looks like emulsified oil dripping under the car. Dipstick shows normal oil at 3/8" above full level. Coolant is down a little.

Anyone know whats up? especially where it's coming from ? I cant see anything from the engine bay.

ATB Steve

(96 3.8 V6 manual)

 

That's not normal. You should be at or below the full line on your car for the oil. White emulsified looking oil is signs of oil and water (coolant) mixing. Not a good thing either.

Is the stuff coming from the front or rear of the engine? Too much oil will cause you start blowing seals. Get underneath it and see if you can spot the leak.

 

Thats what I thought, I just hope it's not the heads leaking! Not a nice job in the winter. Cant see any signs in the valve cover. I'll syphon off the excess oil & have a look underneath.
Thanks,
Steve

 

you sir very likelyhave a blown head gasket. I have dealt with two blown head gaskets... this one you're talking about sounds like what I had to deal with on my wife's first gen Neon (that engine is famous for a weak head gasket between oil and coolant passage). Coolant in oil will boil off, but oil in coolant (in radiator) becomes that horrible gooey emulsified mess.

 

See if you can pick up a black light and some dye, clean the engine off really well, add the dye to the coolant, then drive until the engine reaches temp and go home. Pass the blacklight around the engine until you see a glow. That will tell you where the leak is.

Oil and coolant turns into a dark milky mixture, and it's most likely the head gasket, unfortunately, but as I'm sure you've seen have the heads checked, if they're good go ahead and slap on some new edge head gaskets. Change your oil a few times within a few hundred miles to get all that coolant out of there, and you should be fine. Also run a coolant flush.

 

O.K. I've crawled around under the car , cant see any sign of where the frothy stuff is dripping from (engine was cold). So I've got my son to warm up the engine & parked it inside with cardboard under the engine, hopefully it'll drip & betray itself by morning.

Thing is, the engine oil looks normal & so does the coolant in the rad. There is a coolant leakage problem as the expansion/recovery tank level does go down about a cupful in a week if driven. I might try the dye trick. No sign of leakage at the water pump either. Front crankshaft seal looks good, cant see the rear but there is no oil dripping from the area. Never had a Ford with a leaking head, I've been lucky for 20+ years!......... whats the running symptons of a blown head gasket?

Regards, Aeroman

 

Your engine is prone to blowing head gaskets, but typically it's the water jacket leaking into the combustion chamber.

If the oil and water were leaking seperately they would mix, it would just be 2 seperate fluids, not a milky substance.

The most common symptom is loss of coolant and overheating.

The bad thing about letting it drip is that it can run anywhere, and it's hard to find the place of origin, espescially with even a slightly dirty engine. I clean mine regularly, and at oil changes I have to use engine cleaner on the front of the pan due to a small spray from the front main seal. On mine it's nothing bad, not even enough to actually drip after 3k miles, just spray from the crank turning on the seal.

The easiest way to clean off the engine, IMHO, is to get one of those garden sprayers, the ones you pump to build pressure. They're like $10 at Home Depot or Lowe's. Take some simple green, which can be bought in gallons at the same place, and dilute it about 1:5 1 part simple green 5 parts water. If the engine is really nasty go ahead and do 1:1. It's best to spray it on when the engine is warm, loosens any built up sludge and stuff. Liberally spray it on, don't be shy lol, and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. Spray it down one more time, making sure not to force anything into any places, just let it spray on with light pressure or you'll damamge sensors. Once that has sat for about 5 minutes, take a hose, with no sprayer nozzle on it and let about medium pressure run out onto the engine to rinse off the soap. Again don't spray it on or it will get into sensors and cause you a few headaches. After that, let it sit and dry overnight, if you're in a hurry, go ahead and crank it up for a few minutes and it'll dry in the major areas a lot faster.

That should make it much easier to find out where those little leaks are coming from.

 

I was told not to put Simple Green on an engine because that stuff can eat through almost anything[8D]. I use to be a janitor and used it to mop floors, and clean stuff. Its very powerfull.

Matt

 

Simple green is fine. Just dilute it or it will leave a nasty film. I've used it as a bug remover and rim cleaner for years.

BTW if you use it on paint you will need to rewax the area you put it on. It removes the bugs AND wax.

 

maybe your pony has a yeast infection