I am getting massive amounts of water in the engine (I just drained 5 gallons of oil/water mixture). The cause does not seem to be one of the usual suspects.
Background:
–3 years ago I noticed their was some water mixed in with the engine oil. After research, I found that there is a known problem with this model where the windshield cowl allows water to pour on top of the engine. I bought dodge’s upgraded cowl and the problem went away.
–1 year ago, I stopped driving the car. It has been parked, uncovered, in the driveway since then.
–2 months ago, I changed the oil and almost 5 gallons of water and oil drained out. I checked the radiator thinking coolant was mixing in, but the radiator was completely full. I replaced the oil, cranked it, and let it run for about 10 minutes. It has been sitting untouched in the driveway since.
–Yesterday, I checked the dipstick and there was white frothy oil way above the full mark. I drained the oil, and again drained 5 full gallons of oil and water. I again checked the radiator and it is completely full. I changed the oil, cranked it up and let it run for over an hour. I checked it this morning and the oil looks perfectly fine.
I am at a loss. How could this much water be getting into the engine oil when the car has been parked in the driveway not running? My first thought was coolant, but at this point I’ve drained several gallons of water and the radiator is still full. The only other source that I can think of is rainwater. Is there any way that this much rainwater could accumulate in a parked car over two months? If I had a bad gasket or a cracked block, could rainwater be getting in that way?
Do you or a neighbor have a child who is playing “gas station” with a hose?
I have a young granddaughter who was three that told her parents it was time they taught her how to drive.
The next day one of their cars had rolled down the driveway and hit the house across the street. The standard shift car had been parked in the garage with the door shut.
They woke up in the morning with the garage door open and a police swat team with a dog in their house. Big mystery to them…not to me.
Sounds like rain water is dripping into the engine valley then leaking into the crankcase through the PCV breather pipe connection. Inspect the PCV connection at the right rear of the engine, also recheck your cowl seal repair.
LOL, I was just about to post that I welcomed all theories including that the neighbor was sneaking over and filling it up with water.
I guess anything is possible.
This is definitely the craziest thing I’ve ever encountered in one of my vehicles. I ran it for another 30 minutes this afternoon and oil still looks perfect.
The only other thing is that I have the muffler completely off right now. I’m a super-humid Louisiana. Could there be that much condensation accumulating?
Wow, this is the first lead I’ve gotten in a while, Nevada_545. Good call. I traced the PCV hose back to the rear of the engine and lo and behold the rubber elbow connecting the PCV to the crankcase was cracked.
Also, I poured a few teaspoons of water out of the hose when I took it out. Will see if I can find a replacement part and try that out.
Ok, what I found was apparently the “crank case breather element” not the PCV valve. I found the PCV valve now too, it’s a little harder to get to, but I’m going to check it while I’m at it.
I’ve had minor cowl leak problems on my truck come and go over the years, but leaking water doesn’t run onto top of engine. Down firewall & inner fender areas, annoying paint repairs problems for the most part. It’s possible if engine compartment is cramped, engine is situated near cowl & fire wall, in that configuration such a thing seems like it could happen if rain water got past a seal. Maybe that’s how the Durango is configured?
Vehicle manufactures began to design new vehicles with the base of the windshield and cowl moved forward, over the engine, about thirty years ago.
Can you imagine the frustration in repairing these vehicles if there was a distributer located at the rear of the engine as was the case with the previous generation Durango/Dakota.
