Blown head gasket?

[So Cal Mark]

does your dipstick have the threaded nut at the bottom? If it does, now would be a good time to tighten it into the block. Once it's tight, the tube won't turn, or leak

[racydave]

I guess sometimes there is not a logical answer...Good go!

[htchevyii]

That looks like a oil cap seal? Hope that's all it was. Sometimes cars can make you CrAzY

[ventura ace]

Golly bum, Clark. I was listening to Paul Simon today while doing chores, and got hooked on a fast knee-slapping song that reminded me of your predicament. Paul sings (with Phoebe Snow), "I had me a long streak of that bad luck, but now it's gone at last. Gone at Last!" Boy, I'm happy to hear your bad-luck streak is Gone at Last!

You know, it is possible to get that cyclonic trap in and out from underneath most intake manifolds without having to take the manifold out. You may want to think about installing the intake manifold first, and putting the cyclonic trap in afterwards. This gives you a little bit more room to get your hands under there to snug all the fasteners of the intake manifold. You may want to make a dry run first (before putting the sealer around the water ports) just to make sure you can do so. Just put the intake manifold in there and put a few nuts to hold it in place hand tight, then see if you can wrestle the cyclonic trap in place. You need to put the center bolt into the trap before putting the trap in place on the block. If it works out, then pull everything back out, apply your sealer all the way around the water ports (both sides of gasket). Put just enough to get a seal -- you don't want the excess floating around inside the engine. Then slide in the manifold and torque it up. Then install the cyclonic trap.

good luck!

[mdrburchette]

Good gracious, that's good news! Just goes to show ya, a picture's worth a thousand words...and in your case, a whole lot more. We'll all be praying you'll get your car back on the road without any more dilemmas. Just make sure you install that seal in the proper place.

[TulsaSpider]

Thanks so much for all the help guys!

[TulsaSpider]

Update! I got it back together today. I installed the separator first. I bought a hand held mirror from the dollar store, put it down below the intake so I could see where the bolts went and it actually went better than I would have thought! I took it for a short drive and no oil puking! woooot!
See my newest post for some idle troubles, and thanks for all the help and encouragement!
Clark

[SpiderHead]

Rock on! I knew you could do it!

-Ryan

[TulsaSpider]

Well I checked the oil today when I got home from work and it has milky residue again. I am just going to assume that it's some left over moisture, I am sure hoping so!!

[rlux4]

A couple of thoughts Clark: If you're not loosing coolant, it would be logical that some water would have evaporated out of the oil and then condensed onto internal parts, to be picked back up into the oil. Try putting some of your oil into a glass container and see if it separates and shows coolant color in the mix. A couple of oil changes in the next few hundred miles should clear it up if it's left over from the separator issue.
Ron

[TulsaSpider]

Thanks for the glass container tip Ron!

[So Cal Mark]

I hate to cast any shadows at this happy time of year, but I'm wondering if your problem is cured. Since you didn't see evidence of head gasket failure, did you really fix the problem?

[TulsaSpider]

That's the question eh? This time of year hasn't been kind to me to say the least. I pressure tested the cooling system and it held at 14 pounds. What other test would you recommend doing? I have never had this kind of problem before with any other motor I have had. I have had them freeze, and boil over, used and abused them but the Spider has never gotten hot, or anything unusual at all. That's why I doubt it is some kind of failure, but anything is possible... Heck I had my 70 ElCamino for 8 years and it never gave me a lick of trouble, never once failed to start etc...
My Spider is actually running better than it ever has right now!

[So Cal Mark]

the problem with diluted oil is the possibility of extreme engine wear. Coolant, or water will wash the oil off of rotating pieces. A few years ago GM had loads of camshaft failures on the Iron Duke engine when coolant leaked into the oil galleys. Getting the muck out of the engine is important. Anyway, I hope the problem is gone and all of this is residual dilution

[TulsaSpider]

Well I had run it for several hours, getting it as hot as I could, watching it carefully for any additional issues. The symptoms (milky gunk) seemed to subside. I decided it was time to change the oil. So I changed the oil and I found no evidence of water in the oil!! I got what I wanted for Christmas! A clean bill of health for my car! I don't even have any oil leaks anymore!