Found this while doing an oil pan gasket..

[Alex98]

So i drained the oil and pulled the pan and found this..



Engine info: 2003 4.0L SOHC (38,XXX miles)

Anyway, I did an engine swap to my old 98 ranger 4.0 OHV to 4.0L SOHC I put 38,XXX miles on it, so this draws me to believe that it is a very slow coolant leak inside the engine. Head gasket maybe??

 

[Surrey]

Dear god, that is nasty.

Coolant in your oil. Wooooooooooooooo.

 

[Alex98]

Yes it is and has me pretty worried. This isn't a common problem is it?

 

[RonD]

Assuming cooling system is still intact and sealed, no leaks.
Disable the fuel and spark, just pull the plug wires if you want, the fuel isn't that big of a deal, it's a short test.
Remove rad cap
Remove overflow hose and plug it's connection, vacuum cap or short hose with bolt in it works.
Place a balloon or latex glove over rad cap opening, rubber band works well to seal latex glove.
Cooling system should now be sealed.
Turn over engine, watch balloon or glove, if it jumps around then you have a leak from a cylinder to the cooling system, so head gasket or cracked head issue.

If you do, you can find out which one by removing 1 spark plug at a time and turning engine over, balloon or glove will stop dancing when that cylinder's spark plug is removed.

Turning over the engine with pan off won't hurt anything, there is still oil on all the parts(such as it is, lol) and no heat is generated.

You can also get coolant in the oil via a failed intake manifold gasket.

Also long term condensation can cause milky build up but that's usually on the top end of the engine, this is caused by plugged PCV valve or Vent tube.

If head gasket checks out OK you can also test the intake and block with a pressure test.
Block off upper and lower rad hoses, and one heater hose, use the other hose for the pressure test, pump it up to 20psi and see if it stays up, you may also see coolant dripping since the pan is off.
You could do a standard rad cap opening pressure test as well, just watch the rad closely to make sure pressure isn't coming out there.

 

[adsm08]

That could also be from a bad PCV valve. Are you actually losing coolant?

 

[Alex98]

Well I have everything disconnected, trying to fix everything before I put it all back together. I looked at the pcv before I put it in because its a pain to do. I heard it rattling around in there. I was thinking of replacing it actually. This is how it sits right at the moment.

http://www.ranger-forums.com/4-0l-ohv-sohc-v6-tech-33/ohv-sohc-again-136307/

 

[adsm08]

Ok. 3 things that can cause that. Bad head gasket, bad PCV, and just sitting.

I found 3 inches of that crap in the oil pan of my OHV when I pulled it apart for re-build. Prior to my purchase of it it had sat in my foreman's garage without a valve cover for a two years, and then I kept it in my leaky garage for another year in the same state. If water gets in there and just sits in can cause that.

 

[Alex98]

Yeah but it was definitely the color of coolant, while i was taking it off it started to leak out. I will take that into consideration and get another pcv. It was pretty much sealed when it sat. The cooling system wasn't sealed but everything else was. I'm going to put it together and check the head gaskets. I hope that is not the case here. I did valve cover gaskets while it was pulled and there was no milky sludge at the top of the motor. If it is the head gaskets the motor will have to be pulled again wont it??

 

[adsm08]

PCV won't cause coolant in the oil, just snot.

 

[RonD]

OK, got it now, engine is not operational now, this is an inspection.

I guess you could do a leak down test, if you have access to a compressor.
Apply a preset air pressure to spark plug hole with pressure gauge attached, valves closed and piston at TDC.
If air pressure is preset at 100psi, and then applied to the cylinder, and the gauge reads 95psi, then you have 5psi leakage, or 5% leakage.
Since you probably have a dry engine, been sitting awhile, you may want to put a few squirts of oil in each cylinder and manually turn engine over a few times.
10% leakage in not abnormal, seen complete rebuilds come in at 8% dry, getting in the 20% range is when the concern would start, leaking head gasket or cracked head would much higher.

 

[Tedybear]

OK, got it now, engine is not operational now, this is an inspection.

I guess you could do a leak down test, if you have access to a compressor.
Apply a preset air pressure to spark plug hole with pressure gauge attached, valves closed and piston at TDC.
If air pressure is preset at 100psi, and then applied to the cylinder, and the gauge reads 95psi, then you have 5psi leakage, or 5% leakage.
Since you probably have a dry engine, been sitting awhile, you may want to put a few squirts of oil in each cylinder and manually turn engine over a few times.
10% leakage in not abnormal, seen complete rebuilds come in at 8% dry, getting in the 20% range is when the concern would start, leaking head gasket or cracked head would much higher.

Plus listen and feel for air flow out of the waterpump and where the intake coolent passages would be if the intake is off. If on? Then at the gooseneck where the upper rad hose connects.

S-

 

[Alex98]

Thank you I'll get right on it, plus I'll throw a pcv valve in it. The motor has been sitting so I'm also gonna take into consideration it might just be water that somehow managed to get into the engine if all else fails.

 

[Andy D]

Can you get the pick up screen off to give it a good look see ? If it is all gunked up ? Oil will pick up moisture from the air as condensation. Being heavier than oil, the water flows to the lowest point while the engine sits. Unless you drained a chocolate shake out before you pulled the pan, that was in a safe place away from stuff. When you do the compression test use Marvel Mystery Oil. Squirt it down the plug holes. If you have the engine out, check the freeze plugs and replace the rear and front main seals.

 

[Eaglefixer]

could it be the intake gasket?