Driving me nuts (condensation?)
 

502 block, Dart Aluminum intake, Merlin aluminum heads. Lightning water reduced headers. No motor water pump, run a crossover with a bypass hose. 180 degree thermostat, with 4 3/16" holes drilled. Water temp never gets over 140

Little back ground:
Last spring first run, I had TONS of water in the motor. Intake bolts were finger tight. Replaced gaskets. Pumped up the cooling system to 20#, and it held. GOOD deal. Took forever to clean it out, and get good oil. Finally had to run hot water to the motor to make it clean.

Ran all the rest last summer no problem.

towards the end of the summer/early fall , with cooler weather/water, I started seeing signs of water again. condensation? I installed a oil Thermostat. That helped get oil temps up. (previously they would never get over 140-160. Also found I had high water psi, so I just installed the water bypass. Havn't run it yet since I installed that.

I've put about 3hrs on it this spring none of those with the bypass installed. Frist time out I ran it good, to make sure the oil was getting hot. Oil temp at 220, and stayed there for about 35 min run. Checked the oil, and it was perfect, not even any signs of foam on the dipstick. Last time Out, was mostly idleing, and oil never really got hot 180 maybe at best. Checked it, and the dam foam is there. Oil doesn't seem to be going up. Last time out, I didn't have the water psi bypass installed, but I took it easy, and the water psi never went over 15. I know it had gone as high as 30 at WOT before I had the gauge installed.

I am so F'n sick of this problem its not even funny. Bout ready to say screw it, and give up. I'm not sure if I have a problem, more then condensation, but its getting old!

Would a blown head gasket act like this? pretty sure its not reversion. I have Lightning headers that have less then 100 hrs of freshwater only on them. Also have dumps at the end of the headers, that dump overboard. I checked the headers last year, and everything looked fine. Pressure checked oil Cooler last year, and it was fine.

I would assume if it was a blown head gasket I'd have a milkshake?

sorry for the ramble, but its driving me nuts! I really don't want to hurt the motor. I've had people tell me its a head gasket, and people tell me its normal condensation.

forgot to add, I also have a 11qt oil pan, and 3"x18' oil cooler. Not sure if that matters or not.

Make sure your flappers are in good shape , you could have reversion ...

I'm in the same boat wondering the same thing. Changed the oil it was black as night, new oil is caramel colored never got the new oil up to temp either. Too scared to run the motor thinking it is making oil. Sorry for threadjacking. I was in following waves then the motor dropped RPMS and never did come back up.

external flappers, and they look good to me.

Your in cold water too right now. with the procharged motor, are you runing a thermostat?

My best guess right now, is I have a condensation issue, since its not going up on the stick after 3 hours of run time.

If it were me, I would do an oil change, head out for a good 20 min run and then take a look. Sounds like you need to build temp up, or put a 140° tstat till the water warms up. Just my .02

No thermostat, I started another thread awhile back about the motor dropping power and not reving above 2300 RPM under load, but it didnt get much attention. starting to wonder if this is related. Again sorry for thread jacking. Cabinfever what lake do you run on?

I live in DSM, so we usually go to Saylorville. Its actually kinda nice right now since the water is high, there is alot more lake to play on, and we can run up the river aways.

We usually go to Rathbun 2-3 times a year. Will be down there 6-16 - 6/19

You can't rev past 2300?

Fixx
 

try putting the circulation pump back on,thermostat housing and run a regular thermostat..this will keep more heat in the engine to keep the condensation down..