arrow_runner

I've got an 88 v6 celebrity that blew both head gaskets. The water sat in the engine for a couple weeks before I drained the oil. There was more water in the cylinders when I finally got the heads off a month or two later.

The mixture of liquids in a couple of the cylinders were a weird shade of orange.

Question, possibly how much was the engine damaged by rust if it sat there that long? Are my rings or block going to be messed up? Obviously I'll have to put new head gaskets on to tell if how bad it is, but I wanted to have an idea what to expect.]

Thanks for all the help!

MagicRat

Engines usually don't blow both head gaskets at once.
Is it possible one had already blown and you continued to drive it, or maybe the intake manifold has leak issues?

If you had anti-freeze in the cooling system, you should be okay. Unlike water, it inhibits rust, so there will be little harm if it sits in the cylinders.

Be sure to clean up the cylinders well. Make sure all the liquids and debris is removed. Use compressed air and a blow gun to get everything out from between the cyl walls, and pistons and around the piston ring lands and grooves.
Try rotating the crank by hand half a turn and clean up some more. This will help push more gunk out from under the rings.

So long as the cylinder walls are not too rusty, you should be fine. Light surface rust is okay; often it can be sprayed with WD-40 and wiped off with a rag. So long as the cylinder wall has no pit-marks from the rust, you are okay.

Finally, make sure both heads go to a machine shop for crack testing, valve guide wear check and checking for straightness, they should be fine.

Check the cylinder ridge, (at the top). Excessive wear will produce a definite ridge, which means the engine is worn out. A slight ridge is usually okay.

After the heads go back on, change the oil and filter before you start the engine.
If the new oil looks even a little milky or foggy after a few minutes of running, change it again to be sure all the moisture is out.

__________________

'Some piously record "In the beginning God", but I say "In the beginning hydrogen".' - Harlow Shapley

Floyd_ODB

just something I do to get the cylinders as clean as possible (after gaskets are scrapped and preped) wipe the cylinders genoursly with oil. turn the engine over a few times and wipe them out(befor the oil drains back into the cylinders)repeat this step as necessary. The oil will atract any dirt and the rings will push it to the top of the cylinder. this will also help lube the rings so they dont get stuck.