Quote:
Originally Posted by jhv48
Brown muck in the oil is generally caused by a faulty gasket or cracked block.
(water leaking into the oil) |
Really, enlighten me further vis a vi the water leak in my Buell XB12X please. Maybe in Carlsbad this doesn't happen, but here on the southeast coast this can happen anytime the temp drops and people don't operate their internal combustion engines to full operating temp on a regular basis. That means gas or diesel; water,
oil or air cooled. The “brown muck” would be properly termed an emulsion, and while I would agree with others who’ve said that “evaporation” can occur at almost any time, when the water is suspended in an emulsion it is essentially trapped by enveloping oil thus slowing or nullifying any ambient temp evaporation. If, on the other hand, the engine and its fluids are brought to full operating temp (my Canton thermostat doesn’t open until 212 degrees F) then that same water becomes gaseous not just vaporous. At this point, what water is trapped in the emulsion will be released during the resultant expansion allowing it to be vented. The salient point is that if the oil is never brought up to sufficient temp for this to occur then the emulsions will continue to collect and hold water. If this emulsion reaches the sump and is pumped through the oil system then this will result in damage to the engine and I don’t see how anyone could argue that point as it is not an unknown occurrence. And just so that we are clear on this; water (gaseous) IS a major byproduct of the combustion process. For those who didn’t take chemistry in high school (or don’t remember it) gasoline would be represented by C8H18. Its combustion, in the easiest sense of the word is to carbon dioxide and water and could be expressed thusly: 2C8H18 + 25O2 ~> 16CO2 + 18H2O