It's grey, it's liquidy, and it's not oil

I took heed of advice (not from any sane person to give the car a rest for a couple of days) to CLEAN my injector connections, and replace my 'clips' (the bit with the wire on). I used some new small files and gave them a good filing, only to remove a surface of white oxidisation and reveal shiny metal underneath. I was told this is a common problem here.

I also used screw extractors on the bolts that hold the top half of the TB in place and whipped it off. The old injectors were held in TIGHT, there was no budging them at all, and without damaging them (much) I managed to prize them out of their hidey holes, and experimented with the old and the new. The old ones DIDN'T run. One of them is definitely knackered and is open 100% (you can suck through it). The other works fine and resistance is A1. So, after messing about, the detail of which I'm not going to go into (as it's boring), I have the usual good nice running, nice idle, with normal throttle response. The pic on the left is the housing with the OLD injectors in. Notice how they look old and horrible. They were a pig to get out, and the 'o' rings leaked when put back in. I've 'binned' one of them, as it was just horrible looking.



Both injectors were stamped 'C39-1'. Without having knowledge of codes, these are designated for the 2.6 engine. The ones out of my engine are stamped 'C7Z-3'. Here are the old injectors. The one on the left is the '3' and the one horrible looking one on the right is the '1'. I ran the engine and I have to say it ran noticably better with the '3' and the '1' in place ... that was until I saw smoke rising from the turbo!

I quickly stopped the car, and checked the intercooler pipes for leaks, and then checked the oil. Immediately, I notcied something wasn't right. I could see a level on the dipstick, and closer examination revealed a watery, off-black liquid, that looked like grey milk. There was no oil in the car, apart from this stuff. What was it ... and where did it come from?

Here's the moment I saw this, but without the swearing that followed.
At around 23 seconds I stare (with the camera) at the turbo, and it sort of gets confused from there.

I came to the conclusion (though with the unbelievably random nature of this car, I wouldn't be suprised if a tramp had been pissing in my oil cap for a laugh every night), that the amount of water leaking from the throttle body gasket had got into the oil supply. I knew quite a bit had been leaking, but holy crap, not this much. I know I will be warned it might be a head gasket failure, but I know it's water contamination, as it's not 'head gaskety', I know it's not. Fortunately, I hadn't been running the car long, so I hope nothing's damaged. The turbo is fine, and I'll give it a proper servicing ... sometime next week!

I'm going to do some work on the MGF tommorow, so why don't you join me tommorow as I remove a few rusted bolts, inspect the crazy Hydragas suspension system, and check and replace the brake pipes. It's a completey different car, and it's a good laugh to drive.