a very n00bish question im sure

[06elantra]

as the title suggests, i have a very n00bish question to ask - its not so much a question, more a re-assurance of my own answere for it.

my other car - the project car (1982 Ford FD LTD for those who have just joined us). finally blew her head - and bad. i knew it was coming, so no biggie. on the weekend, replaced it with a nice(er) and new(er) one, that wasnt about to let go on me

now of course, when the head let go, the oil mixed with the water, causing what i like to call "choc milk" in the sump.

its been my experience, that when an engine has 'choc milk' in its sump, when running, it sounds like absolute CRAP! it litterally sounds like its running very rough - not just because i dont have the timing set right yet, but internally.
i know that running an engine like this is NOT good for it - tends to strip out bearings and the like.

so if i change my oil, im likely to remove this corse sound im hearing when i can actually get the LTD started?

(the head only just let go, so the choc milk hasnt been slooshing around the sump for a long time or anything, so i think that i have avoided the danger and expense of a total engine rebuild - will be changing the oil on the weekend.. if finances allow that is...)
anyhow - more thinking out aloud than anything, but plese feel free to point out any errors in my thoughts

[punkrocker3_00]

That should clear up some of your problems. Dont' forget to also change the coolent/water. I know when the head gasket went on my old Dodge Neon, the dealership said they ran some kind of cleaner through the oil system to clean out all the coolent. I have no idea what this stuff was called, but you may want to look into it.

[kylemorg]

Prestone makes a flush-N-fill kit for the coolant system. It's easy to install and use.

If I were you, I'd also consider running a clean batch of oil through the engine for a short time(probably no more than a few hundred miles, if that), then draining and replacing it and the oil filter again to get rid of residual water in the oil, too. There may be products you can add to the oil that will absorb the water and put it into solution in the oil so you can drain it out (since oil and water don't mix), but I don't know of any offhand (other than maybe Kerosene?).

[06elantra]

my partner wants to poor kero though the motor... but im against the idea personally, as i have heard that if its not out completly, it can eat away at the piston rings?

i would much rather just flush a whole heap of cheap - but clean oil through the motor, at least then i know whats in it. im thinking of buying the cheapest of cheap oil to do it with, and the cheap filters too.
the car isnt registered, so driving it for a couple of miles is a bit of a problem unfortunatly, unless i take it out in the dark of night around the block a couple of times... but getting caught doing that would be big trouble and large fines too...

i will be looking at reverse flushing the block - and radiator too, with clean water first before adding any chemical cleaning agents to the cooling system. hopefully a couple of clean flush-throughs will pick up a lot of the scale thats formed, and then when i can legally drive it on the road (lot of work to do before then unfortunatly) il dump the coolant again.
interesting to note tho, i filled it with just tap water - with the intention of dropping it very soon so green stuff wasnt nec, as im still trying to get it to run without convincing... the water hasnt really picked up a 'choc milky' colour at all yet - still looks as clean as it did when it went in. i would have thought that the choc milk would have diluted out somewhat.

either way, a big weekend with getting the car to run as it is, but they are all small things - like setting the timing correctly replacing the dizzy cap and rotor too.

[kylemorg]

Cheap oil and cheap filters should be fine.

Yep, you could just run oil without any additives through the engine. You don't have to drive it; put the clean oil in the car and let it run until it reaches operating temperatures, then sit in the car in the driveway and rev the engine up to a few thousand RPM (NOT over redline) for 5 minutes or so.

Then change the oil again as you said.

as for flushing the radiatior / coolant system, remember that oil and water don't mix. If you mix oil and water under pressure or at very high speed, it will form an emulsion (your "choc milk"), which tends to adhere to surfaces. It will take a while for the droplets of oil or oil / water emulsion to work their way out of the coolant system. However, I wouldn't expect too much trouble with the coolant system, even with a bit of emulsion (if any) left in there.

Good luck.