Super A: Cracked Block or head Gasket?

Rad Redrunner · Jun 30, 2008

Well, I guess it's inevitable; the more you look, the more you see. When changing the oil on my "new" '52 Super A, the first gush out of the drain was clear green- anti-freeze in the oil. (It was just a very small amount- maybe an ounce or so.) When looking at the "A" to buy it, I looked for oil in the radiator (not a pressurized system), and there wasn't any, nor is there any now . While I'm hoping for merely a headgasket problem, my first thought as a new owner was, of course, "Oh, no, it's got a cracked block!" My question is, are these engines prone to block cracking at certain points or is it likely a head gasket problem?

Rad

glennster · Jun 30, 2008

could be head gasket, o-ring on the sleeve or cracked block. drop the oil pan, and look at the base of each sleeve for antifreeze dripping. if you see a few drops, its the o-ring.

teddy52food · Jun 30, 2008

I would retorque the head, noting if any were loose.

old · Jun 30, 2008

Found that type of problem on a TO20 Fergason not long ago. I changed the oil and so far it has not come back. If it has sat un-used for a year or so they can/will seep a little bit and a good worm up some times fixes the problem. I would take a gamble and change the oil and run it. Watch the oil close but if it doesn't come back run it

El Toro · Jun 30, 2008

Pull the oil pan and set a clean container under the engine and see if any coolant is dripping from the sleeve seals. They get hard from age.
There's probably a lot of crud in that area by now. You would need to disassemble the engine to get to those seals. Be sure to clean that area around those seals. Hal

SteveNH · Jun 30, 2008

What would oil in the radiator mean? What would be bad to cause that?

Rad Redrunner · Jun 30, 2008

Steve, oil in the radiator (a "rainbow" swirl when you look in the fill cap) often means (I've been told) a bad head gasket- the closed water system sucks it in when it cools down. I guess it could also mean a cracked block or head, for the same reason.

Rad

Gentleman Farmer · Jun 30, 2008

We have a 51 and a 54 Super A. Is it ok to use antifreeze in them? We just use water as they don't have water pumps (have to drain it in the winter). I was always told it needs to boil the water to circulate it through the system and that using antifreeze would damage the engine since it has to run much hotter to circulate it properly. But anyway the 51 was getting water in the oil so the Old Man added some stop leak in the radiator (against my advice) and he claims that it has fixed the problem for now. I would like to hear more about using antifreeze though as I'm tired of draining it every November.

Rad Redrunner · Jun 30, 2008

Thanks, guys. I'm not familiar with the peculiarities of sleeved engines, so
that info was particularly helpful- thanks, El Toro and Glennster. Old, I hope I have your luck with it not coming back, because I do believe it had sat up for awhile.

In the mean time, I'll see if it does happen again, especially since I had already planned to change the oil again after running it for several hours because the oil that was in it was so bad. If it's there again, I guess I'll go with it as is for awhile and when I'm about to overhaul it- sleeves and all- I'll drop the pan and leave it for awhile to watch for drips. At that point, I'd like to see them drip, since that would almost completely rule out the cracked head/block, at least reduce the chance enough to go ahead and rebuild the engine. (Right?)

Thanks once again, guys

Rad

Super A: Cracked Block or head Gasket?

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glennster

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old

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