Water in the oil

[Waterboy]

95 w/3.1 "M" engine & 161,000 miles. Been doing just fine. All of a sudden "low coolant" lit. Sure enough the overflow tank is empty. Check oil fill cap. Yep, that is where the coolant went. Pulled the intake upper and lower. Noticed the gasket at the coolant port (next to #6) was split on the side between the port and the push rod. Is this the problem?

At first I would say "yes". Except, that I had a little trouble removing the lower intake because it was hung on the pipe that goes from the t'stat housing rearward. I may have accidently damaged the gasket during the removal process.

So, I'm here for some opinions.

 

Also, how do I know if I have "standard non-adjustable rocker arms" or "service adjustable rocker arms"?

 

Thank you in advance for ya'lls inputs.

[digitaloutsider]

Well, your engine has fallen victim to the 1995-2001 3100/3400/3800 intake gasket problem. Not totally sure about your rocker arms. I need to brush up on 94+ W-bodys :oops:

[Robby1870]

If you have coolant in the oil and no steam anywhere, you blew the intake gasket. As for the rocker arms, the only adjustable rockers were on Gen I iron head 660's. Gen II and some Gen III has non-adjustable then the rest of Gen III is roller rocker. But, how you tell is by looking at the rocker stud. If you look at your rocker stud, the top part where the threads are is a smaller diameter than the smooth part below it. The rocker tightens against the lip where the two different diameters meet, making it easy to set the pre-load and valve-lash with a simple torque spec on the rocker nut

[dbtk2]

If you have coolant in the oil and no steam anywhere, you blew the intake gasket.

 

Out of curiosity, this steam that you are speaking of...where would it be coming from and I am assuming the cause is a head gasket???

 

Shawn

[Robby1870]

If you have coolant in the oil and no steam anywhere, you blew the intake gasket.

 

Out of curiosity, this steam that you are speaking of...where would it be coming from and I am assuming the cause is a head gasket???

 

Shawn

 

Yeah.......white steam, coming from below a head, and the cause would be the head gasket.

[mfewtrail]

If you have coolant in the oil and no steam anywhere, you blew the intake gasket.

 

Out of curiosity, this steam that you are speaking of...where would it be coming from and I am assuming the cause is a head gasket???

 

Shawn

 

If the intake gasket blows/leaks in a manner in which the coolant doesn't go anywhere it's not supposed to internally, it *can* leak outwardly by the oil pump drive o-ring(my 93 GP w/ the 3.1 did this), I had a slight leak there and could see steam from that area when the gasket started leaking.

[Goph]

this bring back memories for me

 

I had the same problem just my head gaskets blew also.

 

6k miles after it was fixed I spun a rod bearing because of the water that was in the oil at the time.

[Waterboy]

If you have coolant in the oil and no steam anywhere, you blew the intake gasket. As for the rocker arms, the only adjustable rockers were on Gen I iron head 660's. Gen II and some Gen III has non-adjustable then the rest of Gen III is roller rocker. But, how you tell is by looking at the rocker stud. If you look at your rocker stud, the top part where the threads are is a smaller diameter than the smooth part below it. The rocker tightens against the lip where the two different diameters meet, making it easy to set the pre-load and valve-lash with a simple torque spec on the rocker nut

 

Thanks...

I did not notice any steam, but it was at night and I did not drive very far.

I have the stud with the shoulder as you said.

 

Again, thanks...

[Robby1870]

If you have coolant in the oil and no steam anywhere, you blew the intake gasket. As for the rocker arms, the only adjustable rockers were on Gen I iron head 660's. Gen II and some Gen III has non-adjustable then the rest of Gen III is roller rocker. But, how you tell is by looking at the rocker stud. If you look at your rocker stud, the top part where the threads are is a smaller diameter than the smooth part below it. The rocker tightens against the lip where the two different diameters meet, making it easy to set the pre-load and valve-lash with a simple torque spec on the rocker nut

 

Thanks...

I did not notice any steam, but it was at night and I did not drive very far.

I have the stud with the shoulder as you said.

 

Again, thanks...

 

No problem 8)