Frustrating - Water in Oil - Help

#21

jlevie wrote:

[quote]Ranger wrote:

[quote]turbo329is wrote:

[quote]
Leaving the valve cover vent open is a bad idea. It is a vacuum leak and at very least will cause idle problems and maybe power loss.[/quote]
I disagree. IMO Chuck is right. I think the block is a high pressure zone, not a low pressure zone. So air is looking for a way out, not a way in. This isn’t the intake tract. Small amounts of ring blow-by pressurize the bottom end. Those pressure pulses need a way out or they’ll blow seals.[/quote]
The block is a low pressure zone. It is sealed except for the hose that runs from the valve cover to the throttle body, which keeps the block at intake pressure (below atmospheric).[/quote]

Yes, but we’re talking about it’s behavior in the absence of that hose to the throttle body. Remove that hose, sealing it at the TB, and there’s nothing creating a low pressure zone in the block.

Bottom line is that as long as the TB end of that hose is sealed, Scott having no hose on the rocker arm cover is a non-issue.

#22

Figured I would update this thread. Scott ran the car like a scaled dog this weekend and it ran great. He got past every Miata except one on Sunday which was amazing to watch. I will let him fill in the rest of the details on what we did find when we pulled the oil cap.

#23

With regard to KingTut’s comment about getting by the Miatas, it was a split start and they got a 20-30 second lead, that was why they were hard to catch and pass. The front of the spec miata pack is very hard to get by, though. They get through and off the turn well.

The car ran like a champ. Set a new track record and all. But something still must be wrong. I pulled the drain plug Saturday morning and drained it, there was really not much water in the oil. I believe water goes to the bottom of oil, so I would think when you pull the drain plug, any water would come out first, but I had nothing really, I put in fresh oil, haven’t seen any real signs of water in the oil since.

That said, when I started the car Friday to load it on the trailer, it sprayed my Mercedes from at least 4 feet away, and I mean sprayed it with rustwater, so something seems amiss. I will unload the car off the trailer today and will look at coolant levels, etc. and will report back with any diagnosis.

#24

That really doesn’t seem that odd to me. A car sitting for along time could easily get quite a bit of condensation build up in the exhaust. I just started mine to get it off the trailer and it sprayed pretty far down my ramps and it only sat overnight. I know my old Honda Civic with a full race exhaust shot quite a bit of water out the exhaust when I fired it up.

#25

BigKeyserSoze wrote:

It seems that the Mercedes is always around when your E30 goes to spraying water. The only conclusion that can be made is that the Mercedes is in fact the problem and the only remedy includes giving away said Mercedes. Should I come get it or will you drive the Mercedes to my house?

#26

Water and oil won’t separate in an engine unless it’s been sitting around for quite a while. The crank turns the inside of the engine is an insane whirling hurricane. That mixes the oil and water into a chocolate milkshake. And it doesn’t take much water at all to do it.

That’s great news that the oil quality seemed ok. It doesn’t explain the Mercedes getting sprayed, but it’s still great news.

#27

Scott forgot to add that he also ran the car with a broken oiler bar over the cam shaft. I think Natalie took a photo.

#28

And a rear sway bar that was broken off.

#29

donstevens wrote:

That’s bad. I think that I have an extra oiler bar that I can send, but in the absence of that bar the cam lobes, rockers, and head journals could starved for oil. They might be hosed.

#30

Ranger, I have the spare on the head that came off the car, but I don’t think its really that bad. The bar was broken in the middle with about a 4 inch piece missing (query where it went). We pulled the valve cover and ran the car at idle as it sat, and it squirted oil both directions pretty well, then the valve springs, rockets, etc. slung it all over the place, including all over the cam lobes. I looked at the lobes and they do not look burned or scored. I suspect it has been this way for 4 event weekends, meaning the mechanic that put the head on the car broke it when it went on. I will put the spare one back on and check it out this weekend, assuming I don’t just pull the head off the car. More on that diagnosis later.

#31

And here’s the photo:

#32

That’s too small… let’s try this one instead:

#33

I just looked at the car. It did not use any water, and no sign of water in the oil. It doesn’t have water in the exhaust pipe, either.

So I call and ask the guy that put the head on if he for sure changed the oil when the head swap was done. At first he says hell yes, for sure. By the time we were done it was down to an “I think so”, so who knows. Now I don’t know whether to take it to IFU as it sits or pull the head. It seems to run fine, for now…

I am going to flush the entire engine and block this weekend and put something in to get the rustwater out. Whats the best way to flush? Thinking of just backflushing the radiator hose through the motor for a bit until it all runs clean.