Need Help... Water in oil

[SunPilot]

I know there are a lot of much more knowledgeable folks in here than I am, so I am asking for your help and opinions. I've been doing maintenance on my engine (2007 4.7 V-8). Just finished the timing belt and took off the valve covers to check valve clearances. I found drops of water on my heads and the oil looks weird. The oil on the stick looked fine, but I drained the oild and it is a murky brownish color. After sitting awhile, the oil has some red streaking in it. I should point out that I drained the coolant the other day to do the timing belt and it looked perfectly normal. The level also looked good. I recently bought the truck from a dealer and I have no idea if the oil is synthetic or not, or if they topped up the radiator... I'm worried I have a leak somewhere...could be a head gasket, but my engine was running smoothly and I didn't notice any white smoke before I started the maintenance. I'm not sure if the intake manifold has cooling passageways between it and the head, if so there might be a leak into the engine that way. I almost have the engine back together, but have not put any fluids in it yet. I'm debating pulling the intake at least, and maybe the heads. I've included some pics of the heads and in a few pics you can see some milky oil pooling up on some surfaces. The PCV looks clogged and had some moisture on it. I also included a pic of the oil I drained out, sorry but the light is glaring off the oil, but you can see somewhat what it looks like. I'm open to suggestions, advice, thoughts, and even sympathy! I'll try posting this in Tech section also. Thanks for your input.

 

[gm350reratliff]

It doesn't look good. Any signs of it being a flood vehicle? I would change the oil, maybe a couple times, and see if it comes back. You might also think about getting an oil analysis.

 

[V8Man]

Water in Oil

[MENTION=56333]SunPilot[/MENTION]

First of all how many miles on your truck?
The purpose of the PCV valve is to remove the moisture from the normal operation of an engine. If it's clogged moisture builds from the condensation. Think of the engine sweating inside. The additives in the oil collect the moisture and turn it light brown, allowing the oil to keep the engine lubricated. I have seen this before in engines that were driven short trips without ever getting warm, or with stuck thermostats. The warm engine helps the oil get rid of built up moisture if the PCV valve is working.
I do not think your engine has a leak on the coolant side. The engine looks too clean. I would drop the small black oil pan to clean and inspect the oil pickup. Also look real close at the cam, look for deep scratches in the chrome. If everything looks good, put some oil it, run it for a couple hundred miles.
Check if the new oil has water in it by doing the crackle test. Take out the dip stick and drip oil on the hot exhaust or a hot plate, about 350 degrees. If it crackles or sizzles, then it has water. If it only smokes, no water. Keep driving and monitor it daily. Then at about 1,000 miles change the oil and filter, saving the oil in a clear container to see if it separates. I betting your good if you don't see any cam wear.

That engine inside and out is clean, no way a flood truck.
Keep us posted.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I'm gonna side with [MENTION=91185]V8Man[/MENTION] on this one, I think that's excessive moisture content from possibly a faulty PCV (great now you're making me paranoid about mine! lol). It's too "clean" looking to be flood or coolant, usually coolant mixed oil gets a little funkier looking and sometimes thicker because of how the glycol based coolant mixes with the oil.

 

[SunPilot]

It doesn't look good. Any signs of it being a flood vehicle? I would change the oil, maybe a couple times, and see if it comes back. You might also think about getting an oil analysis.

No, no signs of flood...it was a one owner I believe. I might try running for awhile with fresh oil and check it again.

 

[SunPilot]

[MENTION=56333]SunPilot[/MENTION]

First of all how many miles on your truck?
The purpose of the PCV valve is to remove the moisture from the normal operation of an engine. If it's clogged moisture builds from the condensation. Think of the engine sweating inside. The additives in the oil collect the moisture and turn it light brown, allowing the oil to keep the engine lubricated. I have seen this before in engines that were driven short trips without ever getting warm, or with stuck thermostats. The warm engine helps the oil get rid of built up moisture if the PCV valve is working.
I do not think your engine has a leak on the coolant side. The engine looks too clean. I would drop the small black oil pan to clean and inspect the oil pickup. Also look real close at the cam, look for deep scratches in the chrome. If everything looks good, put some oil it, run it for a couple hundred miles.
Check if the new oil has water in it by doing the crackle test. Take out the dip stick and drip oil on the hot exhaust or a hot plate, about 350 degrees. If it crackles or sizzles, then it has water. If it only smokes, no water. Keep driving and monitor it daily. Then at about 1,000 miles change the oil and filter, saving the oil in a clear container to see if it separates. I betting your good if you don't see any cam wear.

That engine inside and out is clean, no way a flood truck.
Keep us posted.

152000. Truck is really clean. The carfax listed service at required intervals. I was puzzled because the top end looks so clean. The PCV might be the culprit...have a new one to put in. I haven't filled the coolant yet from the timing belt job. I'll button it up, put in new coolant and some regular oil, probably not worth using synthetic just to change it in a short time...what do you think? I'll also look at the cams closer, but when I looked casually today, they appeared in pristine shape, no rounding or wear evident and I didn't see any scratches, but I'll look better tomorrow. The plugs were also looking good when I took them out, no sign of fouling at all.

 

[SunPilot]

I'm gonna side with [MENTION=91185]V8Man[/MENTION] on this one, I think that's excessive moisture content from possibly a faulty PCV (great now you're making me paranoid about mine! lol). It's too "clean" looking to be flood or coolant, usually coolant mixed oil gets a little funkier looking and sometimes thicker because of how the glycol based coolant mixes with the oil.

I hope you guys are right. I don't want to tear the heads off. I've been reading and everything I've seen says that the V-8 hardly ever has head gasket problems...almost unheard of.

 

[07V8]

Does the PCV pass the shake test? Never really heard of one not.....even after 175k miles.

Any thoughts if the previous owner ran some sort of fuel system cleaner/seafoam/injector cleaner etc etc??

 

[SunPilot]

Does the PCV pass the shake test? Never really heard of one not.....even after 175k miles.

Any thoughts if the previous owner ran some sort of fuel system cleaner/seafoam/injector cleaner etc etc??

No idea what the previous owner did...got the truck at a local dealer here in Arizona. Truck was always in Colorado and serviced religiously by Larry Miller Toyota in Colorado Springs.

 

[jfry008]

It doesn't look good. Any signs of it being a flood vehicle? I would change the oil, maybe a couple times, and see if it comes back. You might also think about getting an oil analysis.

+1 on oil analysis

 

[SunPilot]

Update on my problem.

As you know, I saw some water in the oil pooled in my heads when I was checking my valve clearances. I drained the oil and it looked murky to me.

I ended up doing the sizzle test and had no crackin', poppin', or sizzle!

I let the drained oil sit for two days and found no water pooled at the bottom.

I ended up putting some cheap oil in the engine and have been running it for a few days. No signs of water in the oil yet. Fingers crossed. I'll go a few weeks and then drain the cheap oil, and if it looks good I'll refil with the synthetic I have for it.

I'm thinking that the PCV valve was the culprit...allowing condensation to build up on top of the heads. I guess more time will provide the answer. Thanks to those of you who gave me opinions and advice, I appreciate it.