well, i just installed a freshly rebuilt motor in my car and got ahead of my self while trying to finish the motor and filled the cooling system before i had the intake installed completely and it put some coolent into my oil and i didnt know, well yesterday i has adjusting my valves and had the valve covers off and noticed my oil was milky white, uh ho. my old friend who has built several motors told me to go get 5 quarts of trans mission fluid and a new filter, drain the milky oil, change the filter and put the trans fluid in the motor and let it run 15 minutes without touching the throttle, just letting it idle, stop the motor and drain the trans fluid, if it looks clean than the trans fluid did gets job and took the old oil and coolent out withit, my question is, will this be ok? i dont want to harm this motor anymore than i have or anymore period, like i said i just put this in, just rebuilt it and have alot of money into it for being a broke 17 year old and this being my only car.

 

All you are doing is flushing the engine
Trans fluid is not going to soak up water any better than engine oil and no name engine oil would be cheaper....................?

 

Listen to your friend and youll be rebuilding it again real quick.

 

Don't listen to your friend. Drain whatever is in the car. How long did it run with the trans fluid in it? how much did you put in?

I would do an oil and filter change immediately before doing anything else (use cheap conventional 10W30 oil). I would then run the car to operating temps and then check it. If the oil seems "ok", then let it idle for an hour/drive around the block a few times, and check. If it still seems good, drive it 1-5 miles, and then do another oil change. YOu just don't want to get too far away from the house if something goes wrong and, you want to check the oil multiple times to make sure it still looks "ok".

Milky oil, trans fluid not withstanding, generally indicates water/antifreeze in the oil, and that usuailly means a leaky headgasket/cracked head.

 

He didn't.
He let water get in his oil and has been recommended by his buddy to use trans fluid to flush the engine

He didn't tighten his intake down properly before he started it up so water leaked into the oil and creating the milk.
If he hadn't started it up, he could have easily drained everything , separated the oil and put it back in

 

he is correct, but I do have something on my side I guess, the motor hasn't ran more than 2 minutes at a time, probably less than that. So my best bet would be to drain the old milky oil, and replace with fresh?

 

Yeah-tighten the intake bolts in the correct order,drain and fill keep checking the oil.

The tranny fluid in place of oil was real,real,old school that back in a late 1950's to early 1960's was used to clean out the crud in engines.Before that was a 50/50 mix with kerosene.Both are a really bad idea in any case.Nothing to absorb water/oil mixes.

 

so ill be alright if I just drain the oil and refill?

 

How did you install the intake gaskets? Did you apply a thin ring of permatex black(or equivalent) around each coolant passage? If not, you'll have coolant in your oil again soon enough. The fact that coolant got past the intake gaskets into the crankcase tells me that you need to redo the intake install.

 

You may have to do it more than once, but as long as it hasn't been run long term when you noticed this, you "should" be alright. Just follow the advice above and re-tighten everythign to spec before you do it. I would also flush your coolant system in case any oil leaked into there as well.

 

The motor wasn't ran with the intake not installed, I had the intake sitting on the motor and was filling my cooling system, heard the leak and remembered that it wasn't tightened down, tightened the intake down to sequence and spec, finished off the cooling system, and continued on my way, I didn't start the motor for a few days after this, so just to be clear the motor wasn't started and ran till after the intake was tightened

 

No matter, you need to drain/purge both systems completely before running the motor again. Sine it did leak,I'd probably pull the heads and install new head gaskets and re-torque the heads. Then refill oil and coolant.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to say the heads need to be resealed. I'm just concerned with how the intake was installed. You say that coolant leaked past the intake gasket into the crankcase when the intake wasn't torqued down. That tells me that no sealant was used around the coolant passages. Or if it was, it had coolant leak past it. It is not a good idea on SBCs to install the intake this way.

The intake gaskets, whatever brand you use, do not do well at sealing against coolant. Therefore, I always apply a small bead of Permatex Ultra Black around the coolant passages, first on the head and spread it thin with my finger tip before laying the gasket in place, then on the gasket before laying the intake down. Then tighten the intake down before the sealant hardens and, for best results, wait an hour before filling the cooling system. This is the only way to assure no coolant leaks in these areas.

 

I agree with the Ultra Black. I even go as far as using a little Ultra Black around all the intake ports too. I'm talking like barely visible bead it doesn't take much. It's cheap insurance after I spent $200 on a crap dyno session with lots of vacuum leaks a few years back. Make sure you gab a decent amount at the corners of the gaskets too even if using the cork type for the china walls. That'll keep the engine from wicking oil out the corners. I usually wait awhile for mine to cure a day or more because I just do the entire china wall ends in Black RTV also.

I've had a few bad leaks on a few 3800 series (they are known for coolant leakage issues). By bad I mean I've removed a head and found cylinder had filled 1/2 way up with coolant and a crankcase is so full it was 2 drain pans worth to get the oil out. I've bought the cheap Supertech oil from Walmart and pour a quart or two through it (heads and intake valley) and let it drain out the pan. That got some of the oil milkshake foam out of it. I changed the oil and filter ran the car and changed the oil like normal (3000 miles).

If you really wanted to go crazy on our cars I suppose you could easily put some oil in (at least a few quarts) and "prime" the motor (the distributor should be out anyways) the proper priming tool and drill. It will circulate the new oil to both banks and then you can drain it out. That way you don't have to worry about putting it all back together and firing it up to get the containment out.

I would never use ATF in a motor. Most ATFs are made to only perform well to 175*-225* range after that they can break down and have excessive wear. I would not think it even has the same lubrication principles as motor oil since ATF is made more for closed system (hydraulic type) where motor oil can be exposed to fuel.

 

I agree with a few posters here. Drain your oil, reinstall new filter and cheap 5-30 or whatever you'd like. Let it get to operating temp, check for milkiness. If you're good, drain it and put some good oil and new filter in. If it's still milky flush it again.

Do NOT put trans fluid in there!!

I'd also recommend reinstalling your intake manifold with fresh gaskets. I know you didn't run it with it off, but because some fluid leaked you likely ruined any silicone you put on with the intake gaskets.

Flush your coolant as well just to be safe.

Since it sounds like you didn't run the motor long or drive it I think you'll be just fine.