Fixed blow Head gasket but now the oil is white 1980 280zx

[12meese]

Hey guys, I'm kinda freaking out, I just blew my head gasket and my car was billowing white smoke and stuff, but the oil was still normally colored, not creamy. The head gasket had blow near cylinder 6. So I replaced the head gasket and then engine started up no white smoke and it was sounding beautiful. But when I started it, there was antifreeze coming off the timing chain (I started it without the valve cover on). I thought that was really weird, but I was an idiot and put the valve cover on and ran it for a couple minutes and then when I checked the oil was pure white. Is there anything that would have caused that besides a crack in the block or head. Did I miss something when I was putting the head back on? The oil wasn't white, just the exhaust. I am lost. Please help! Thanks so much

[grannyknot]

It might just be the oil was contaminated with coolant, in any event don't run the engine with that white oil! Drain it and put fresh oil in, start the engine and let it run for a minute, turn it off and check the oil through the filler cap and dip stick.  If it looks normal take the car for a good hours drive to get the engine up to temp and to drive out any water that may still be in the oil.

[Zed Head]

1 hour ago, 12meese said:

when I started it, there was antifreeze coming off the timing chain (I started it without the valve cover on). I thought that was really weird, but I was an idiot and put the valve cover on and ran it for a couple minutes

Edit - didn't mean to overpower grannyknot's post.  The "antifreeze coming off the timing chain" just jumped out at me.  Not right!

 

Your first impulse was correct.  There should not be coolant coming from the timing chain area at all.  The coolant system is completely isolated from the crankcase.

Your oil is ruined but the engine might be okay.  Remove the valve cover again and see if you can find where the coolant is coming from.  Cracked front (timing gear) cover seems possible.  Did you have any problems removing the head?  The two little bolts maybe.  Did you remove the front cover?

Edited February 6, 2022 by Zed Head

[siteunseen]

Yes the front cover has the water pump and the oil pump so there's a good place to mix the two. The water pump has some funky bolt lengths and if they aren't put back right they could crack the cover.

[Reptoid Overlords]

Yeah every time I start an engine for the 1st time with a timing chain cover that's been off for any reason I get a little scared.  Like mentioned, getting the bolts in the right holes is critical.  Also making sure you have RTV, both Black and the coolant type(for water pump), in the prescribed spots. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Reptoid Overlords

[Patcon]

I posted this in the other thread:

Did you check the head and block for flatness? What caused the head gasket failure?

[kickstand80]

I have an 81 that had a bad head gasket (overheating). When I took the engine apart I found a considerable amount of corrosion in the head where the thermostat housing attached. I also found that there was corrosion in the timing cover water pump volute (blue circle) when I removed the water pump. When I sandblasted the timing cover, the metal was so thin that I blew a hole thru the cover behind the water pump. In time, it would have started to leak antifreeze into the oil on its own. I used some super industrial 2 part epoxy (Belzona 1111) to repair all of the corrosion in the water pump volute and cylinder head. 

 

Did you pull the water pump when you had the timing cover off? You can also leak antifreeze into the oil at the water pump inlet/outlet of the cover where it mates with the block (yellow circle). The green line is the "tattle tail" grove. If your gasket fails, you should see antifreeze dripping on the ground, but over time this grove can get plugged with gunk and could leak into the oil. As mentioned above, there are a couple of timing cover/water pump bolts that extend into the coolant jacket of the engine that could also get antifreeze into the engine oil.