[V8] 4.2 Oil in Coolant

[Kneale Brownson]

I have no BTDT, but on the list I read for old BMW two-wheelers, there
recently was a thread about cylinder porosity that apparently was a casting
issue in the early 1970s.  The symptom is oil collecting on the outside of
the cylinder between the fins.  These are air-cooled cylinders.  Anyway,
the fix 30 years ago was to replace the casting, which BMW did under
warranty if the issue was raised.  Today, of course, there is no such free
replacement.  But the big brains on the list have recommended using some
sort of penetrating sealant made by LockTite.  I think the product number
was 290 and the advice was to contact LockTite's technical service for
directions on proper application.

At 05:25 AM 5/10/2004 -0700, Thomas Barbera wrote:
>Well, found some nice thick oily sludge in the coolant
>resservoir of my father's '93 V8 the other day.  I
>figured it was a blown head gasket.  Took the heads
>off, but found no area on the gaskets where it was
>obviously leaking.  Had the heads redone at the
>machine shop, they pressure tested them and checked
>for warpage, all checked out well.  The only flaw I
>found was that the channels for the coolant in the
>block had some major corrosion, the previous owner was
>probably using phosphate antifreeze.  One of the
>channels in particular has some pretty bad pitting
>near one of the cylinders.  It doesn't look good.  The
>channel that is badly pitted is not a through channel,
>the head gasket plugs it.  
>Does anyone have any comments on whether this could be
>my problem?  Is there anything else which could put
>oil in my coolant?  I'm really nervous about this
>block.  If it were a 3.6, I'd just find another one. 
>4.2 blocks are hard to come by.  Just for kicks I
>asket the dealer the price of a new block, $14,000! 
>Ha ha!
>I talked about using metal epoxy, but my machine shop
>told me that it might cause a lump and prevent the
>head gasket from sealing.  They suggested using
>silicone to plug the channel and the pitted area
>around it.