Coolant in oil

NOAH GRAMMER

MEMBER
1998 FORD TAURUS
3.0L
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
140,000 MILES

So this is big error on my part to begin with. I was trying to fix a friend's check engine light and one of the trouble codes had mentioned that the camshaft position sensor synchronizer was potentially one of the issues. So I thought no big deal, it's not that invasive to get to in should be an easy fix, right? Well in my grand wisdom I just pulled the sucker right out. Without marking anything. So needless to say I was trying to figure out the timing and the position of the position sensor synchronizer and somewhere along the way after a couple of different tries see engine started sounding like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang upon starting it. And shortly thereafter while I was staring at the engine I could hear some liquid being poured into another liquid within the engine. It wasn't until later when I check the oil before starting it again that I noticed the oil level was very very high and that it was milky. Obviously water and oil so I was thinking maybe the head gasket failure due to the very incorrect timing? This is not my car and I'm feeling like a bit of a dummy for my blunder and trying to fix it promptly to make it right. Also follow-up question what's the easiest way to find top dead center when there's no timing marks on the crankshaft pulley so that I can actually try to get this timing correct after I fix whatever the hell I screwed up on this engine. I want to thank any and all people, in advance, for any helpful advice given and for your time used to answer my question/emergency.

3 Replies

BMDOUBLE

MECHANIC
1,139 POSTS

Thanks for the well written and detail oriented story, the more information we get, the easier it is to help! The easiest way to tell top dead center is to remove #1 spark plug, turn the engine over by hand until you hear the whoosh of compression and then turn slowly until you get the piston all the way up. You can buy the alignment tool online from the most popular online store that starts with an A for $20.00 which is the easiest and fool proof way or if you have a scan tool that has a power balance capability to identify cylinder contribution, pull a plug wire on a particular cylinder and verify on the scanner that it coincides with it, if not loosen the bolt and turn the synchro to see which way you need to go, trial and error but it will get the job done. As far as a misaligned synchronizer causing a blown head gasket, I’ve never heard of that in my 27 years as a dealer tech! These engines pop head gaskets all of the time! In my opinion it was probably on it’s way out, you just happened to be the lucky one to have it happen while you were working on it. Hope this helps!