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240 coolant in oil, 83 244 b21ft

mysurfwagon

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Location
LA Harbor area
I towed an orphan home that sat since 2007 paid 300 for it. I drained the oil yesterday and first thing that came out was coolant :-( then sludgy oil. I've had pretty good luck with my cars this is the first with coolant in the oil, antifreeze was free of oil. No money for mechanic anyway, so I figured this place was a good start. Suggestions on what to do with this next? No, I'm not gonna part it out... yet.
 
Well the only way for coolant to get into the oil is through a blown head gasket, right? Unless someone literally poured coolant into the oil cap, which I guess isn't entirely impossible. Does it turn over?
 
Well the only way for coolant to get into the oil is through a blown head gasket, right? Unless someone literally poured coolant into the oil cap, which I guess isn't entirely impossible. Does it turn over?


Nope, PO attempted a repair on the wiring harness but only mutilated it beyond recognition with what looked like Romex wires :twisted:. I removed all of the wiring that was there and it's back down to the original wires. I just need to repair the ends of the main wiring harness by the intake manifold and get a connector housing on them. I have a wiring harness coming from Jack that's going on it when it arrives. Until then nothing.
 
Pull the head. You have very little invested in the car. Learn something new. It's not rocket surgery. Take stuff off and put them back on where you put them. Lots of people here can give you advice on how to do the job... the bentley manual is a great guide. If you're nervous about working on the car, find a local junkyard with any 240 and learn to do the job of at least pulling the head on your own.

Re the wiring... there's precious little wiring on a kjet 240... the greenbook for that year vehicle is available on kjet.org.
 
I agree with 740atl. The head is going to have to come off pretty much no matter what. I'd say you could turn it over by hand to see if it's frozen, but if coolant has been sitting in the combustion chamber for 9 years, you might just drag rust up and down the cylinder walls.
 
You have a lot of options for the car if you don't mind working on it yourself. I didn't read the part about it sitting since 2007. I agree with Tfrasca... it's probably rusted up if it moves at all.

Keep in mind you'll probably break little things getting the head off (exhaust manifold studs) and the like, but they can be replaced easily.

Is the car nice looking? Are you willing to spend a several hundred more dollars on it? I'll probably draw flames for this, but any post-83 volvo 4 cylinder engine will fit in there... Granted any 85-later motor won't have the sensor hole in the block for the kjet...and I'm sure there's a simple workaround for that, but if you got a later model engine, why not swap over to a different "operating system" so to speak... lh2.2 or lh2.4? If you're willing to learn, the modifications you'd have to do to run either of those have been documented on the board. If you have pull-a-part junkyards near you could source a lot of parts on the cheap. Something to think about.
 
I would not recommend people buy these cars unless they are willing to do the repair work themselves.

Too many issues creep up over time: they can be a money pit.

The coolant in the oil is probably a blown HG, but it could also be from a crack in the head or the block.

Working on these cars can be quite satisfying, and nearly therapeutic.

Go for it.
 
The head's coming off tomorrow. We'll see how it goes, this car was a total impulse buy :oops: but for 3 hundy I can't go wrong. The suggestions have been encouraging and I'm getting to learn some stuff here :)
 
Nope, PO attempted a repair on the wiring harness but only mutilated it beyond recognition with what looked like Romex wires :twisted:. I removed all of the wiring that was there and it's back down to the original wires. I just need to repair the ends of the main wiring harness by the intake manifold and get a connector housing on them. I have a wiring harness coming from Jack that's going on it when it arrives. Until then nothing.

Romex?! :omg: I've heard of some horror stories here, but this is a new low.:-( Anyway, enjoy your path to enlightenment; once you get things sorted out, it should be worth it. A coolant pressure test may reveal a cracked block, and save some time working on an otherwise worthless block.
 
Romex?! :omg: I've heard of some horror stories here, but this is a new low.:-( Anyway, enjoy your path to enlightenment; once you get things sorted out, it should be worth it. A coolant pressure test may reveal a cracked block, and save some time working on an otherwise worthless block.


.
 
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The dipstick was black oil RC i have to say when the coolant was drained there was some debris that look like some rust but the radiator might have been the culprit.
 
You have a lot of options for the car if you don't mind working on it yourself. I didn't read the part about it sitting since 2007. I agree with Tfrasca... it's probably rusted up if it moves at all.

Keep in mind you'll probably break little things getting the head off (exhaust manifold studs) and the like, but they can be replaced easily.

Is the car nice looking? Are you willing to spend a several hundred more dollars on it? I'll probably draw flames for this, but any post-83 volvo 4 cylinder engine will fit in there... Granted any 85-later motor won't have the sensor hole in the block for the kjet...and I'm sure there's a simple workaround for that, but if you got a later model engine, why not swap over to a different "operating system" so to speak... lh2.2 or lh2.4? If you're willing to learn, the modifications you'd have to do to run either of those have been documented on the board. If you have pull-a-part junkyards near you could source a lot of parts on the cheap. Something to think about.

There's definitely options on the car. The process has some benefits it's a 244 I'm gonna tinker with it for a bit it's cheap entertainment. ;-)
So I'm gonna need to take out the manifold studs?
 
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