Brown Sludge In Radiator and Oil turned Black

So i was driving my 71 comet and all or a sudden it sounded like it was skipping a cylinder and the car started shaking. So i checked the wires and plugs thinking it was an ignition problem but everything was good. Then i check the oil and it was black (just changed the oil a week ago) the radiator had brown sludge in it,( just flushed it a week ago) and the exuast was blowing out alot of smoke and liquid. Could this mean that i have a blown head gasket? Want to make sure. And is this a basic job or would i have to take to a machine shop? Thanks

 

Sounds like a blown head gasket to me, wont know how hard it will be until it is torn apart may be something more wrong

 

A "basic Job" is somewhat subjective to one's experience level. To someone with little experience in repairing automobile engines, a head gasket replacement is not a basic job. You never mentioned what size engine is in the car (6 or 8). If it is an eight, I would replace both head gaskets and while I had the thing apart, I would try to get to the bottom of why it blew one in the first place. Iron headed engines don't ordinarily blow head gaskets unless they have been overheated or operated in a state of detonation.

 

A blown head gasket generally causes oil to become a milkshake, never seen coolant in oil turn black...

 

Inline 6 the car was sitting for about 10 years just put new fluids in it and started driving it ,and the carburator was rebuilt so it ran to rich for a week or 2. Could that be why it blew since it was sitting for so long and decided to just drive it?

 

I have seen oil in coolant before. possible head gasket or cracked head but probably gasket

 

If the car sat for 10 yrs and has only been driven for a week, alot of gunk can accumulate in the radiator and require more than a single flushing.
Is the vehicle an automatic? If so, any change to the color of the fluid in the tranny?.... any of the plugs wet when removed?

 

I'm going to venture a guess. After sitting for 10 years the cylinder walls may have been rusted and when you started driving it the piston rings got damaged or packed with rust, allowing a lot of blow-by past the rings. That blow-by would cause your oil to go black. Also, the detergents in your first oil change may have loosened up some dried out oil crud from the engine, darkening your oil. A second oil change might help that.

As for the sludge, the anti corrosion additives in the coolant may have depleted allowing corrosion by-products to form . The sludge was always there; it just loosened up with the driving.

I'd recommend doing a compression test to determine the condition of the rings. It's still possible you also have ignition issues. Perhaps change your oil and filter, do the compression test, change the spark plugs, fire it up and diagnose your ignition issues. Changing the points, rotor and distributor cap might help if they were corroded. A new coil might help.

Don't forget, liquid is a by-product of combustion and it might be your attention was drawn to it as you started looking for symptoms of a blown head gasket. You might also try a cylinder head cleaning product such as that sold by Sea Foam. That might help loosen those oil control rings. A 100 bucks invested prior to pulling the head might help solve the problem.

 

If the vehicle is an automatic, I would also recommend you pull the vacuum line off of the modulator valve and inspect for any signs of transmission fluid within the vacuum line. If the diaphragm goes bad in it, it can also cause the "shaking" due to a misfire condition it would cause, had this happen to me once, of course it caused alot of smoke out the exhaust.

 

What color was the "smoke" it was blowing out? if it was white looking then it was steam.

 

Was a alnost black color and when i put my hand infront of the exaust my hand got wet with some liquid.

 

It is automatuc but tranny still good. Plugs were not wet but lots of thick carbon. (Just got new plugs) and the exaust was throwing out some liquid

 

As was stated, a blown head gasket typically results in a LOT of white steam.

It is normal for some liquid to be emitted from the exhaust. Especially if the engine is not up to operating temperature or if the car is typically driven only short distances. This is condensation. Sounds like the engine is running very, very rich. Black smoke out of the exhaust is partially combusted fuel, blue is oil and white is water/glycol.

 

And a pink tinted smoke is transmission fluid lol

 

Yea i forgot to say. I was on the road while it went bad and the smoke would be a white color but then when stopped would be a dark color. Also i had ran the car for a few miles so it was up to temp and still was throwing liquid out the back.
And also has the carburator adjusted a few days before it went bad. Going to take the head off today and see.