down at the tappets I can see that the water was sitting inside the tappets with the new push rods. It is hard to see everything clearly looking down from the top of the head but it looks like the tappets are pitted a little, there’s small dark spots sporadically in each one and the top edge of the tappets look black or dark brown. The very bottom of the tappet, where the ball of the push rod sits is shinny and clean. Looking from under the engine the cam bearings and the bottom of the tappets look fine, the pink engine lube material appears to be doing its job. My dilemma is should I pull off the head and replace the tappets and possibly the push rods? If I do pull off the head do I need to replace the head gasket? The engine has not operated since the rebuild. What are your thoughts?

 

[TR4nut]

I am very sorry to hear of your struggles on this. Given what you've seen, I would pull the head and access the lifters just to be safe. Hopefully you won't find any real damage.

 

[doc50]

Wondering why the oil was so emulsified. If the water leaked in fro the top, wouldn't it stay on the bottom? Did the body shop run the engine at all?

Also, I once changed figure 8 gaskets and they did not seat, which led to the same looking oil/water.

Good luck, hope it's not serious.

Thom
1959 TR3
#TS34909L(O)

 

[CJD]

If the engine had not been run, I might lean towards just cleaning what you can, change the oil, and run it!

I don't see significant pitting on the pushrods. The bottom of the pushrods, that contact the lifter, do not have significant angular rotation, like the top of the pushrods where they meet the rockers. So, slight pitting at the lifter tops should not cause an issue. You do need to confirm:

1) That the lifters raise and lower easily without sticking. Sticking in the bores would indicate worse corrosion than is visible.

2) Ensure that there is ABSOLUTELY no pitting on the cam lobs and lifter bottoms where they contact each other.

If you do remove the head, I'd use a new gasket...run or not.

 

[Rubicon]

My eng sat outside for a long time as well, and when I pulled the plug and drained the oil it was full of water as well, plus I removed the head, and found water sitting in the cylinders, it ran in thru the carbs and with one valve open it filled the cylinder.
if your not taking the head off at least pull the plugs and see if it will turn over by hand, and make sure there is water to hydro lock the eng, it makes a mess of things that way! With mine sitting the way it had, it was seized up, but found it to be just a stuck ring, but still...........
And if you are pulling the head, change the gaskets. It will make your life easier, as for the push rods, they look reasonable good, I'd run them. But if your not wanting to do all that work, I'd change the oil and do a couple of flushes with fresh oil, and when your happy keep your eye on it for milkiness.