Water in oil, am i safe yet?

[rotinaj13]

I had a blowen head gasket. It was dumping water in my oil. Some one told me after I replaced my head gasket run it with kerosene in my oil, then change the oil and filter. Run it for a few hundred miles after the oil change and change it again and I should be safe.... What do you guys think?!?! DarkDan come one I know you will have an oppinion on this ;-)

[FB71]

no, no kerosene. that's asking for wiped out bearings. just run a good oil, get the engine to operating temp, then change it while its till warm.

[darkdan]

A pint or two of kerosene for 10 minutes at idle won't hurt anything, but I don't think it will help remove water. It might dissolve a small amount of sludge and deposits, but usually not worth it.

The best way to get water out (if it's a small amount) is to drive the car for a long period of time. Such as a nice hour or two of highway use. Your oil temp will stay about 180 to 220 (i'm not sure what these cars oil temps hang out at) and will boil off the water, going through the PCV system, through the engine, and out the exhaust.

If it's a lot of water....change the oil with some really cheap oil once or twice. Then fill up with your oil of choice and carry on.

If you've changed the oil after the headgasket failure, I say just drive it.

[Kindred]

I just drove home after changing the gasket. By the time I made it home, the water had all burned out of the system. If you want to let it idle, just start it and let it run in your driveway for about 30 minutes.

[rotinaj13]

Is there a good quick and easy way of checking for a blowen head gasket besides going to a shop and payin 25-30 for them to preasure test it.... hell the tool prolly didn't cost much more then that!!! The coolent level seems to drop when it sits after being driven. However it raises back to normal as soon as i start it.... cold.... it is like 25 outside..... this car is turning into the money pit! here soon I am going to be traped in the floor board ;-)

[darkdan]

Rot, check your radiator cap.

If that little rubber seal is all torn and crap get a new one. Or heck, spend the $5 and get a new one anyways.

I wouldn't let the car just idle. Coolant temps go up, but overall oil temp stays low.

[Vinlandfrost]

I'd not use kerosene, but add some Marvel Mystery Oil instead, That stuff works real well.

[rotinaj13]

Well it is odd cause when cool and off the coolent will be down, but as soon as I start it and take the cap off the coolent level looks fine. I know the shops can preasure test it by pumping the water jacket up but all they use is a small handled pump and I was wondering if there is a way I can do it, cause they charge 25 bux and I think that is outragious for them to spend 5 min with a pump on it..... thanks the cap looks fine btw.

[darkdan]

MMO is a light solvent and will not carry water (then again, I don't think kerosene carrys water either).

MMO does little to nothing in engines. It does wonders as a fuel additive for model aircraft and a few other things, but as an oil additive....next to nothing.

[ozerik]

you can probably rent a pressure tester at a decent auto parts store. They might even let you test the water system in their parking lot if you are sneaky about it.

my sister put about a gallon of water into her Yugo engine thinking she was topping off the radiator. It ran horribly and stuff, but when she told me and i freaked out and changed the oil immediately, ran it for half an hour and changed the oil again it worked great! Never had a tiny bit of engine problem.

Of course, that was 12 years ago. But my point is, a little water in the oil won't hurt anything. Modern motor oil is miraculous stuff. Be sure you get that head flat before you replace the gasket. And use a good torque wrench for the head bolts. And follow the shop manual instructions.