Hey this is for my brothers 89 grand am LE but it prob goes for all cars

he ran through a flood, the car slowly stopped and would not turn on. we let it sit for a weeek and went back, it cranked for a while spitting out the water through a holee in the exhuast. it eventually started up and i put some oil in it cuz hee was real low.

my question. i checked the oil after it started up finally and the oil is a white color. What could this mean? i suspected head gasket but someone said water in the engine would make it white and i should flush it with a couple oil changes in a few hours to get the water out.

anyone seeen this happpen before? his air filter was soaked if that helps

 

yea dude, tat is amazing it started up after a week, maybe water didnt get in tat much, but better be safe then sorry and do a couple of oil changes, get the cheapest and thickest oil, run the oil for about 50 miles and change it, does it knock? if it does then get some Marvel mystery oil, good **** i say, keep doing oil changes untill u get clean oil, meaning no more water in the engine, good luck with ur **** man

 

white oil= mixed with water

 

so you mean its not a blown head gasket?

should he start it up often or should he leave is that bad for it? someone suggested keeeping starting it up so it has no opputunity to rust cuz of the water

 

no way to know without a compression test or teardown. i'd do a compression test pretty quick.

 

oh yeea, would seafoam be a good idea whilee im doing all the oil changes?

 

Check the coolant level.If it's not down than it's just the water that got in the engine from the puddle.I wouldn't waste my money on the Seafoam,just do a couple oil changes.

 

well the car has about 210k miles on it and the oil was black when he got it

 

What probably happen is water made its way to the cylinders when he sucked it up in the puddle. The water leaked down past the rings and into the oil. No water inside the cylinders allowed it to start again. Like everyone is saying, change your oil until you get all the water/oil mixture out.

 

if it has begun to rust, would seafoam get any of the moisture out i may havee missed?

 

CHANGE THE OIL! When the oil is changed and there is no milk-shake left, the heat from the oil will vaporize the remaining moisture...Then it gets sucked out the PCV, and out the exhaust! But you 1st need to change the oil. If you WANT to add SEAFOAM, then go for it! In my experience Seafoam works better when its introduced into the intake, causing it to burn in the chambers cleaning out SOME of the carbon deposits. Adding it to the oil has never done anything more for me other than wasting a can...

 

^^^

Change oil, drive 50-100mi, repeat until the drained oil is as clean as when you put it in. Then you can do the seafoam thing to it if you really want.

And don't drive through floods!