romoranger

basically my problem is as stated, but I shall get into it a little bit more. About three years ago now I had the whimsical idea that a drag car would be a great idea. One look at my camaro and my truck made the choice easy. One head and cam swap later (along with every other part on the car) I had acheived my goal. I raced the car at the track on maybe three or four separate occasions within a year time span, each time having an over heating problem. After every track session I changed the oil. Oil always came out looking brand new. After a year of being a pretend race car driver I realized my car was very slow and that I never drive, so I decided to put it back on the street. Some tuning, new rear end, and a new clutch later I felt I was there. Vehicle still had overheating problem, although never once was I in extreme red, I only ever got 7/8th's high on the heat gauge. After some simple diagnosing I figured out my thermostat was stuck. I replaced thermostat and vehicle ran extremely cool, in fact cooler than it did when it was about stock.

After about ten miles I decided to dyno the vehicle. The car made four dyno runs on that one day. With horrible results I tore the car apart again to discover a blown opti. At this point the vehicle has had about 25 miles on it since the last oil change. Just a few days ago I emptied the oil pan. first came oil, then milky stuff, then some coolant. I never had problems with the head gasket on my drag passes, which I would imagine are much harder on the motor than would be a dyno run. The vehicle also never smoked at all. I keep looking back at the over heating and thinking that something may have slightly "gave" at the higher temperature, but would imagine cooling would have had it return to its original state. The next best thing I could think of was the oil cooler. 1994 model, so it has the better steel unit, or so I think it does. there is a sticker on the side of it that reads modine manufacturing company.

When I drained the oil I left the oil filter off. For the next few days coolant dripped out of where the oil filter goes on. I have since taken the oil cooler off and put on the adapter hose, but I really am trying to see if some of you feel that I am in the right mode of thought, or it I am just trying to convince myself that the worst has not happened. I really have no desire to pull these heads right now.

That Camaro Guy

I hate to break it to you but you've blown a head gasket. Just because it's not blowing smoke doesn't mean its not a blown head gasket. Coolant as you know should never be in your oil and the most likely way for it to get there is through a toasted head gasket. Yes, its a pain to change but its easier to do it now then to ignore the problem and ruin your bearings due to coolant in the oil. I blew the gasket in my stock motor, after pulling the head you could see where the gasket had blown on the block, my machine shop even noticed it. Motor never smoked or over heated either, just noticed a tick when I started it up and got worse from there >.<

romoranger

ugh, no one has heard of an oil cooler leaking the coolant into the pan or oiling system? I think I might be forced the hear what I don't want too.....

shoebox

Yes, it has happened to other people.

romoranger

hooray!

nhill_05

IMHO its best to try the easiest fix first. If it doesn't fix it.... Oh well. It sucks taking the heads off with the engine in the car but it's not impossible. I agree that it is most likely a blown head gasket, but you never know til you rip it apart.
Just a thought.... What heads does it have on it? A decked head doesn't have to get very hot to warp or even crack... Worst case scenario of course.
I hope this helps........

romoranger

I believe 7 thousandths or something to that extent have been shaved off. I have already done it in the past, I am just kind of getting sick of fixing a car that I haven't drove in years. I am going to work on it a bit in the next few days, Just need to rtv the rear cover, let it dry, fill, then fill coolant in car then bleed it. hopefully the oil cooler delete works for me!

justin113311

i blew a head gasket on my car about 3 weeks after i bought it, and then ended up spinning a bearing, because i was so pissed and didnt wanna believe it. Easier just to fix the head gasket now, rather than lookin for other problems and ultimately creating a bigger one.

shoebox

...but if it's not a head gasket, he does not need to fix it...

He indicated his oil cooler was dripping coolant with the filter off.

justin113311

i thought he said that he was gettin coolant into his oil, and that it was milky

shoebox

He did...but that's not all he said. You're missing the part about the oil cooler.