Why the freak is there coolant in my intake??

[gijoecam]

I was doing the OOM12 kit install today, and when I pulled the lower intake, I found this in cylinders 2,3,5, and 6. (Cylinders 1 and 4 could be the same, however the intake valves were partially open, so it may have run down into the combustion chamber already)

#5

#2

I've noticed that for the last year or so, I've been losing about a pint of coolant every 3000 miles. I could see it leaking into one of the cylinders if I had a cracked head, but how in the bloody hell would it be getting into 4 or 6 at the same time?

The other thing I'm thinking is that maybe it's oil, not coolant. I just did an oil change 20 minutes before this, so I'm wondering if it could be bad valve seals? It would explain the bright color of it (assuming it's oil, of course...)

Anyone ever seen this before? How alarmed should I be? How do I track the source?

-Joe

 

[Turdle]

Lower intake gasket or cracked intake manifold?

If any foreign material gets into the intake paths-it can be easily swapped between cylinders--

 

[Turdle]

Does that engine have coolant lines to the upper plennum like the v8?

 

[gijoecam]

Strike that... It's oil, not coolant... I stuck a piece of white paper towel down in there, and it turned the paper towel brown, so it's definitely oil, not coolant. I did the oil change, backed it out into the driveway where it sat for an hour, then pulled it back in and started on the 00M12 kit install. I suspect I've got a set of valve seals on their way out. I'm surprised I've not noticed a black cloud on start-up with that much oil leaking down in there.... I suspect the color is off because it's relatively clean oil.

Unless it's sucking that much oil through the intake in the first 45 seconds it runs, it's got to be the valve seals... although I found that both the upper and lower intakes are coated with a gritty, oily film... but I think that's way too much oil to be running down the intake runners after I shut it off.

Thoughts?

 

[gijoecam]

No coolant to the intake that I found. It's all contained in the head... Don't think it's coolant though... looks like oil when I sop it up with paper towel.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

What does it smell like on the paper towel?

 

[gijoecam]

Oil. No coolant smell at all.

 

[MountaineerGreen]

:scratch:

that's strange

 

[gijoecam]

What would have been even more strange would be if it had been coolant. There's no coolant anywhere up there with the exception of the heads... It would mean that both heads had cracked, leading into at least the four I could see had liquid on the valves, and possibly all six. I mean, how in the world does one crack all six ports?

I'm leaning towards worn out valve seals... I wish there was an easy way to diagnose that...

-Joe