Water in my oil

[Bolt]

I got loads of water in my oil. What is the first thing I should do?

First, dont drive it anymore. ( I know this one)

Change my oil and filter to keep anything from corroding?

Put an additive in the new oil?

I will not start tearing the motor down for awhile. (2 months)

Where do you think yhe water is coming from? Head gasket, cracked head, cracked block????

Cold I fill up the radiator. Put the cap on. Run the motor up to opperating temprature. Let cool down. Remove the radiator cap. All the water is gone.

 

[dave6666]

Whatever you do, and I am not the expert on details, I would take a more aggressive approach than 2 months until tear down. That is a huge amount of moisture in your engine. Changing the oil is probably a start, but don't refill the radiator too. Have you done a plug check to see if you can isolate it to one cylinder?

 

[pocketAA]

How does water get into the Oil? What would be the cause of this? Wouldn't you notice the car running strange if this was happening?

 

[dave6666]

How does water get into the Oil? What would be the cause of this? Wouldn't you notice the car running strange if this was happening?

Oil and water run in separate galleries, their isolation maintained by gaskets, the castings themselves, etc. Failure of a gasket or casting can create the mixing point. And yes, one might wonder how well that critter is running with a problem that severe.

 

[AFL in NJ]

It could be something as simple as a blown head gasket, which is relatively easy to fix....it could also be something like a cracked head, which is a little more costly, but not much more in depth if you were already checking the head gaskets. There are plenty of vendors who sell Viper parts (PM me if you want a few to call), so one head shouldn't be that costly if that was the case. What will cost you a little is the labor....how handy are you?

Regards,
Aaron

 

[Bolt]

Oil and water run in separate galleries, their isolation maintained by gaskets, the castings themselves, etc. Failure of a gasket or casting can create the mixing point. And yes, one might wonder how well that critter is running with a problem that severe.

I just noticed that my water was low. This all happened quickly.


My watter level was low so I pressure tested the system and found a leaky radiator hose. At that time I check the oil level. Looked great. I put a second hose clamp on the leaky hose and drove the car for 5 miles. Let it cool down and the water level was low again. I figured maybe there was air in the system. I toped off the water and put the cap on. Started the car till it came up to operating temperature. Let it cool down and checked the water level. It was low again and no water on my floor. This is when I pulled the dip stick and found the water. I think I caught this problem before it did any major damage. The car ran great those 5 miles. I think the water went right into the oil and not in to the cylinder.

 

[Bolt]

It could be something as simple as a blown head gasket, which is relatively easy to fix....it could also be something like a cracked head, which is a little more costly, but not much more in depth if you were already checking the head gaskets. There are plenty of vendors who sell Viper parts (PM me if you want a few to call), so one head shouldn't be that costly if that was the case. What will cost you a little is the labor....how handy are you?

Regards,
Aaron

Thank you and I may be contacting you. I am very handy see my Viper build link in in sig.

 

[plumcrazy]

call chuck tator and see what he thinks... and he helps with parts pricing

 

[Bolt]

call chuck tator and see what he thinks... and he helps with parts pricing

Yea, Chuck is a great guy. I'll be talking to him soon.

 

[carguy07]

Water or antifreeze? Antifreeze eats bearings. I would flush the oil out and figure out where it is coming from before thinking about driving it again.

 

[Steve-Indy]

A couple of points:

Blown timing chain cover gasket???

Whatever it is...fix NOW.

Remember the post on the oil board about the vette with a quart of water in the crankcase...because the guy's dad put the windshield washer fluid into the oil fill location instead of the washer bottle reservoir !!!

 

[cobramadness]

Remember the post on the oil board about the vette with a quart of water in the crankcase...because the guy's dad put the windshield washer fluid into the oil fill location instead of the washer bottle reservoir !!!

That takes the cake!

 

[revived_gearhead]

Happened to me on my '97 GTS. Not sure what year yours is, but '96 & 97 were prone to blowing the gasket on the front timing chain cover. You had a 50-50 chance of the water leaking outside or into the oil. Mine needed a complete rebuild as the bearings were wiped out and the cam lobes were shot. The Mobile One definitely did it's job by keeping a rod from coming through the side of the block, but the rings, bearings, cam and lifters had to be replaced. Antifreeze will destroy a bearing in just a few revolutuions.

 

[dave6666]

Happened to me on my '97 GTS. Not sure what year yours is, but '96 & 97 were prone to blowing the gasket on the front timing chain cover. You had a 50-50 chance of the water leaking outside or into the oil. Mine needed a complete rebuild as the bearings were wiped out and the cam lobes were shot. The Mobile One definitely did it's job by keeping a rod from coming through the side of the block, but the rings, bearings, cam and lifters had to be replaced. Antifreeze will destroy a bearing in just a few revolutuions.

Man, OUCH!!!

 

[Bolt]

All indicators are that it may be the timing chain cover gasket.

I drained the oil and put in two quarts of Marvel Mystery oil and 5 quarts of cheep oil. Ran the car for one minute three times. The oil looks OK now. I hope I got most of the moisture out.This weekend is tear down time.

