Condensation

[Gary H NC]

I have been noticing condesation coming out of the breather hoses at the spark arrestor on my 4.3,Also a coating of milky oil on the inside of the oil fill cap.<br />I drained the oil and it looked normal.<br />I recently had the head gaskets and manifold gaskets changed.<br />The engine is running at 150 to 160 degrees.<br />It runs smooth at idle and WOT.<br />Should i be worried?

 

[ron7000]

Re: Condensation

some water in the oil from an intake manifold removal is normal. It will burn off and can take a few hours of runtime to do so. The longer you can run the motor continuously the better, so it burns off the moisture. Depending on who did the work they probably just pulled the intake and heads and spilled a quart of water into the motor. Monitor your oil level as accurate as possible, if there are signs the oil level is rising then you may have a gasket leak somewhere. If you have a closed cooling system and there's a chance anti-freeze (ethylene glycol) got into the oil then change the oil and filter again.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Condensation

Thanks Ron,The oil level does not rise.<br />It has a raw water cooling system.<br />I run the boat yesterday for about 4 hours,pulled the oil fill cap and the creamy stuff was back on it again.<br />I guess i'll try one more oil and filter change and hope for the best.If that doesn't work would it be the intake gasket or exhaust manifold gasket?

 

[crazy charlie]

Re: Condensation

I had the same exact situation in a boat I owned years ago.Ran it that way for several years.I had to remove a head for another reason and had it magnafluxed while it was out.There were cracks around a valve port that were undetectable by eye.I replaced it with a used head and guess what?? I never saw any condensation again.Not a drop anywhere.Not even under the valve cover cap.

 

[Gary H NC]

Re: Condensation

Thanks Charlie...That makes sense.<br />It is strange this problem started after changing the head gaskets.<br />I wonder if re-torque of the head bolts is needed.Some say yes and others say not to bother with it.