Crankcase foaming at the mouth

[kyleandhisIH]

So yesterday I went out and popped off the air cleaner, witnessed a healthy pump shot from a still-full fuel bowl, and proceeded to start my 304, if only to keep the engine un-sticked. Cold start is still an issue (manual choke on this ancient 2300 that mm pretty'd up for me) but I got it running ~1400 rpm and stepped up on the dairy crate.

After changing my ears to get past the exhaust leak (a problem caused by someone who didn't charge me any extree when he jacked the hell out of my ds pipe and destroyed the donut gasket/loaded the hell out of the pipe and misaligned it) I decided to pop the oil fill cap and witness the initial oiling of the motor.

First thing I noticed was a tan-colored "cream" covering my oil fill cap! Instantly I shut down the motor and reached a finger into the valve cover, but not before taking a picture or two. These are on a camera somewhere nearby, but the parking lot is a long way from my next class, so I'll update soon.

I thoroughly inspected the foreign substance (it wasn't custard) and I managed to "squeeze" a lot of water out of it. My heart sank, but the finger-in-the-hole test gave me the idea that this might have been local to the fill cap.

Now, the line to my flame arrestor on this valve cover (which was previously routed into the oem air cleaner base) is now hiding in a grease rag very tightly wrapped around its end. I want to pop off the valve cover, but I haven't yet asked for new valve cover gaskets, so I'm holding off until I have a fresh one handy. Is this sort of creamy-white buildup caused by the moisture I squeezed out of it? I can't find any other explanation for why it was accumulated on the top of the valve cover.

I guess I also need to snag some type of standalone mini-filter for the arrestor soon, too. Are these a standard size, or should I remove mine and take it in for comparison?

 

[Michael Mayben]

See this thread kyle:

http://www.forums.IHPartsAmerica.com/basic-tech-questions/3352-milky-oil-cap-question.html

Since you have prolly been starting and stopping that motor alot this winter while scruuin' with everything, this condition has arisen since the motor rarely gets up to temp for long periods. This condition si not peculiar to IH stuff, but affects any engine with a "closed" ventilation system. Engines prior to 1962 that had a "road draft" ventilation system didn't have this condition for the most part unless...the road draft system clogged, those had to periodically serviced also!

Also...if the entire engine ventilation system (pcv) ain't performing (is the flame arrestor totally clogged?), then this condensate accumulation will be aggravated.

That bung for the flame arrestor (or on some motors the pcv valve is mounted there instead) is just a 3/8" npt thread. So a short pipe nipple or close will allow clamping on a "breather element" like you describe. Those have a rubber grommet in the open end that has a hose segment molded on, slide that down over the nipple and clamp it.

Gimme a call when you have time and the weather is cooperating and I'll talk ya through making the fast idle setup work on the carb as it should for your engine app!

 

[kyleandhisIH]

Gimme a call when you have time and the weather is cooperating and I'll talk ya through making the fast idle setup work on the carb as it should for your engine app!

I'm a little confused here... Unless I'm missing a screw, I don't have any choice when it comes to fast idle setting. That is to say, I have to set it to where fully open choke results in ~700rpm. And if not reaching operating temp enough is my issue, I guess my next priority is to scrub up the change to put some more gas in my (nearly empty, as always) tank. I guess my current thinking wants to get condensation built up in the fuel tank, too!

I'm considering this thread resolved, since I should have searched it first, I already have an answer, and I just hijacked it myself...