1918 Oakland (northway) 6 cyl. engine ?

[Guest Jboyce]

:(:( There's water leaking into my crankcase.. :(:( Engine is running very good, but I can see the water on the dipstick and the new oil level rising after each warm up.. Is this block toast or is it time to switch to another engine ?? Car is way too good to part out and/or throw away.. Thx., Jim & Marilyn.. :confused::confused::confused::confused:

Edited April 30, 2011 by Jboyce
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[Guest c.johnson]

Nice engine - on the outside at least anyway. I have a '20 and a '17, interesting comparing them all.

Most likely it's a blown head gasket; an annoying but fairly easy fix on this engine. Could also be a crack in the cylinder; time to rebuild it & check to see if it needs to be bored and sleeved - very annoying and rather costly. Could also be the back plate for the water pump somehow leaking into the engine, but I doubt that.

One way or another, there are no easy answers to the problem. And the only sure way to find out is to start some mechanic work and start digging for clues.

I know a few who do good work rebuilding the engine if you would like. Or let me know if you decide to go with a different engine as I could use some parts. (ok, I'm not a complete purist)

Best of luck. Let me know how I can help.

[Guest TrevorOU]

:(:( There's water leaking into my crankcase.. :(:( Engine is running very good, but I can see the water on the dipstick and the new oil level rising after each warm up.. Is this block toast or is it time to switch to another engine ?? Car is way too good to part out and/or throw away.. Thx., Jim & Marilyn.. :confused::confused::confused::confused:

I have an almost identical looking engine in my 1919 Scripps Booth. They seem remarkably sturdy to welding cracks, my grandfather welded a crack in the water pump over 30 years ago and it's still fine.

I do have questions about Northway engine servicing; there seems to be very little available on what to do with them. This is the first time I've started to service this car after it spent 20 years outside the family. The man who had the car after buying it at the estate sale (until I bought it back this year) said he put thick Lucas oil in the cam-shaft oilers.

But, I was wondering what oil/antifreeze/gas/additives do you use in yours? Is the servicing schedule from 1919 still pretty valid or are there particular things I need to do?

I do have a manual for the car, but it's from 1919 and a lot has changed since then...

Edited October 28, 2012 by TrevorOU (see edit history)

[Guest knuckle head]

I have the same engine in my 1917 McLaughlin (canadian Buick). I use 15 /40 diesel engine

oil, and modern anti freeze. the heavier Lucas oil is likely fine for the oilers. I put larger capacity oil cups on mine! Regular unleaded gas has been working fine for me for 20 years

Henry