Blown headgasket or idiot *********s?

[Lignum]

So, I am selling my rig, and some young guys come out to look at it. The buyer was pretty excited about it on the phone, like he was ready to buy. They want to look at the engine and fluids, so i shut off the engine. They ask me to turn it back on, then proceed to check the oil with the engine running (at this point I figured they might be idiots). They show me the dipstick and it has tiny bubbles on it, looks like air bubbles to me. So of course they tell me the head gasket is blown and try to get me to knock thousands of the price(now I'm pretty sure they are *******s).

There are no other indications of a blown head gasket and the oil is a healthy color. The coolant looks fine and the truck runs great.

I have never checked the oil on any car with the engine running before so I don't know if this is normal. Can anyone go out and verify for me that this is normal in all of your runners and that this is just air from the oil sloshing around in the oil pan?

 

[durrell]

From what I understand, it's pretty normal to have air bubbles with the engine is cold but not when it's completely warm. Oil does foam a bit, but it shouldn't for long periods of time. I think they were just trying to scam you. Either that or they're stupid.

 

[cencyc]

As I recall, bubbles in the radiator indicates leakage between cylinder and head (blown head gasket, warped heads). Radiator fluid in the oil, same thing. Basically either indicates that the seal between the block and heads have failed in some fashion.

Large amount of foaming in the oil pan indicates an excess of oil in the pan. The crank/piston end caps are dipping into the oil and 'whipping' it, causing air to be introduced. This can be serious as it can drop oil pressure and cause loss of lubrication.

If the oil in the pan is at the correct level and not overfilled, any bubbles should be minor/negligible. The only time I would even consider checking the oil level with the engine running is if I suspected an overfull condition, drop in oil pressure and wanted to check for the foaming condition.

Sounds like you should have told these bozos that you had just replaced the muffler bearings so it ran much quieter!

*On an aside...muffler bearings are an old mechanic joke...unless you are working on a specific Fiat where they pass the exhaust through the frame and the gaskets between the frame hole and exhaust are called...muffler bearings...

 

[chris360hawks]

Yes, they are ********s.

 

[Lignum]

Oil level was perfect. I checked it again later with the engine off and there was nothing and then started it again and there was about 6 little(maybe 1/32") bubbles.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Yeah, it sounds like these guys are trying to scam you.

 

[JohnsD90]

I just dont see why you want the mercury version of the crown vic, instead of a 4Runner???

 

[Lignum]

I guess I just get bored with one thing after too long. Plus I am sick of hitting my head on the roof.

 

[theizzardking]

I guess I just get bored with one thing after too long. Plus I am sick of hitting my head on the roof.

no they are the smartest guys alive! you should just trade me trucks right now and save yourself the hassle of dealing with bubbles in your oil, i'm only like 10 mins away so we could do this today if you wanted ;-)

j/k @john you already has another 4runner nothing wrong with ditching one and getting a car of some sort, though i would say keep the 3rd gen, sell the 4th gen and wait for the price on the 5th gens to drop in the next couple of years and go for one of those, but that's me and can understand why he wants to keep the 4th gen as well

sad to see you go man, we're talking about your truck last week when we had out wrenching party, would have be cool if you could have made it by so we could check it out before ya ditched it, lol, but oh well maybe send the new owner our way?

 

[Lignum]

LOL Ya I couldn't get rid of the 4th gen unless I pryed it from my wifes cold dead hands...