Just a quick question
3.5 Rover V8 Dax rush
Running with a Webber 500 and air scoop on bonnet.


I did 300 miles through that torrential rain yesterday ( with no roof ) and when i got home i noticed that there was some water in the oil . i haven’t noticed any oil in the water expansion tank and no loss of water either. Does anyone know how the water might have got into the oil?

Cheers

hi
it could be condensation,
some rain could have been sucked in through the air filter,
has it been ok, is it running ok?

i would do an oil flush and change the oil.
the keep an eye on it

paul

Check the "valley" in the V of the engine. It is only an aluminium plate that covers the engine and water could have seeped through at the ends.
If you know a freindly garage with a pressure tester, get them to test your water system to be absolutely sure.

Sounds like the engine is running too cold.

Are you running a thermostat ?

Also if you have an oil cooler (without an oil thermostat) it is likely to cause over cooling of the oil ?

Thats interesting that you should ask about the thermostat.

No i dont have a stat at the moment because i took it out last week because it was sticking. I do have an oil cooler ( again, without a stat ) and the engine yesterday was running at a constant 85deg

How does this affect the water/oil problem though

Cheers

Condensation can take a while to boil off but is quite normal in small quantities - have you got much mayo like goop in the oil?

[Edited on 18-5-08 by RazMan]

Water as steam is a product of combustion of any hydrocarbon fuel

{Fuel} + {Oxygen} > {Heat} +{Water} +{Carbon dioxide}.

Some of this steam gets blown past the piston rings so It is normal to get water vapour in the the sump and rocker covers all the passages,

It used to be very common especially on engines that did only short journeys for some the water vapour to condense and and build up lots of oil water emulsion in the rocker covers. Modern tin top engines warm up more quickly run much hotter and have crankcase breathers that use positive crankcase ventilation to draw air through the engine internals. On days when humidity is relatively high more condensate will build up than normal.

Condensation in the sump and rocker covers is not good news because the condensate will also contain acids.

How to reduce it.
(1) Keep the water temperature especially in lower half of the engine high enough.
Fit a thermostat and make sure a by-pass hoses is fitted as this prevent the bottom part of the engine being over cooled.

(2) Monitor the oil temperature normal range for oil temperature is 10 to 15 degrees higher than the water temperature.
If an oil cooler is fitted and the oil temperature is too low either fit an oil thermostat or use tank tape to blank over enough of the oil cooler rad to bring the temperature up..

(3) Arange the crancase breathers so that air is drawn through sump up to the top of the engine an into the air filter housing.

(4) Raise the air inlet temperature --- reduces power but .............

Many V8 suffer from condensation forming emulsion in the centre of the Vee but as far as I know there apart from the above thre is no easy answer, although it might be worth checking the Land-Rover forums on the web.


[Edited on 18/5/08 by britishtrident]

cool guys

Comprehensive answers .

Many thanks

can't really improve on BT's answer.

ofcourse the other reason could be head gasket or slipped liner (virtually unherd of on 3.5 blocks but common on 3.9) - if that goes, then you will start to lose water so check that, the hoses go hard due to being pressurised and the plugs will be spotless (steam cleaned)

I am surprised that without any stat your engine temp stays constant at 85 C.