The beginning of the end for my Lucy??

[ironllama]

Changed the oil today. Oil from the pan was good. But the oil from the filter had bubbles in it. Chocolate milk coloured bubbles.
Not sure how to add a pic on here for you to see, but just to be sure I added coolant to my oil i just drained and yep, the same little bubbles appeared.

So my question to everyone is:

-Most likely blown head gasket, right?
-Why only the filter had bubbles, and not drain pan?
-And what can I expect from a blown head gasket. Overheating engine, etc?

Any thoughts/experiences would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

[polarzak]

Oh, no. Say it ain't so. If you were leaking that much coolant into the oil, via a blown head gasket, I think you should have seen it in the oil you changed. Have you had to add coolant to the reservoir? At least I knew for sure, years ago, when I blew a head gasket on an old clunker, the oil was full of it. Symptoms of a blow head gasket, include coolant in the oil, misfiring, poor idle, and over heating. If you can, check the compression. Another symptom, low compression in one cylinder. Take the plugs out, and see if any are wet with coolant. Personally, I would not immediately say it is a blown head gasket, based on just bubbles in the oil filter only. Unless that is the first sign, and a small leak at that? That I do not know. Running an engine with coolant in the oil is obviously not a good thing. You will experience over heating, misfires, and excessive engine wear.

One thing to note here is that coolant in the oil is not always a blown head gasket. It could be an intake manifold leak. These engine did have intake problems on the older engines, and was rectified on the newer Series III, but they still can have problems. So before you tear off a head, it might be "only" a manifold gasket. A compression test should determine which is the problem.

If it were me, I top up the coolant reservoir, and run Lucy for a week, and then take the oil filter off, and see if it looks like it has coolant in it. Did the coolant go down? If no oil bubbles, and the coolant is at the same level, perhaps this experience was just a "one off" and you actually do not have a problem. Good luck to you.

 

[ironllama]

Hey glad you're still hanging around here!
I was thinking about what you said about coolant and there are two things to note about that:
The coolant looks top notch in the top of the radiator when I remove the cap, and I've always lost a bit of coolant through the reservoir cap. Seems to come through the little hole in the top of the cap. I see coolant on the top of reservoir after long trips.
I picked up another cap from the junkyard; I will swap that out.

Also, I'm gonna change the oil after 3000km to see if it is indeed a one-off or to see if it is getting worse.

Also also, gonna get plugs changed by a shop and see what they find. DOK automotive here in Barrie are top-notch; will take it to them in the next week or so.

Also also also, thanks for your input! Hopefully I get another year outta her. We will see.

As an aside, how are oil changes on the 300? I heard it's annoying because you have to remove some stuff to access drain pan?

 

[polarzak]

Hey glad you're still hanging around here!
As an aside, how are oil changes on the 300? I heard it's annoying because you have to remove some stuff to access drain pan?

Yeh, hanging around like a bad smell. 😎 Hopefully after doing those things, you might find it was just one of those things, and not an issue. As for changing the oil in the 300, I love it. The oil filter is on top of the engine, and I use a vacuum pump (used for marine oil changes) and suck the oil out through the dip stick. Don't even have to get under the car. Some purists on the Chrysler site bemoan over the possible sludge buildup in the bottom of the pan, but people have been changing the oil in inboard/outboard marine engines for years. You don't haul your boat out of the water and remove a non existent plug in the bottom of the hull. Plus if you use a decent oil, unlike the oils of bygone years, sludge buildup is almost zero. From what I have heard, late model Mercedes and other high end European cars don't even come with an oil pan drain plug.

 

[lakey]

Just out of curiosity, is there an expected point when the head gaskets will fail on a sereis III, 3800? Seems like the ones on the Centuries with 31OO engines begin to go at about 190K.

 

[polarzak]

Just out of curiosity, is there an expected point when the head gaskets will fail on a sereis III, 3800? Seems like the ones on the Centuries with 31OO engines begin to go at about 190K.

Not a known or expected issue , that I am aware of.