‘94 350 TBI milky oil

[Todd Savage]

Pulled dipstick just to check oil and there’s a wee bit of milk on the stick. Advice requested on how to check for head gasket or intake gasket leak. I’m assuming it’s probably one or the other. Bought the truck used and it just rolled 150,000 miles. Have no idea if either of those gaskets have been changed. Comments appreciated.

 

[kennythewelder]

You need to do a compression test. If you have a water leak in a cylinder, that spark plug will be cleaner than any other plug.

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[Todd Savage]

You need to do a compression test. If you have a water leak in a cylinder, that spark plug will be cleaner than any other plug.

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Ok, thanks, I have a compression tester. I’ll see what’s what.

 

[kennythewelder]

You may also want to do a radiator pressure test. If you don't have a tester, AutoZone rents them. One of these two test will find your issue. Between that and looking for a very clean spark plug, this will pinpoint the issue.

 

[kennythewelder]

Oh the compression test will let you also know if the head gasket is holding.

 

[Todd Savage]

Ok, this is crazy. So I decided to drain the oil just to see how milky it was, and there was no milk whatsoever! Just black dirty oil. It was about time to change anyway, so I put 5 qts fresh oil in and I guess I’ll just drive it and check oil every day. Why would the stick have a little milk on it, but apparently none in the oil pan?

 

[Biggershaft96]

Its condensation. When the motor goes from cold to hot then shuts off before it gets a chance to burn off, it makes a tiny bit of water. My harleys are real bad about that for some reason.

 

[kennythewelder]

Its condensation. When the motor goes from cold to hot then shuts off before it gets a chance to burn off, it makes a tiny bit of water. My harleys are real bad about that for some reason.

X-2

 

[redfishsc]

Well, it's good to hear that you may not actually have a problem at all. Probably would not be a bad idea to go ahead and pull compression if you have some spare time to do it. I had a 1990 with that same tbi 350, and it did get just a little bit of coolant in the oil. It still did it when I sold it, I sold the truck cheap because of that. 3 years later the guys still driving it lol, same engine.

 

[Biggershaft96]

Yea, comp checks will give you alot of insight on the condition of your motor.