Hum, it should not have frozzen if you drained the block. The small plugs
on the sides of the engine block just above the oil pan? The ones that are
a real pain to reach because of the exhaust manifold. It should not have
frozen unless water got back in the block somehow. Did you leave all the
plugs out until spring? Does sound like a cracked block :-(

The lifter valley is the part of the block under the intake manifold. It
requires a good deal of dissassembly. I'd try as much as possible to
eliminate everything else before starting to tear down the engine. One you
start taking it apart then it get s a lot harder to pressurize the cooling
system.

I do my own work so I'm not up on labors costs. A cracked block can be
replaced with a rebuilt short block if the heads are still good. The short
block will run a bit under a grand. A rebuilt with heads a bit over.


Terry Haywood wrote in message
...

Did you drain the block at the end of last year? Stored outside? Are
you
where it freezes?
Yes, yes, yes.

Late model Chevy v6s and v8s have a bad habit of cracking inside the
lifter
valley when the block freezes.
Could I see this by removing the valve covers or does this require
removing the head? (I'm not sure what a lifter valley is).

Symptoms are good compression on all cylinders, runs fine, but gets water
in
the oil. A pressure test of the cooling system would be a good thing to
try
Those are my symptoms. Lots of water, very fast. New oil run 1 minute
comes out looking like a milkshake.

This doesn't sound like it's heading toward anything I can do myself.
I'll see what I can do about a cooling system pressure test. Anything
else to check before taking to a shop? Might as well ask: if it's a
cracked block what's it gonna cost me to get fixed?

Thanks for the reply,

Terry

On Sat, 08 May 2004 18:10:52 GMT, "Lawrence James"
wrote:

Did you drain the block at the end of last year? Stored outside? Are
you
where it freezes?

Late model Chevy v6s and v8s have a bad habit of cracking inside the
lifter
valley when the block freezes. I think the castings are thinner there.
Symptoms are good compression on all cylinders, runs fine, but gets water
in
the oil. A pressure test of the cooling system would be a good thing to
try
but it is a pain on a boat as you have to clamp plugs in the 3 of the
hoses
going to the exhaust and the line coming up from the steering cooler.
Then
figure out how to attach a radiator pressure tester to the remaining
exhaust
hose. Other possibilites like bad head gaskets or bad intake gaskets
usually also include poor running or low compression on one or more
cylinders. Usually the water leak from a bad gasket will be a lot slower
so
another thing to look for is the oil level being noticably higher on the
dip
stick. If it looks like its a lot higher then you have a major leak,
more
likely a cracked block.

wrote in message
.. .

I checked out my Volvo 4.3L (275 hours) for the first time this
season. Ran the engine for a few minutes and checked the oil. It was
milky white, apparently mixed with water. The last thing I did at the
end of the season was change the oil, haven't run it since then.

Changed the oil, ran for a minute, checked again. Milky white.

My guess is something froze over the winter. Is there anything I can
check that I could possibly fix myself, or should I just bite the
bullet and take to a mechanic?

A friend suggested a running compression test. It's too dark now, I'll
do that in the morning.

Any other diagnostic suggestions?

Thanks,

Terry