C0RR0SIVE
Golden Master
- Messages
- 9,213
- Location
- Lexington, KY
So, this is sort of gonna be my work-log for this repair, if anyone remembers, approximately 3 years ago I did a Lower Intake Manifold Gasket repair on this car, and it came out nice. I decided to eventually buy this car off of my brother as he was wanting a different car. All pictures can be found in this facebook album, the link is a public version from my understanding, will update as things progress.
Link to Pictures:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...073741828.100000887370048&type=1&l=536c0a0b24
Day Zero:
On my way to work one night, already running late, I noticed my car started going from 140F to ~200F fairly quickly, far faster than what is normal while on the highway. I pulled over and noticed that the hoses had no pressure, and was not warm at all. This indicated something horrible, and not just a faulty water pump, but a total loss of coolant. Looking around, I saw virtually nothing because of how dark it was. Eventually I decided to pull the radiator cap, and sure enough, it was bone dry. I had a family member bring a few gallons of water so I could attempt to limp my car home.
The next morning, I filled it up, bled the air out, and took the car for a test drive. Worked beautifully, no issues at all. This didn't explain the reason that I lost coolant.
Day One: I drove the car to work that night, but on the way home, I noticed the same thing, a quickly overheating engine, but no steam, or anything of the sort. I quickly pulled into a parking lot and killed the engine. Opening the hood, I looked at the radiator cap, it had shot OFF of the radiator, and the engine was spewing out tons of water. Immediately I thought the worst, blown/cracked heads, or a bad head-gasket. Due to the overheating, I am leaning towards bad cylinder heads at this point. The coolant wasn't pouring out because of heat, it was actually slightly warm water, not hot enough to start boiling out, but because of air being forced into the cooling system, causing the coolant to back out in the only place it can, the radiator cap.
Day 2: Spent a good chunk of the day cleaning my garage, and trying to round up all my tools that have sat around the last year or so.
Day 3: The tow-truck that brought my car home, parked it a good 50 foot away from the garage entrance... No way to push it that far, nor steer it due to the way the land is around my garage. I had to start my car, it started instantly, but, it had NO power what so ever, it was almost as if the transmission was busted (still not sure on that, but if that tow-truck driver damaged my transmission, he is going to be in a world of pain). Looking behind me as I give my car even more fuel to try and get it to budge, I noticed thick heavy white smoke, a sure sign that water has been leaking down profusely into the cylinders, thankfully I don't think I did damage from hydrolock, as the engine did start.
Day 3.5: I started to rip things off, finally ending up where I did a few years ago with the LIM replacement. Sourcing things out, this will either be a $350 job, or a $1200 job, depending purely upon if the heads are good or not, or if they can even be saved. Heads still are on the engine, as it looks like it's going to be a royal PITA to get the two engine mounts off that wrap around one of the cylinder heads, just to get to the exhaust to head bolts.
I decided to go ahead and start cleaning parts. A few years ago due to a lawnmower having issues with it's carburetor I looked up a way to clean them, without having to spend tons of time with sprays. Finally found something called Berrymans Chem-Dip, for about $30/gallon, this is the best stuff I have EVER used to clean engine parts. It takes time, but, the results are beautiful. Just have to keep some motor oil near-by, and plenty of water, as the parts need to be washed off, then dipped in oil, this chem-dip will eat away at metal, and WILL cause serious personal injuries if not handled properly.
Everything removed looks GOOD at this point from when I did the LIM repair last time, except one thing, I am still seeing oil getting sucked up into the intake. The throttle body had a nice little pool of it. Not sure if it's due to coolant/overheating or what. But the oil wasn't there 6 months ago when I replaced the thermostat, which requires the throttle body to be removed.
At this point, I have done decided, that if the heads are able to be machined and saved, then I will be replacing the push rod lifters on this engine. They are hydraulic, and over-time can collapse, causing an intensely annoying ticking sound from the engine. I am also CONSIDERING the replacement of the rocker-arms, though, I am unsure, as there are 12 of them, and the ones I want are roller type arms, coming in at $64/per arm. Might save that for another day, because it isn't really needed unless I want every ounce of power possible out of this engine, and I am really not going for that.
Costs at this point:
1 Gallon of Chem-Dip - Already had, might need to buy a new can though, this stuff is starting to look nasty, and has a metallic substance in it...
2 Gallons of coolant down the drain - $14/gallon
5 quarts of fresh motor oil - $3/quart (for lubricating parts)
New work light - $25
Towels - $3
PB Blaster - $4.00 (SO much better than WD40... You know, WD40 isn't meant to break rust down... Was never the intended purpose.)
Package of Razor Blades - $2.00 (Don't use these for what I am doing, it's very risky, and dangerous, not just to the soft aluminum, but you as well if you slip)
Package of Nitrile Gloves - $8.00 for a package of 100.
Future Possible Costs:
Head Gasket Set - $250 - Includes ALL gaskets for a head gasket repair.
