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My Atomic 4 is a life long resident of the Great Lakes - so no salt water. I converted my engine to FWC several years ago and noticed back then that the coolant would slowly drop in level over a period of weeks. But the oil was not turning milky at all. Fast forward to this year and I found the oil a chocolate milkshake color and the coolant was disappearing while the oil level was rising in a short time.
I scanned this forum and searched the web and found the possible causes.
I pressure checked the manifold and it was fine. I checked the block and I found that my engine (sn 295xxx) has that steel plug pressed into the block in the side oil gallery between the springs and that it had developed a small rust through leak which was not obvious, visually. But when the jacket was pumped up to 10 PSI the air leak was very obvious. I had a drill and tap for 5/16-18. The plug had a tapered recess in its face, so I didn't have to centerpunch the plug to drill the hole on center. I used a right angle drill and drilled for the tap size, then tapped the hole to 5/16-18. I screwed in a bolt with a washer and it pulled up tight ( I was concerned that the plug might pull out - it did not ) I removed the bolt, cleaned it up and applied Permatex and back in it went with a lock washer. I reassembled everything and started it up. 4 oil changes later the oil was clear. Now the engine runs as it should and there is zero loss of engine coolant. As I recall it was Don Moyer who suggested that the steel plug rusting through might be a cause of oil contamination from coolant loss. But I couldn't find anyone else who reported this problem, so I thought it would be very unlikely.
However I suspect this is a common problem with many later Atomic 4s that have the steel plug in the block.
If you want your Atomic 4 to last, I suggest that you convert to fresh water cooling before it's too late!
My FWC system consists of a Universal Diesel heat exchanger (Ebay), a Bosch coolant pump that was used on a Ford Turbo car for the intercooler and a Mini Cooper overflow bottle. It has been very reliable and allows the engine to warm up nicely and run at a stable temperature of 150-160 degrees without a thermostat. (one less thing to break)
Dave
Pearson 10M #26
I scanned this forum and searched the web and found the possible causes.
I pressure checked the manifold and it was fine. I checked the block and I found that my engine (sn 295xxx) has that steel plug pressed into the block in the side oil gallery between the springs and that it had developed a small rust through leak which was not obvious, visually. But when the jacket was pumped up to 10 PSI the air leak was very obvious. I had a drill and tap for 5/16-18. The plug had a tapered recess in its face, so I didn't have to centerpunch the plug to drill the hole on center. I used a right angle drill and drilled for the tap size, then tapped the hole to 5/16-18. I screwed in a bolt with a washer and it pulled up tight ( I was concerned that the plug might pull out - it did not ) I removed the bolt, cleaned it up and applied Permatex and back in it went with a lock washer. I reassembled everything and started it up. 4 oil changes later the oil was clear. Now the engine runs as it should and there is zero loss of engine coolant. As I recall it was Don Moyer who suggested that the steel plug rusting through might be a cause of oil contamination from coolant loss. But I couldn't find anyone else who reported this problem, so I thought it would be very unlikely.
However I suspect this is a common problem with many later Atomic 4s that have the steel plug in the block.
If you want your Atomic 4 to last, I suggest that you convert to fresh water cooling before it's too late!
My FWC system consists of a Universal Diesel heat exchanger (Ebay), a Bosch coolant pump that was used on a Ford Turbo car for the intercooler and a Mini Cooper overflow bottle. It has been very reliable and allows the engine to warm up nicely and run at a stable temperature of 150-160 degrees without a thermostat. (one less thing to break)
Dave
Pearson 10M #26
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