Flushing crankcase after headgasket failure?

[PonchoCatalina]

My 91 Loyale has a crankcase full of chocolate milkshake, and it may be several weeks before I get time to tear it down and replace the head gaskets. I'm hating the thought of water sitting in the engine for any duration, so should I drain my radiator (whatever's left in it) and my oil and just replace with fresh oil in the crankcase for the time being (and leave the radiator dry)? Luckily, there was little or no coolant in the water, so my bearings might not be entirely under corrosive attack. I've heard of some people flushing diesel through the engine with the coil disconnected. What do you recommend for this situation? Thanks.

[idosubaru]

i don't know the best method, except to say you are wise to do something about it. even if it's just to drain the old nastiness. if it's still together, change the oil and drain all the coolant. you can run the engine for a short period of time without coolant, before it begins to heat up. so you have time to cycle in new oil or some of those flushing agents if anyone recommends that. definiitely get the coolant and water out of there as soon as possible.

[mikeshoup]

When this happened to me:

 

I drained the oil and coolant

Did the head gaskets

Filled it up with fresh oil and coolant

Drove it home (about 20 miles)

Changed the oil

Drove it 500 miles

Changed the oil again

Flushed the coolant

Drove it 1000 miles

Changed the oil again

 

Everything is fine now. Each time I changed the filter too. The first oil change, the oil was just a little bit cloudy (thus it was important to change it so soon). Each change after that though, I couldn't visual see any trace of coolant. I also didn't have the trouble of oil in my coolant, so I probably really didn't need to flush it.

 

In your case, I'd definitely drain the coolant and the oil. Then fill the crankcase back up with fresh oil and some cleaner (maybe seafoam or mmo), run it for about 30 seconds, then drain it again.

[daeron]

+1 on the thread

[GeneralDisorder]

One oil change is sufficient usually. The coolant mixes VERY well with the oil, so once it's drained it's usually almost all gone. I've seen engines sit for a year and the oil/coolant was still mixed. Fill it with cheap wall-mart oil, run it for 20 minutes, and then drain/refill with quality oil. Any remaining water will evaporate with continued use.

 

GD

[Turbone]

Believe me, you DONT want to leave the mixture in the engine. It eats away the cylinder walls. I have about 3 EA82T blocks with 2 cyl each that have major cancer from having the fluids left in them for long periods. Dont know what it will do in short periods, but why take a chance?

I just got done replacing the HG's on my RX (yes, its running again:headbang: )

and I was very surprised to see one of the cyl had cancer. It was obvious it had blown a HG at another time and they had left the fluids in it. The car ran great before and after the HG's blew, but I have yet to check compression to see if theres actually a difference. I plan on useing a can of Restore after I check, just because:rolleyes:

Btw, because I did have milkshake in the crankcase, once I got everything back together I put in 2 guarts of cheap 10-40 and 2 guarts of tranny fluid. I ran it for about 5min and drained the mixture and got more gunk out. Put a fresh filter on and new oil and its checking out very clean after about 100mi.

[Snowman]

Another vote for doing something! I've done HG's on a couple of these, but never with bad coolant in the oil. In both cases, I put in fresh oil, drove the car for 10-40 miles, and changed the oil and filter.

 

In your case, I'd at least drain everything out until you do the job. Maybe, as has been mentioned, you should go so far as to change the oil and run it for a short while, then drain the oil again in order to avoid any damage.