coolant in oil when draining oil

[Macdaddy1]

Ok so the 1965 327 sbc that was in my 1965 c10 when I bought it was draining a whole lot of coolant and oil when I went to drain the oil today. I have been slowly putting things together on the engine getting it ready to drive. I have only run it approximately 10 minutes total since getting it just to check the carb and other fittings. Do you think it is the head gasket or something else entirely. I am really depressed and shaken as I put a bunch of money into the project around this specific engine build like bellhousing, trans, linkage, clutch and flywheel etc. so I would like to fix this if I can and it be reliable. If not what would be some good options?

Pat

[mongocanfly]

I'd check intake gasket first....then head gaskets....it could be worse...cracked block/head

[Macdaddy1]

I put on a new intake gasket as it had a small leak when i first got the motor. Do I have to pull the heads to determine if it is a craked head or block?

[mongocanfly]

to check the heads for cracks they will have to come off....and get magnafluxed

[Clyde65]

Is the coolant in the radiator milky? Or is there just coolant in the oil?

[Bigdav160]

The most common crack from a frozen engine is in the lifter valley. Removing the intake usually exposes it.

Oh, but I see you're in Florida. Not many winter freezes there.

[Macdaddy1]

Just coolant not milky at all it looked pure green as it comes out of the prestone jug.

[cadillac_al]

I'll bet it is the intake gaskets. I would do it over again and RTV the sh*t out of it around the water ports.

[Macdaddy1]

I tore it down today and am going to replace the head gaskets as well as the rear main seal and pan gasket for piece of mind.

[Captainfab]

If you're going to pull the heads, may as well have them checked for cracks.

[Macdaddy1]

Good idea. I also bought a new intake manifold as the one that came with it did not fit correctly and would not let you use the two middle bolts which may be some of the problem.

[Macdaddy1]

So to finish the story I pulled the heads and both sides of the block is cracked. I think the PO must have known this before selling but that is water under the bridge now. i think I am going to try to find a low mile 5.3 LS swap.

[mongocanfly]

that sucks....you wont regret a LS swap...once your done....

[Dead Parrot]

Depending on what heads you have and the shape they are in, you might be able to recover some money.

[Macdaddy1]

So I took Mongocanfly's advice and bought a 2005 5.3 LS with 86K miles with every accessory I could think of including the radiator and air filter set up to swap into my 65 c10. So the experiment continues with a few valuable (financial and psychological) lessons learned along the way.