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[Jim Wilson]

Bolt, that oil looks like it still has a bunch of water in it…kind of looks like chocolate milk in the photo which indicates water. You may want to flush it again. You may be getting residual water in the oil if you did not remove the drain plugs in the block below the heads.

I did a rebuild on a turbo motor that had blown a head gasket. Within a year, the bearings in the turbo were shot. Your Paxton blower bearings; not to mention your other bearings may suffer the same fate if you don’t get all the water out in time.

Just my 2 cents.

P.S. It’s good to see other DIY’ers on this forum. I recently did a similar build with a DLM setup.

 

[Zzapper]

Remember "Safety First" Use both jack stands, all it takes is a oops and down she comes!

Hope you don't mind my "two cents".

 

[plumcrazy]

I agree, get that water OUT. flush it like crazy.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

Diesel oil isn't cheap, but it has more dispersant and detergent to handle the moisture, as well as more anti-corrosion additives. The mineral oil version might be a good charge when you are ready for the next fill.

 

[Bolt]

Does anyone have pictures of the location of the drain plugs in the heads or block?

I did a quick flush yesterday. I'll do another flush before the tear down this Saturday. You guys got me worried so I'm not going to let this set. I'm going to fix this thing this Saturday. After the fix, I'll flush two more times.

Safety first. I'll get this thing on my lift next and do the job right. I deserve the slam on the single jack stand. I know better than to show that picture.

 

[dave6666]

All indicators are that it may be the timing chain cover gasket.

I drained the oil and put in two quarts of Marvel Mystery oil and 5 quarts of cheep oil. Ran the car for one minute three times. The oil looks OK now. I hope I got most of the moisture out.This weekend is tear down time.

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Looks like some progress being made. Glad to hear. But a question... Howz the snake handle on the black crushed rock?!?

 

[pocketAA]

Just wondering how something like this happens? Is it because of a power adder such as a turbo or supercharger setup? Could this happen to an NA motor?

 

[Bolt]

Just wondering how something like this happens? Is it because of a power adder such as a turbo or supercharger setup? Could this happen to an NA motor?

Good question. With the Paxton setup some of the waterpump bolts are changed and I torqued them as noted by Paxton. Maybe since those original bolts where disturbed created the problem. I have heard of others having this problem but I have never tracked weather they are running a Paxton SC.

 

[Jim Wilson]

Does anyone have pictures of the location of the drain plugs in the heads or block?

I did a quick flush yesterday. I'll do another flush before the tear down this Saturday. You guys got me worried so I'm not going to let this set. I'm going to fix this thing this Saturday. After the fix, I'll flush two more times.

Safety first. I'll get this thing on my lift next and do the job right. I deserve the slam on the single jack stand. I know better than to show that picture.

Oops, I meant to write "below the heads". The plugs are located near the center of the left and right sides of the block, directly below the heads. I'm not sure what size the plugs are, but if you take a 3/8 inch drive extension and carefully grind the end of it to fit, it will work great.

 

[hemibeep]

Okay, bolt.
I was the one with the MAJOR water in the oil problem. I had a cracked sleeve,broke piston in #5. The best and easiest way to fine out where the water is coming from, it to get the car up even, drop the oil pan, and use the pressure tester you mentioned, this will also allow you to clean up the internals easier. After I resolved the crack, it still took 5 complete oil changes to clean out all of the water. The heads have areas(pockets) that will collect the water, pull the valve covers to get those dry. Remember, we don't have cam bearings so you just need to focus on crank and rod bearings.

Hope this helps!

 

[plumcrazy]

hey Jim, does this pic show where ?

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[Jim Wilson]

Hey Phil, the drain plug is under the middle cylinder. In your pic you can see part of the boss it goes in.

Here are a couple photos......use Teflon paste when replacing them (a dab L do yah )

 

[plumcrazy]

gotcha...thanx

 

[dansauto]

I really would suggest a leak down test before you start tearing into things. You have had a lot of issues and if the tune was bad you may have blown a head gasket, cracked a piston, ect...(did you notice any metal in the oil?) I have read that some gen2's have had timing cover problems, but I really would recomend a leak down first.

 

[Bolt]

I really would suggest a leak down test before you start tearing into things. You have had a lot of issues and if the tune was bad you may have blown a head gasket, cracked a piston, ect...(did you notice any metal in the oil?) I have read that some gen2's have had timing cover problems, but I really would recomend a leak down first.

I'll take your advice and do a leak down test before the tear down. The tune was great before my Paxton switching box went bad. I changed the switching box and moved my o2 sensors closer to the engine. I know it was running rich. I never had any poping or bad running of the engine or steam coming out the exhaust. This realy does not make me mad, just more KACHING from the pockets. No metal in the oil but I did not drop the pan yet.

Everyone has been great here. I want to thank all you you for the advice. It ***** when stuff like this happens and it is nice for people like you to help a fellow Viperest.

We'll see how bad things are. I'm not sure if I'm going to rip off the Paxton set up yet.