water in oil

[Kylan]

driving from oregon to wyoming my truck started pinging realling bad and bogged down and blew coolant everwhere. it ended up being the lower radiator hose, so i replaced that. but after i put coolant in it i started it up and white smoke was coming out of the exhaust. i checked the oil and there was water in the oil. anyone know what this may be

 

[Bruce]

Blowed head gasket or cracked head.

 

[Roadkill]

+1, you've lost a head gasket or cracked a head. That sucks.

 

[red85]

It is likelely a blown head gasket or a head has gone bye bye. Take it to a shop that does emissions testion and ask them to do a hydrocarbon test on it.

 

[Kylan]

man that really blows.how much do think that'd run me? two grand?

 

[Roadkill]

Well my Contour ran me $1500. Mind you it's an aluminum block and heads, one use bolts, and you have to drop the front A frame out of the car to do it. Magnafluxing the heads with machining only cost $300 (in the total). All that done at the Ford dealer.

If you do the gaskets yourself and get the heads checked it shouldn't be too much.

 

[michowski]

2 grand it outrageous. If you do it yourself and it ends up being the heads, you can probly get new ones and spend a good 4-6 hours to replace em and it should cost you around 500 including new heads, bolts, valve cover, upper and lower intake, exhaust, and head gaskets.

Definatly do some diagnosing to try and zero in on the problem before tearing apart your heads or any major dissasembly. 99% chance its the heads tho if there is water in the oil.

 

[MAKG]

man that really blows.how much do think that'd run me? two grand?

You're (probably) F'd, but not that F'd.

Used 4.0Ls are a dime a dozen, and cost around 1/10 of that at a pull-yer-own.

Even replacing heads with new won't run you THAT much unless you let it sit for a while and hose the bottom end (hint: if you want to go this route, drain the coolant and oil NOW).

A smog sniff over the open radiator neck (or chemical exhaust detection kit) will confirm a head crack into a cylinder, but it's very likely under the conditions given and I'm not sure I'd go that far. If you remove the heads and can't see any cracks, have them Magnafluxed at a machine shop. Bring in the old head gaskets, as the machinist can very, very likely help you confirm a blown gasket.

With "pinging" due to low coolant, there may be much more damage than a cracked head (true preignition is likely under these conditions). With the heads removed, inspect the tops of the pistons. Severe damage will be rather obvious. If you can see any wrist pins, a head or two won't be enough.

 

[Kylan]

so i'm guessing my best bet would be to get a completely new motor huh. problem is my truck is stuck in wyoming with nowhere to work on it. motor had only 130,000 miles on it too. this makes me sick

 

[Taragon]

Just sell me the truck "as is" for $2K

I'm serious.

 

[TayCo 7s]

you could of warped a head from overheating... swap the engine

 

[Kylan]

Just sell me the truck "as is" for $2K

I'm serious.

i don think i could get myself to do that. so if anyone in or near laramie wyoming has a motor let me know. but i'll let you know if i change my mind about that

 

[michowski]

Id at least pull the heads off your motor now and see what kind of shape its all in.

 

[MAKG]

i don think i could get myself to do that. so if anyone in or near laramie wyoming has a motor let me know. but i'll let you know if i change my mind about that

Given that' it's 1000+ miles from home and it's blue book isn't all that much higher than $2000, I'd suggest reconsidering that position. If it were sitting in your driveway now, that might be a different story.

 

[metalmacguyver]

Just an FYI, this past weekend I hauled a friends car home from Maine to MA. (blown head gasket) and it cost $100 in fuel alone. (another 100 to rent the tow dolly too.)