Bad, Bad Day

[renmike]

Well, I'm not going to say I've been defeated yet, but I'm getting close.

A little background. After going around and around trying to either rebuild my engine (I got screwed over trying to buy some used conn. rods) or find one locally, I finally found an engine that didn't cost a grand and have like 150k+ miles. I had to drive 2 hours to get it, and over this past weekend finally got it dropped in. before I did that, though. I put it on the engine stand, took off the oil pan, checked the bearings for wear (checked ok) and went ahead and replaced the water pump, oil pump, timing belt, and quite a few external gaskets (rear main seal, cam seal, oil cooler gasket/o-ring, etc.). Under the valve cover, it didn't look as pretty as the one I took out, but it wasn't bad, soaked it in seafoam and cleaned it up. Coated everything in oil, then dropped it in Friday night. Hooked up the wiring yesterday, and once it was ready, filled the radiator with water and filled up all the other needed fluids.

Well, it wouldn't crank, it sounded like it wasn't getting any fire, so I checked the spark plugs. No. 2 and 3 plugs were wet then I checked the dipstick, and like I was worried about, it was milky-looking.

So, most likely, I feel like I've got a blown head gasket. I went ahead, changed the oil, drained the radiator, removed the plugs and got the rest of the water out of it by bumping it over a few times then squirted some wd-40 in the plug tubes to try to prevent the cyl walls from rusting. I'm going to do a compression test on it this week to make sure I don't have any other issues, and probably get the head off this weekend and take a look at the gasket. From listening to it, it doesn't seem like I got hydrolocked (thank goodness). My only problem is that yeah, I would just pull the engine, call the recycler I got it from and get my money back. Unfortunatly, I'm back in college and between that and working full-time, I'm lucky to have enough time to even bother with the car right now.

Based upon what I described, does it sound like I'm diagnosing this in the right direction? I've got another head with the intake/exhaust manifolds still attached, all I'd have to do would be to get another head gasket and drop it in. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Ken4]

Originally Posted by renmike

Well, it wouldn't crank....

I wouldnt worry so much about the head gasket problem yet, try to get the engine to fire up first.

[mazdaverx7]

do a compression test first. why run the engine with a bad head gasket and risk doing any more damage than what you already have. from the comp. test you can determine where to start. low compression would mean that you have a bad compresson ring(s) or that the head is bad or the gasket is toast. most likely, the gasket has just given up the ghost and thats why the car went to the scrap yard, and essentially how you wound up with the engine. start there and post back.

[marc780]

I'm thinking that the milky oil was casued by something else, such as cleaning chemicals or water left inside the engine? Because you have never run this engine yet, the cooling system has never had any pressure from the water pump, so this would have to be a bad bad cooling system issue for this to happen just from cranking over the engine, i think. You pulled the oil pan, i think you'd have seen evidence of a blown head gasket then.

Youre on the right track, all that work i feel for you dude, been there done that, i know the feeling alright ARGGG!!!

So start with the compression check as you mentioned, it should be about 170-180 psi, 145 is bare minimum i think. But if compression tests good, i would also try others things:

1. You could try to retorque the cylinder head. (But i think that to do this the cams might have to come off first! Which is alot more work so i would only do this is you are SURe you have some kind of head gasket issue. In which case if you are removing the camshafts and all like that, might as well just change the gasket and the timing belt too if it needs it)
Per image below, (BTW the image is for an 2002 engine, although the sequence is the same, your torque figure in ft lbs for your engine, may be different - can someone check this? and post it)
Be sure to use the right sequence of tightening, just in case you didnt know - DONT remove all the bolts at once Do one at a time! Just loosen it starting with #1 in the image, then torque it to final. Move on to #2, and so on.
BTW Important note: if by chance you do get it to run in the meantime, make sure the engine is overnight cold before retorquing them head bolts! Good luck please post back again on whats happening with this deal

[renmike]

Wednesday will be the soonest I can get my hands dirty working on the car (class Mon. and Tues. night). I'm going to go ahead and do a compression test first before I do anything else.

As for the milky oil, it's definitely from the leak, wherever it's coming from. When the engine was on the stand, I degreased the outside of it, and sprayed the inside with seafoam and let it soak overnight. Then the next day I went ahead and sprayed motor oil all over all the internal components, to prevent any rusting from occurring.

I had worried about leaking INTO the lower end of the engine because of the oil cooler. When looking at everything, I noticed that the gasket has become brittle and was about 2/3 missing, that's why I went ahead and replaced those gaskets.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far. I only hope its the head gasket and not a cracked block. While yes, I do have another block I could transfer my internals into, this would just be a frustrating chain of events.

All of this and the clutch in my truck has been giving me trouble for the past couple of weeks, hence my want/need to get the Camry up and running ASAP.

[74MK2]

If you're suspecting coolant leaking into the engine you could try pressuring up the cooling system with the engine off and see if it holds. If it is leaking you might hear or see it.

[fredk]

you didnt run it long enough to get anything milky, its probably from sitting somewhere, refill it and get it running before you take anything apart, a compression check is a good idea