Head Gasket replacement Now water in the oil

My 2.3 blew the head gasket between cylinders 1and 2... I took the head in and had it shaved because it was also a little warped (Borderline to even need shaved). I got the time to put it all back together this weekend. No problem with reassembly except a missing exhaust manifold bolt. Plus no timing marks so I could align the crank to the cam. I found a couple of pictures on the internet and got it close. I started it and it sounded like it was detonating a little. Only when I reved the motor. So I moved it 1 tooth and that cleared up and it ran great. Keep in mind I have not added water yet. But have not run it for more that 2 Minutes. So I adjust the timing and fuel air mixture. Running great, smooth at 700 RPM. It has a little carb miss but that is it. OK Add water all is good. I let it run for about 10 minutes and watch for the thermostat to open. It works great. So I took it for a drive around the block. It Ran OK for a severly underpowered motor. But still smooth. I get it back into the garage and notice some water coming out of the overfill by the radiator cap... Not really spraying out just running out like you turn on a faucet 1/16 the way. OK Why??? I will figure it out. Now the car is running, temperature is normal on the gauge and feels normal when I touch the head. Keep in mind this repair has only been running for about 20 minutes now. and only 10-15 of that with water in it... SO Basically we are starting to get up to normal operating temperature. I am looking at the breather on the oil cap and it looks like it has a little blowby... SO I stuck my hand by it and noticed 2 things the first was the it was not pulsating like you would see with blowby and it was not oil smoke it was steam... and it was not very hot steam either. Not hot enough to burn or even feel very warm to the touch... OK I have some problem. so I turn it off and check the oil... it is Milky ... what went wrong... now for the interesting part... Compression is basically 120 to 130 across the board...
HEAD SCRATCH!!! http://forums.stangnet.com/images/smilies/banghead.gif:bang: (not the one on my car) what else could cause steam to come from the oil filler cap like that??? My first thought was intake manifold but that doesn't fit because there are no oil passages in intake. Crack in head ? Blown gasket. There was not one when I took it off. Only blown between 1 and 2. Plus wouldn't compression test show that? Wrong Gasket? Maybe but problem should have shown up sooner I would think. Water left over from tanking head??? Dunno about that one. Head sat for 3 weeks before I put it all together.

HELP!!! PLEASE!!! I AM STUMPED ON THIS ONE!!!

Sealent on the head bolts I have never heard of. Residual water may be possible. I am confident in that I did not damage the gasket. I set it on the alignment pins first and then down on the motor.

I also noticed that the water level is low... Down to about half a radiator full.

Head bolt sealent? Do the head bolts go into the water jacket some how?

Are there any things I could test bfore I take the head back off ? Besides compression.

Giving some serious thought to just selling it as it... I would take any reasonable offer... It is in very good shape with the exception of the motor. I just went through the transmission also...

I just dont have the time or money to take this on... If I keep it I will spend too much time and money making it fast...

kilgorq said:

Giving some serious thought to just selling it as it... I would take any reasonable offer... It is in very good shape with the exception of the motor. I just went through the transmission also...

I just dont have the time or money to take this on... If I keep it I will spend too much time and money making it fast...

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Also forgot. The head is bad... The gasket was good...

ISSUE RESOLVED!!!

rd said:

If the compression is good on all 4, I would run it and warm it up.

It could be just residual coolant or water in the oil pan, etc from the blow out. I have seen this several times.

I would not, however, have even started it w/o coolant. It may not have actually hurt, but it does risk resurecting the problems with the head gasket.

If it has good compression, and you have fully filled and bled the cooing system, it should run and warm up to normal temperature, and clear up.

Otherwise, more investigating is needed.

I am really interested in what you find, as I have 3, or maybe 4 2.3 cars in my backyard with some version of blown headgaskets, or cracked heads. Have not gotten to checking them out yet.

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ISSUE RESOLVED:

The head bolts were bottoming out... They were torqued to spec but were too long ( BOTTOMING OUT) after I had the head shaved. I added some HEAD BOLT WASHERS from a motor with an aluminum head and wow it fixed it... Thanks to the machinist that shaved the head. He got me going in the right direction. Too bad he didn't metion that in the first place. but it is fixed now. He must have shaved an awfull lot off of the head to make this happen.

What is the the limit for this head?

Well she is running great now. I am getting aroud 26MPG and decent power now. I had to tweak the carb and timing a little to get it dialed in. I would say this car had seen a bad mechanic some time in its past. My Hundred dollar GEM the nicest car I own and now it actually gets close to the MPG of my 87 Honda Accord Beater... And runs a lot better. I still have 1 oil leak to track down and some Suspension parts to replace but for a car that books out at $1800 I will have less than $500 in it when I am done... Not too bad at all I would say...