Oil is very fuel fouled and missing coolant

Iron Squirrel

Iron Squirrel

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Joined
Mar 21, 2023
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Dallas
Some backstory - ever since I purchased my Jeep it's had a history of using or loosing coolant - somewhere. In the first month of ownership it got very close to overheating and I ended up replacing the radiator and I believe the water pump. Overheating issue solved, but still continued to use/loose coolant. Flash forward a few years and a few hundred miles - engine starts to run really, really rough. Notice significant smoke/vapor coming from valve cover when oil cap is removed. Checked oil - have the dreaded milkshake and abnormally high level. Knew for sure it must be a blown head gasket, cracked head or block or any combination of them. Jeep sat for about 3 months before I had a chance to start repairs.

Yesterday I drained the radiator and found a murky dark green substance that probably at one point was clean neon green coolant, and only about 1/2 a gallon was in the entire radiator, and none in the overflow. Went to drain the oil, knowing for sure I'd be greeted with my missing coolant first - but instead I got a chocolate syrup looking/consistency "oil" that smelled more like gas than the gas tank does. I've noticed in past oil changes the oil smelling like gas, but it's never been milky. If it was my missing coolant causing the contamination, or even water, it should have separated out by now right?

I plan on taking the engine out to replace the head gasket, piston rings (and possibly the pistons), assorted gaskets and bearings anyway - is there anything I need to be paying close attention to while I'm in there other than the obvious? It's a 2.5 with about 225k on the clock.

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Also, does anyone know of a relatively inexpensive dye-type crack detection kit for a cylinder head? The kits I've seen alone are almost half the cost of an entire new head...
 
Iron Squirrel said:
Also, does anyone know of a relatively inexpensive dye-type crack detection kit for a cylinder head? The kits I've seen alone are almost half the cost of an entire new head...
Click to expand...

I was in this boat too.. The way I figured it, I was going to spend money I didn't want to one way or another. My head was cracked for sure, so no reusing it. But to buy a used head, have it magnafluxed, potentially having to rebuild the head...or finding out the used head was also junk and being back at square 1. I decided to bite the bullet and buy a new head so I knew what I had and didn't waste any time or money. Just something to consider.
 
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I'm probably looking to get another 20k (at most, as it's just a recreational fun vehicle right now) out of the engine before I swap to SBC power, so I'm not really too concerned with it going another 250k. We'll just have to see when I get it apart how bad things really are - adding the expense of utilizing a machine shop for work really isn't in the budget right now, so really anything I do I'll have to do on my own (with the exception of doing machining work on concrete - I'm not to that point yet).

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That copper gasket stuff is worse than superglue mixed with RTV and anti seize if you get it anywhere near your hands it sticks to everything!! With the amount of fuel in the oil though I'm at minimum looking at a re-ring I think though - I can tell I have very low compression across all 4. You can have it floored in 3rd and only be hitting 50mpg. I need to replace the clutch anyway so it's either pull the engine or pull the transmission for that, might as make it easier on myself and just take the engine out for that and while I'm at it take care of whatever internal I can. But good point on the head gasket I'll look for a thicker one to be sure.
 
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