Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Spring is finally getting close here so I was working on the 72. It has always been kind of hard to start if it sat for more than a couple of days. I knew the gas didn't smell the best, but whenever I started it I would let it run for awhile just trying to burn the gas up before I put new in. (less than an 1/8 tank)
Today I figured I would speed up the process and unhook the gas line after the fuel pump and crank on the engine. It was throwing gas into a bucket pretty steady. I would put a little fresh gas in the carb so it would run for a few seconds to get more gas out. I did this quite a few times. I let it sit for a couple hours and charged up the battery and hit the key. Something went clunk, the 4 speed shift handle bounced, (it was in neutral ) and it seemed like the battery was dead. I pulled the dipstick and it was over full and looked like chocolate milk. (less than 1 mile on oil change) I drained the oil, pulled four plugs out, (they looked ok and dry) but I can't hardly turn the engine over by hand now. It was not running when this happened. Any thoughts?

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Probably hydro locked from a bad head gasket, take the other plugs out.
after your warmed it up and got a little pressure in the system, it filled the cylinder when you shut it down.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Blown head gasket?

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Oil that looks like chocolate milk is a classic sign of coolant in the oil. Pull all the plugs and turn the engine over by hand. Hopefully no damage was done to the rotating mass, since the engine wasn't running when it happened. It does sound like you might be replacing some head gaskets.

Is the coolant level down? Another possibility, although it's usually not described as oil looking like chocolate milk, is that you got too much gasoline down the carb and it washed past the rings. Does the oil smell like gas? If that's the case, you're probably going to need to tear the engine down completely.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Eric did the stuff that was on the dipstick look like the color in these pics ?

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Coolant level is down a little, but it hasn't been driven much since I had the heater core apart so I am not sure where its natural level would be yet.
I also thought hydro-lock since it happened so quick which is why I pulled the 4 easy plugs and tried to turn over by hand. Guess I should pull all 8 and see.
The oil doesn't really smell like gas, but after getting all of the stinky gas out, that's all I could smell for a bit.
I will get a couple more pics tonight.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Take the other 4 plugs out and turn it over by hand. Watch for anything that comes out and which cylinder it comes out of.

Depending on how long it ran that way, it may or may not have damaged bearings and cylinder walls. Coolant is not a very good lubricant, and gasoline is worse.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

I agree with others in that you have coolant leaking into the engine and probably cylinder or two. Normally, if the engine is running, the coolant will burn off as steam and not lock the engine. But, when off, it can easily fill a cylinder and hydrolock it. Hopefully, you did not bend a rod via starter power alone. Get the water out then do a compression test to find out. If good compression, pull the head(s) and replace the gasket...after check deck and head for flatness.

Hopefully, the bearings are fine running on water and oil...probably are ok.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Prob head gasket or possibly crack in head.
I had similar issue and ended up being intake manifold gasket leak.
Keep us posted.
Mark

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

I appreciate all of the input. Here is a pic of the oil I drained out and the old gas I was running through...
Odd part is I lot drove this around, would let it idle in the yard for 15 minutes at a time trying to burn the old gas out. When this happened it wasn't running and hadn't been running all day other than maybe 10 seconds at a time.
Good thing I have the jimmy camper and big burb to fall back on.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Have you pulled the other plugs yet?

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

It looks like it's most likely intake or head gaskets. You might not have any bearing damage. I'd be tempted to just change the gaskets and see what it does.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

This is the problem with old gasoline: it becomes varnish like and sticky with age. When you run it through the engine it first passes through the valves entering the engine, the varnish gas coats the valve stems and the valves start to seize in the guides. and or : the varnish gas enters the cylinder and coats the rings, pistons and cylinder walls and seizes the piston in the bore. It’s not common but I’ve seen this on two different engines. Not saying this is what happened to your situation but it’s possible.

Steve weim55 Colorado

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Thanks again for the ideas.
I can still turn the engine by hand, but it is a lot harder to turn that it should be.
Will probably be this weekend before I get back to it.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

I've seen this happen a few times, and had it happen on my hotrod Skylark when I failed to seal the (used) 4 BBL intake properly when I installed it. First figure out where the leak is, and fix it. Drain all the oil (done), change the filter, fill with the proper level of oil, and run it without a load. Then change oil and filter and run the same way. It should only take a couple of changes before the coolant is flushed out. Let the pan drain awhile, because the coolant/water mix is heavier than the oil. If coolant has gotten into the exhaust pipes, it's going to blow water vapor for many miles. AMHIKT. :lol:

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

I decided to put the jimmy on hold for a bit and dig out the big burb for the summer for now. Only 19 degrees here this am and the jimmy is outside. It will have to wait for now.
Will update when I can.
(burb pics...)

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Any chance your antifreeze wasn't up to snuff and you froze your water in the block? This will often times crack blocks and heads and cause coolant leaks into your oil. You are in a cold region, so just a thought.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

cleszkie, I would doubt it. I had it running this winter and had a 50/50 mix. I didn't test it, but the problem happened when it was well above freezing outside and happened so suddenly.

UPDATE: the engine is pulled and at the engine builder now to determine the issue. There was some antifreeze in the pan after sitting a couple weeks...

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

I am working on my 75 silverado. Same thing happened. I would start it up drive it around the yard a bit and park it. Went a few weeks later to start it. Clunk thought it was the starter. Head gasket started leaking and froze pistons. Had to tear the motor down. Just got it back from the machine shop

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Looks like for sure a bad head gasket on drivers rear. Also found out the pistons are .030 from 1997. Now we see what the machine shop says after cleaning and looking for cracks. Fingers crossed...

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Update... stay tuned.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Well that's pretty. What was wrong with it?

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

I guess we need to "StayTuned"........

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

Appears the head gasket rusted by the rear drivers side cylinder. Possibly from sitting for awhile? Who knows... Anyhow it finally let loose and filled the cylinder with anti-freeze. Everything magnafluxed good. That cylinder had some pitting on the valves we also took care of. The bearings had a date of 1997 and the pistons are .030 so luckily the bores and pistons were all good. Someone put hardened seats in the heads and did a poor knurl job on the guides, but that is taken care of now also.
Will hopefully have some progress pics soon.

Re: Tinkering on the 72 jimmy, may have hurt the engine...Thoughts?
 

That sounds like a best possible outcome, given the situation.