Need help quick...

I had the intake manifold off of my L98 engine for the past three or so weeks to replace the intake manifold gaskets--never got around to putting it back on.

Anyway, I put an old shirt in the lifter valley where the intake manifold was to keep dirt and crap from blowing into there. I came to take the shirt off and notice that it was wet--looked at the insulation on the hood and it was wet, too. It had rained quite a bit here the past few days, and looks like the water seeped through my IROC hood louvers, directly onto the shirt (for that much water, the shirt may as well have not even been there).

I decided to do an oil change to get any little bit of water out. I pulled the oil plug, and the "little bit" of water that I thought had seeped in turned out to be about a gallon of water comming right out of the oil pan. It was like pure, crystal-clear water comming out of the pan for the first ~20 seconds, then the oil came, and lastly some white "sludge" like stuff came out.

We've been trying to flush any of the last stuff out as much as possible--we took four quarts of oil, boiled it on the stove (got it to ~200 degrees), and then poured it right into the lifter valley. We drained that out (did this twice, actually), and we're still getting some water out (it looks good, and then the last little bit has water on it--I know because I collected that into a clear bowl, and it eventaully separates out).

Anyway, I don't really see a chance of getting *all* of the water out, so I'm wondering if it would be "okay" to run with a little bit of water still in the fresh oil that I'm going to put in. (In other words, will a little bit of water completely ruin my engine?) Any opinions/suggestions?

 

BTW -- Right now, what's comming out now looks like caramel... guess that means I still have water mixing in.

I'm wondering, for any water that's left, might that just boil away and excape the block via the PCV system when the engine gets hot?

 

Any amount of water in the pan is not good.

Not near as bad as antifreeze thou.
A small amount will boil out once you run the motor and get it hot enough/ long enough.
Can you jack the car up on one side if nessessary to get the drain plug hole to be the lowest point of the pan?
This will allow all the water to drain.

Then I'd run the motor for while with new oil and then change it again. Oil is cheaper than bearings.

 

And don't overlook the obvious. Change the filter. I know it doesn't seem like water would be able to get in there, but it can, and will.

Just to make it easy on yourself, and give you some piece of mind, I'd pull the oil pan. It's kind of like F-BIRD'88 said; it's easier to change the oil pan and gasket than it is the bearings.

 

Yeah, we've changed the filter. And we've had it at just about every angle to slosh around what's in there--we've been at it with two jacks and two stands just so that everything will drain.

I just boiled a few more quarts of oil and sent it through.

Funny what you say about the anti-freeze, though... All of the oil that I was originally pouring through was sitting on a table in my garage. Most of the bottles were green Quaker State bottles. So I go and grab one as my dad asks me to put more down... start pouring it down into the lifter-valley, and out comes some anti-freeze! I think my brother was over doing a coolant-change recently, and he must have put some into that one Quaker State bottle. I didn't put much down before I figured out what I was doing, but some had to get in.

I have no damn luck...

 

antifreeze LOL

 

This scenaro is getting worse by the minute.

Removing the pan might not be a bad idea.
Antifreeze is bad.

Maybe you should just stay way from cars.

 

You should find out how the water got it - those hood blisters do not have any holes in them to let water in.

The antifreeze probably got in when you removed the intake because you didn't drain it beforehand. Lots of people forget to do that.

 

You can put a quart of diesel fuel in with your oil, that will mix the water with the oil so it will drain. Drive with the car like that for long enough to get it fully hot, maybe 20 or 30 miles, then change it.

Antifreeze in oil is bad news. It turns oil into some kind of powdery sludge that doesn't lubricate. It doesn't take much antifreeze to do that to oil. The diesel fuel should clean it mostly up, depending on how much got in there. Keep an eye on the oil; if it starts looking like a chocolate milk shake, change it IMMEDIATELY and use some of the crankcase flush that's specifically intended for getting rid of antifreeze. It will say so on the label. If it doesn't say that, keep looking until you find some that does.