Can't tell - extreme oil condensation, fluke or true milkshake?

[robzombie]

The heat burns the moisture out that is already there in the system and what is drawn in from sitting.

Metal is like a sponge and absorbs water and the heat process removes it. The longer it sits the more moisture is in the metal and E85 is a water whore which only introduces more moisture into the system.

So there is a potential for rust in the cylinders contrary to what you say. Just look at the rust on the spark plug pic and there's all the proof you need.

 

[TT/Ameasap]

The heat burns the moisture out that is already there in the system and what is drawn in from sitting.

Metal is like a sponge and absorbs water and the heat process removes it. The longer it sits the more moisture is in the metal and E85 is a water whore which only introduces more moisture into the system.

So there is a potential for rust in the cylinders contrary to what you say. Just look at the rust on the spark plug pic and there's all the proof you need.

Wow!
Im out. good luck John

 

[robzombie]

Wow!
Im out. good luck John

The plugs dont get oiled. The cylinders do. I bet your cylinders are perfectly fine. You can let a car sit with E85 and have no contaminants in the oil. It is when you introduce heat that draws moisture (like a torch on cold steel). That is what causes this situation. E85 just draws a lot more moisture throughout this whole process.
This is why you are not seeing it now, because you are getting the steel/oil up to temperature and boiling off the moisture.

I'm sorry if my comment offended you but what you said is false.

Just like in a gas/alky motor some fuel gets by the rings and contaminates the oil. E85 is much worse, as it is present all the time not like alky which is an on demand system when needed, which is only under boosted situations.

Why do you think he has a bag of brown poop?? That is water and fuel contaminants in the oil.

Also the sitting for long periods is why there is rust present. I hope like you say that his cylinders are fine but he needs to check to be sure.

That's why I asked for him to post results so others will also know.

No need to bow out, and no hard feelings on my end and hope you can do the same.

 

[John Larkin]

I used my little camera to look in the cylinders. Cylinder walls look pretty good. I can see crosshatching still 28 years and 55K miles later (original unrebuilt engine). There are marks where the piston rings rest when the engine is sitting. I would guess this is normal. The tops of the pistons had a little carbon but mostly they are clean - I can see the forward dot no problem. I could not turn the camera back to the valves so I have no idea what the combustion chamber looks like. The top of the bore has some pitting but since the piston never gets all the way to the top that would be normal by my guess. Here is a pic of the #5 cylinder

. It was a strain getting the cam threaded in there and trying to move it around.

 

[robzombie]

Thanks for posting the pic. The cylinder looks pretty good, but all those white blotches are minor pitting action from the moisture and long periods of sitting.

Like I said earlier the rings will wipe the surface rust off when you run it but those pit marks will only keep getting deeper the longer it sits and moisture allowed to do it's evil deed.

The light brown lines look like rust that has penetrated the cylinder wall and hasn't been scraped away which means it is deeper than the cross hatch scratches.

 

[John Larkin]

I think those lines are where the rings were sitting before I rotated the engine over for the photo. The car runs good so unless I have a cracked something which I don't think I do, it should be fine. I think I need to put a 180 thermostat in it and drive it more. That rust should clean up with use.

Does anyone know what Chevy 350 180 stat I can buy to cut down? If I go to Autozone it will be 20 insane questions that I can't answer.

 

[TT/Ameasap]

I'm sorry if my comment offended you but what you said is false.

Just like in a gas/alky motor some fuel gets by the rings and contaminates the oil. E85 is much worse, as it is present all the time not like alky which is an on demand system when needed, which is only under boosted situations.

Why do you think he has a bag of brown poop?? That is water and fuel contaminants in the oil.

Also the sitting for long periods is why there is rust present. I hope like you say that his cylinders are fine but he needs to check to be sure.

That's why I asked for him to post results so others will also know.

No need to bow out, and no hard feelings on my end and hope you can do the same.

No hard feelings at all....You just need to take a chemistry class...Thats all.

 

[robzombie]

No hard feelings at all....You just need to take a chemistry class...Thats all.

You need to grow some thicker skin and admit when you're wrong.

Nothing I posted was out of the realm of possibility. The rust on the plugs ends proves that there is major moisture in the cylinders from sitting and the poop oil is proof that fuel [E85 ethanol which is hygroscopic] is getting by the rings at the very least and or a possibility of one or more leaking injectors.

With that last comment you posted you only made yourself look foolish with a case of hurt butt.

Water [H2O]+iron[FE] + oxygen [O] = CORROSION/RUST!!

What chemistry class are you referring to??? Should I have referred to ethanol as hygroscopic instead of water whore?

The plugs dont get oiled. The cylinders do. I bet your cylinders are perfectly fine. You can let a car sit with E85 and have no contaminants in the oil. It is when you introduce heat that draws moisture (like a torch on cold steel). That is what causes this situation. E85 just draws a lot more moisture throughout this whole process.
This is why you are not seeing it now, because you are getting the steel/oil up to temperature and boiling off the moisture.

That comment is just plain wrong!!!!

The rest of your statement agrees with what I and others have said, E85 is a moisture whore ,sorry, [hygroscopic] and getting the engine hot will burn off the moisture, but only if you run it long enough and hot enough to do so.

The real solution is to not let it happen in the first place.

I'm just happy that his cylinders look good and no damage has been done yet.

He now knows which steps to take to prevent any further problems and that's what this board is all about.

 

[robzombie]

I think those lines are where the rings were sitting before I rotated the engine over for the photo. The car runs good so unless I have a cracked something which I don't think I do, it should be fine. I think I need to put a 180 thermostat in it and drive it more. That rust should clean up with use.

Does anyone know what Chevy 350 180 stat I can buy to cut down? If I go to Autozone it will be 20 insane questions that I can't answer.

The cylinders do look fine, there is no real damage yet.

Just try to keep it from happening again and again or it will eventually become a problem such as stuck rings or major pitting/blow-by or worse.