Hemi issues. Help me diagnose. Coolant, oil. Etc

[anlauto]

I kinda agree....doesn't look like oil in the water to me

[Kapteenikosmos]

Looks rusty coolant for me to.

We have a new holland tractor from -2000 at home and we kind of neglected the periodic coolant change and the one put in at factory slowly turned acidic. We made the first change 2014 if I recall right and the coolant was almost more as rust sludge than liquid. The point here is that even though we flushed the system tens of times with literally atleast 300 gallon of water with tractor both running and shutdown, the coolant still gets brownish quite fast.

It is getting slowly better as we have flushed it few more times each year so if your block has fine rust sludge in water passages, it takes huge effort to get it all out with just flushing.

[MopSquad]

Water pump seal or any of the hose connections on the water pump will drip down on your k-member. To me that really looks like rusty coolant. That looks like the results of running straight water in the cooling system. I agree that a compression test, coolant system pressurization and leak down tests are in order.
I think with that rusty mess that you should also jack up the car and look for a rusty trail down the side of the block as well. If the headgasket is leaking to the outside (which I doubt) it would leave a rusty trail on the block as it travels to the K-member.
Undo the M/C (leave the brake lines hooked up) and tie it to the hood hinge to access #7 if needed. Once you crack the plugs loose you can slip fuel line hose over the plugs to spin them out and pull them out.
My gut feeling is  you will be pulling the heads off and resurfacing them because they weren't coated if steel headgaskets, maybe not torqued correctly and the previous guy ran straight water. But it's only a guess over the internet from thousand of miles away.
I see so many guys pay good money for cars with Hemi's thrown together by flippers it's painful. Sorry for your troubles.

Sheldon

Thanks!

This car is first class build. I have all the build docs/pics and it's incredibly meticulous and detailed. I'll get the info on the motor from the builder. 

As for the coolant, Must be a lot of rust!  I've flushed 2x already!  Just thought losing oil and brown coolant meant they were mixing

Time to get some data for y'all.  Compression tests.

Thx for the info on the spark plug access guys. Much appreciated.

[HP_Cuda]

Flushing the engine is much better than a head gasket problem or valve stem.

When you flush it out this time, use 100% anti-freeze which will give you some anti-corrosive affect. Although as stated before you may have to do it a bunch of times.

One other area to be aware of is electrolysis. This is where you have a short in your electrical system and basically your coolant is positively charged which makes rust form faster in the block. What you want to do is take a volt meter and test the voltage of your coolant. Take the negative lead and use a known good ground like the negative battery post and then take the positive and take off your rad cap and stick it in. If you are over .300V then you need to isolate your radiator. Meaning you need to put rubber gaskets between the bolts holding your rad to the radiator brace.

I've done this before and yes I had to multiple flush the car and finally it got better.

[rUNCHARGER]

I was thinking that as well and it probably has aluminum heads so it may need an anode. Thinking about this some more I think it is two separate issues, I am guessing corrosion in the coolant and some sort of valve seal problem like others have mentioned, perhaps some valve seals rode up on the valves or maybe they split after 5 years.
Everything is a guess at this point.

Sheldon

[RzeroB]

Getting under the car with a flashlight and a rag, you should be able to trace the coolant leak back to its source. With the coolant on the K-member, my guess would be the water pump weep hole. With the car being driven infrequently, and the gunk in the coolant, it's very possible that the pump shaft seal is the culprit.

As for the oil, that's an interesting one. Losing three quarts in 200 miles is excessive to say the least. Losing that much oil should leave some kind of evidence as to where it went. If it is going out the exhaust, I would think you would be able to see the "blue haze", smell it the oil burning, and detect an oily residue inside of the exhaust tips. Take a good look inside your exhaust tips, all the way in where the round pipe joins the rectangular tip, swipe them with a clean cloth, and see what you find. Your spark plugs should also give you some indication if you are burning oil. Check your plugs to see if they show signs of oil burning by being "wet" and oil fouled.

[1 Wild R/T]

On the oil I'd be pulling the intake... Hemi intake gaskets are prone to failing in the proper torque sequence isn't followed... Seen plenty of engines use a quart in 100 miles & still the plugs look pretty clean....

[70chall440]

well my 

Coolant - I agree with most of the others, looks like rust not oil/water. Not all that uncommon for a car that has sat most of its life and even more so depending on the vintage and condition of the block and other components. In essence, the inner flashing corrodes and turns to rust and this is what you see. As mentioned, it will probably take more than a few flushings to get it clean.

Oil - based on what has been written so far, it is very hard to say what is going on here. Is it going out the exhaust, leaking, Again based on what has been written, it "sounds" like it most likely getting sucked past an intake gasket and spit out the exhaust. Check your PCV valve and make sure it is function and look for oil in that hose, if it dripping wet you perhaps had an over pressure issue wherein the PCV stuck and a gasket failed.

Point here is that this might not be a simple investigation.

[MopSquad]

Analysis on the coolant.  No oil, must be rust.  All the input is so much appreciated.  This forum is top notch!

[MopSquad]

Also. you guys might be right on the valve seal dx.  Smoke only on startup. 

So best case scenario, flush coolant, and replace valve seals - on a 900 mile Hemi.  Argh

[js29no]

A result of setting around to much, Not always good for them.

[rUNCHARGER]

Also R/T has a good point, at least check the torque on the intake bolts as they are most likely loose and allowing oil to get sucked in.

Sheldon

[anlauto]

I would try running a engine conditioner for a bit before tearing into the engine...maybe with more use the seals will come around....If it's not smoking all the time when driving....I would just keep a closer eye on the oil level, and drive it as much as you can

[MopSquad]

I would try running a engine conditioner for a bit before tearing into the engine...maybe with more use the seals will come around....If it's not smoking all the time when driving....I would just keep a closer eye on the oil level, and drive it as much as you can

Can you recommend one?

[RzeroB]

The car looks great ... but maybe it's really a lemon underneath that glossy paint ... I could do you a favor and take it off your hands for you if you want to start over with something else ...