Head Bolt Set - $50
Intake Bolt Set - $40
Lifters - $15/each, need 12
Heads - $400/EACH
OR (not sure if they are beyond repair or not)
Machined/repaired $250 for both to be fixed
Resurfacing of Lower Intake Manifold $80
Resurfacing of Upper Intake Manifold $50 (it needs more cleaning than I can give it, a shop can clean the EGR passage much faster and cheaper than I ever can)
First Oil Change : $30 (cheap oil, just to help get gunk out of the engine, and let parts do an initial break in)
Second Oil Change at 250 miles: $70 (Using Royal Purple and Mobile One filters)
Link to Pictures:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/...073741828.100000887370048&type=1&l=536c0a0b24
Day Zero:
On my way to work one night, already running late, I noticed my car started going from 140F to ~200F fairly quickly, far faster than what is normal while on the highway. I pulled over and noticed that the hoses had no pressure, and was not warm at all. This indicated something horrible, and not just a faulty water pump, but a total loss of coolant. Looking around, I saw virtually nothing because of how dark it was. Eventually I decided to pull the radiator cap, and sure enough, it was bone dry. I had a family member bring a few gallons of water so I could attempt to limp my car home.
The next morning, I filled it up, bled the air out, and took the car for a test drive. Worked beautifully, no issues at all. This didn't explain the reason that I lost coolant.
Day One: I drove the car to work that night, but on the way home, I noticed the same thing, a quickly overheating engine, but no steam, or anything of the sort. I quickly pulled into a parking lot and killed the engine. Opening the hood, I looked at the radiator cap, it had shot OFF of the radiator, and the engine was spewing out tons of water. Immediately I thought the worst, blown/cracked heads, or a bad head-gasket. Due to the overheating, I am leaning towards bad cylinder heads at this point. The coolant wasn't pouring out because of heat, it was actually slightly warm water, not hot enough to start boiling out, but because of air being forced into the cooling system, causing the coolant to back out in the only place it can, the radiator cap.
Day 2: Spent a good chunk of the day cleaning my garage, and trying to round up all my tools that have sat around the last year or so.
Day 3: The tow-truck that brought my car home, parked it a good 50 foot away from the garage entrance... No way to push it that far, nor steer it due to the way the land is around my garage. I had to start my car, it started instantly, but, it had NO power what so ever, it was almost as if the transmission was busted (still not sure on that, but if that tow-truck driver damaged my transmission, he is going to be in a world of pain). Looking behind me as I give my car even more fuel to try and get it to budge, I noticed thick heavy white smoke, a sure sign that water has been leaking down profusely into the cylinders, thankfully I don't think I did damage from hydrolock, as the engine did start.
Day 3.5: I started to rip things off, finally ending up where I did a few years ago with the LIM replacement. Sourcing things out, this will either be a $350 job, or a $1200 job, depending purely upon if the heads are good or not, or if they can even be saved. Heads still are on the engine, as it looks like it's going to be a royal PITA to get the two engine mounts off that wrap around one of the cylinder heads, just to get to the exhaust to head bolts.
I decided to go ahead and start cleaning parts. A few years ago due to a lawnmower having issues with it's carburetor I looked up a way to clean them, without having to spend tons of time with sprays. Finally found something called Berrymans Chem-Dip, for about $30/gallon, this is the best stuff I have EVER used to clean engine parts. It takes time, but, the results are beautiful. Just have to keep some motor oil near-by, and plenty of water, as the parts need to be washed off, then dipped in oil, this chem-dip will eat away at metal, and WILL cause serious personal injuries if not handled properly.
Everything removed looks GOOD at this point from when I did the LIM repair last time, except one thing, I am still seeing oil getting sucked up into the intake. The throttle body had a nice little pool of it. Not sure if it's due to coolant/overheating or what. But the oil wasn't there 6 months ago when I replaced the thermostat, which requires the throttle body to be removed.
At this point, I have done decided, that if the heads are able to be machined and saved, then I will be replacing the push rod lifters on this engine. They are hydraulic, and over-time can collapse, causing an intensely annoying ticking sound from the engine. I am also CONSIDERING the replacement of the rocker-arms, though, I am unsure, as there are 12 of them, and the ones I want are roller type arms, coming in at $64/per arm. Might save that for another day, because it isn't really needed unless I want every ounce of power possible out of this engine, and I am really not going for that.
Costs at this point:
1 Gallon of Chem-Dip - Already had, might need to buy a new can though, this stuff is starting to look nasty, and has a metallic substance in it...
2 Gallons of coolant down the drain - $14/gallon
5 quarts of fresh motor oil - $3/quart (for lubricating parts)
New work light - $25
Towels - $3
PB Blaster - $4.00 (SO much better than WD40... You know, WD40 isn't meant to break rust down... Was never the intended purpose.)
Package of Razor Blades - $2.00 (Don't use these for what I am doing, it's very risky, and dangerous, not just to the soft aluminum, but you as well if you slip)
Package of Nitrile Gloves - $8.00 for a package of 100.
Future Possible Costs:
Head Gasket Set - $250 - Includes ALL gaskets for a head gasket repair.
Head Bolt Set - $50
Intake Bolt Set - $40
Lifters - $15/each, need 12
Heads - $400/EACH
OR (not sure if they are beyond repair or not)
Machined/repaired $250 for both to be fixed
Resurfacing of Lower Intake Manifold $80
Resurfacing of Upper Intake Manifold $50 (it needs more cleaning than I can give it, a shop can clean the EGR passage much faster and cheaper than I ever can)
First Oil Change : $30 (cheap oil, just to help get gunk out of the engine, and let parts do an initial break in)
Second Oil Change at 250 miles: $70 (Using Royal Purple and Mobile One filters)
Last edited: