oil in water

[69 crewcab]

I recently noticed a small amount of oil in my water. The motor has Dyno time and a few hours on the run stand.
How deep to I have to go to find the problem? Is there any easy fixes ?.
For starters the engine is a 505 inch FE with a  Genesis block, Scat crank, ported BBM heads, ported Edelbrock heads and other good parts internally. It has Cometic MLS head gaskets and ARP head studs also the block was decked for MLS. I had Craft Performance which unfortunately is no longer in business assemble the top end because the manifold and heads didn't quite line up, and required some machining. They also ran it on the dyno.
Is it a mater of re-torquing the head bolts or I need to tear into it?
Any ideas???
Thanks

[machoneman]

I'd drain the coolant, add a radiator cleaner and plain water. Run it till hot and drain that mix out. Refill with water, run it again and see if the oil reappears. Point is to eliminate the possibility that your gaskets are bad. Retorquing the heads and intake bolts (cold) can't hurt a thing.

[blykins]

Oil in the water is typically a worse dilemma than water in the oil.   It usually means that an oil gallery that's near a water source has developed some porosity and bled through.  On an FE, it's typically the oil feeds coming up to the deck surfaces. 

[Tunnelwedge]

I run the same setup. Genesis block, BBM heads, Ford Tunnel Wedge. 482"
I would torque every bolt on the top end. Keep everything tight.
I have 1000's of KM's on my geny, working great.
Good luck

[cjshaker]

Is it a Genesis or a SOG block (Side Oiler Garage). Same guy, but different casting runs. Both had some casting issues.

On my SOG block, it had a rather severe casting/drilling flaw on the main feed from the oil pump passage that leads to the filter pad. It also had 2 small pinholes in the lifter valley, one on each side of the valley walls. It never would have been found if Blair hadn't pressure tested it (a lesson to be learned there). The pinholes would have led to water in the oil, so that is not your issue.

Unfortunately, like Brent mentioned, the typical culprit is the oil feeds to the deck. It's one of the few places where oil under pressure can enter into the water chamber. Even worse, it requires a complete teardown to find and fix. There's a small chance it could be at the head gasket, where the transfer slot travels somewhat close to a water port. A careful disassembly of the top end should show signs of that, if that's the culprit, which would be a best case scenario. As all things in life, hope for the best, expect the worse. Good luck.

[jayb]

I had a Dove SOHC head that leaked oil into the water from a porosity leak between the main oil gallery running down the center of the head, and the water jacket.  I fixed it by pressurizing the water jacket and circulating water through it with Moroso Ceramic seal.  I had a reservoir (an old 5 gallon compressed air tank) that contained the water, welded a fitting into it to take a thermostatically controlled heater, another fitting to take an air hose, and used a cheap pump (a Little Giant pump, I think) to circulate the water and sealer through the head.  I think I put 20 psi of air pressure into the reservoir, and heated the water to about 200 degrees.  With no oil pressure the water and sealer was free to get into the porous areas.  It was a lot of screwing around but for a valuable head it was worth the time.  Something like that might be worth a try on your assembled engine.  It would certainly be easier than tearing down the whole motor...

[69 crewcab]

Thanks for the responses.
Doug it is a Genesis block not an SOG.
When I bought the engine it was at 496 inches and had been used as a street/strip motor in a mustang. It was built in manner which would not be very streetable though. 13 to 1 compression .800 lift solid roller cam and so on. The previous owner didn't indicate any issues  with oil in the water. When I had it at the machine shop they said that they pressure checked the block (probably the water jacket). So I don't think that it is a porosity issue? but don't know for sure.
I wish that Craft Performance was still around so that they could deal with the issue. But who knows if they would have stood behind their work? At least I got my motor back from them I heard that a bunch of people lost money or worse lost their engines when they folded.
I will start with Re-torqueing the head bolts and manifold bolts , cleaning the radiator and water jacket and see if that takes care of the issue. If that doesn't do it I may try Jays fix.
 

[cammerfe]

If it turns out to be an oil feed hole from the block into the head, a pressed-in thin-wall tube in the block hole could be done without block teardown.

KS

[Phil Brown]

If it turns out to be an oil feed hole from the block into the head, a pressed-in thin-wall tube in the block hole could be done without block teardown.

KS

That must be the repair that I've heard of using a pushrod with the ends cut off pushed into the oil passage thats needs repair ?

[Falcon67]

"I fixed it by pressurizing the water jacket and circulating water through it with Moroso Ceramic seal."

Another vote for Ceramic Seal.  I've used it a few time for various issues and it works good.  Sealed up and 2" long exterior crack in the water jacket on a 351C and held for two race seasons. 

[preaction]

The Moroso ceramic seal sounds like sodium silicate also known as liquid glass.

[cammerfe]

If it turns out to be an oil feed hole from the block into the head, a pressed-in thin-wall tube in the block hole could be done without block teardown.

KS

That must be the repair that I've heard of using a pushrod with the ends cut off pushed into the oil passage thats needs repair ?

yup
KS