Kingtal0n

Driving down highway... and i start to smell this funny oil burny smell... i check oil pressure... its normal.. then.
suddenly i hear a metal-on-metal sound coming from the engine.

i shut it off fast as my fingers can fly. i coast to a stop... get out.. and i smell that over-heated coolant smell that you smell when you overheat your motor.

i check pressure in the rad. hose, sure enough, there is none. i pull off the rad cap (no pressure.. so...) and of course, nothing but water vapor. where did my water go?

not knowing how bad i overheated it, i pull the dipstick thinking the oil got hot enough to break down.. sure enough, the oil on the dipstick is SMOKING hot, and the thing burns a dipstick impression in my hand.

very very bad. i run and get some water in a bucket and pour it in SLOW... i hear "crack crack tick tick crack" in the radiator and it all comes SPLASHING back out at me at BOILING hot temps. I wait and wait and try it again... same results. Im pouring in very hot water to begin with (not wanting to crack anything too bad) and running the fan.

Just out of curiosity, i try to start it. motor turns over then stops like its locked up! i hit it again and it breaks loose and all the time im hearing SQUEEK CRUNCH from what i think are the journals.

sigh* oh well. i wait a bit longer, put more water in it, then without really thinking it through, i hit the starter again. it starts!...

but its missing, idling weird, running rough as hell, and just generally being a little pain in the ****. tommarow im going to start with the obvious... maybe a plug burned up from the heat... then move to the bottom end if i have to. I drove it home, its not knocking or screeching anymore. fresh oil a must, duh. i just wonder how extensive the damage is? i have aluminum heads too, wondering if they warped bad enough to screw a valve guide up or somthin?

25THRSS

What temp did your motor get up to? Did you blow a head gasket?

rp_guy

my coolant boils at 105 celsius..dunno what that is in f..

just know that's a very low temp to be boiling

DanRS

F = 9/5C + 32, 105C is 221F. That's a little low, coolant and pressure should bring it up to 230s at least.

Never put water in something that hot, always wait quite a while for it to cool down. Cool water + hot surface WILL crack things.

MrDude_1

you probly just blew a head gasket..... - do a compression test on all the cyls to find out.


at worse..... you totally screwed up your engine. your crank is gouged, the rods are ruined, the block has deep scratches from the rings, the deck is warped, the heads are warped, and your intakes mateing surface has a warble in it.......


think happy thoughts.

and keep a eye on you temp gauge... and be sure it works!

Kingtal0n

well im wondering if it could have nailed the bottom end. im considering just pulling it out tommarow, starting over.

it got pretty hot. more than 280*F im pretty sure, although my temp guage stopped working that day right before it happened. hrmm. dam you murphy!

im sure of a blown headgasket, found water on a plug today. but the heads are aluminum.. im thinking at the very least a valve job / re-surface is in order. ill know more tommarow.

MrDude_1

well, a several years ago in high school we had a girl bring in a firebird (digital dash...oooh ) that had a blown head gasket...

she said the needle pegged so she drove it straight home...

i just redid the head gasket.. nothing else, and the engine ran perfectly.

hopefully you have the same luck.



ps.. when the gauge stopped working, the temp sensor probly wasnt in water anymore from a low coolent situation... anytime it stops working, its a good idea to find out why, even if you just check the coolent level......

SweetS10v8

I hope you didnt bust the block, was the inital water you put into it HOT HOT.. or cold?(Celebrity Jeapordy joke) Anyways I am concerned when I heard you say you heard the cracking noise.

If you want to see what happens to a block when its at full temp or higher, then you add cold water too it. All you have to do is take a beer bottle, throw it in a fire for a minute or 2. Then jump some water on it, and watch it crack up

Good luck, I hope its something simple for ya!

Kingtal0n

well pulled the motor today and pulled the heads off...

no sign of a blown headgasket

but during the removal of the motor i found a bunch of water in the cylinders... one on each side had water in it. and there is rust on the cylinder walls.. which means the water has been there since the day it overheated. I also heard water leaking somwhere inside it during removal... so there is a crack somwhere im sure.

during head removal half the bolts on one side were tight, but on the other side they were almost finger tight. i think the heads warped REALLY bad... or cracked.

Im not sure how to check for warped heads, but im guessing a machine shop has to. ill check with my shop tommarow and see what they say.

im going to pull the bottom end apart sunday to see how the bearings / journals look. if they are scored i will probably go .020 / .020 on the crank and get new bearing and re-assemle the motor. i think the bolts steartch so when i re-use the ARP bolts what kind of torque specs should i be using? i may need a bolt-stretch guage eh...

and one more thing... now that the motor is apart its a perfect opportunity to install a roller cam. i heard i could drill / tap the block for the cam-plates the newer blocks use and use that to hold the lifters instead of going with aftermarket $400 roller lifters. anyone have any experience with this? maybe ill start a new thread... or SEARCH yeah thats it.

Damon

Checking a head for warpage is easy- but you need to have a machined straight edge. Looks like a real hefty 2-foot long yardstick made out of solid steel. Buying one will set you back $90 (but you'll always have it). Borrowing one costs nothing but a favor. I personally can't imagine getting by without one, but I build a few engines a year and working on a lot of other stuff- I find a lot of uses for it.

Lay the straight edge across the head and try to shove a .002 feeler gague under it at several points (don't forget to check the ends as well as the middle). Lay it straight across top, middle, bottom and then go diagonally both ways, checking all the time.

Air_Adam

Maybe your overflow tank boiled over, and thats why there is no coolant left? Mine got to about 125*C yesterday after my alt belt (which drives the water pump) broke and the temp shot up. After it cooled down, there was absolutely NO coolant at all in the overflow tank and I couldn't see any in the rad either. There was still coolant in the engine though. I just topped off the rad and coolant tank and replaced the belt and its all fine now.

Just my $0.02

MrDude_1

thoes straight edges are handy, but store them somewhere out of the way..... because once they bend, they're total scrap


mine bent when i was moving awhile back...broke my dial calipers too. i need to get another one...

RP1987GTA

those head bolts that you found "almost finger tight" are now junk....they stretched with all the heat applied to them under torque...TOSS UM IN THE GARBAGE and get new ones...unless you like changing head gaskets......

Kingtal0n

no sorry my mistake they are not head bolts they are studs. the nuts just came loose, and i cant remember re-torqing them either so maybe that was the case with those. i usually replace the head bolts anyways, but not studs they last forever and ever and ever and hey look one snapped off.