hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Could really use some help on this as I'd hate to see this car sit any longer. It sat for about 7 years, gas turned into tar blah blah. Replaced everything fuel related, from the tank to the injectors. Did a full tune up on it. Was running good but was getting hot and fast. Turned out cat was clogged. So removed it. Car was a dream, temps were always low, etc. Now just the other day, it's acting up again! It's almost as if the car is being run with no coolant.

Here are some symptoms. After a few minutes of run time from cold start the intake is hot enough to give 3rd degree burns, I've got smoke coming out of my dipstick tube once I shut it off. I replaced the radiator cap as the system barely had any pressure and also replaced the upper radiator hose. When I take the cap off and watch the coolant, it forms a bunch of bubbles. A few times I've started the car with coolant hoses unhooked so I figured air is in the system. Also replaced the PCV valve and hose.

The car currently has just a Y-pipe, but keep in mind all was well and then one day it's back to doing the same thing that the clogged cat was doing. Any help or pointers would be SUPER appreciated. I just spent $500 on insurance and registration today and it's like it's laughing in my face.

The thermostat is brand new, but took it out and is now free flowing.

Also wanna add that the passenger side runners get 10x hotter than the driver side runners.

Black88Z

First, make sure the system is completely bled of all air.

2nd, take out a few spark plugs (or all if you want to replace them) and check the condition of them. Are you running rich? If so, you may have clogged the cat again. Does it seem to sputter or seem weaker than before? If so, does it get worse the hotter it gets? Those are common symptoms of a clogged cat.

Have you checked the system for cloggs? Make sure no hoses are collapsing.

How old is the waterpump?

Also, just fyi, depending on your local emissions laws, you may be able to get a hollowed out cat. If they do a visual check but not a sniffer test, youll be good to go. Better performance because its free-flowing, and no worries about clogging it.

Just a few things i can think of off the top of my head.

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the swift reply 88Z.

I've checked the condition of all the spark plugs but one. They all looked good but showed slight signs of getting hot. This would be because of the condition, but they looked good.

Another thing, the car has no cat. I took it off. It's just a y-pipe so it's free-flowing as can be.

I've checked all hoses while running and none are collapsing. The water pump, I'd imagine is the the one that came with the car but I can't say. However I'm getting great flow through the radiator so it hadn't crossed my mind as a problem.

spicyskater

you should du pressure test to check if u losing coolant somewhere...you sed that hoses are soft like no pressure,that is not normal...pressure is going somewhere that is not sopoust to...if u have blown gasket it will bild pressure very fast like in a min or so

spicyskater

check if bouth hoses on the radiator are pretty same hot when the stat is open...u might have cloged radiator...try to flush the system whit water...there is not realy that much to check

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

A little update. I flushed the system today. Took the thermostat back out as it was in, thought I took that out?

The car didn't warm up nearly as fast as it did before and I let it sit in the driveway for about 5 minutes and had the rpms around 2500 for a bit then gave it some quick revs. All seemed okay. So drove it around the neighborhood, never got on it. Then all of a sudden the rpms dropped like the car wanted to shut off and I had a great loss of power so quickly got her home. No SES light at any time btw.

Top hose was stiff and very hot. Engine was extremely hot by now, temp was reading just below 190. Took the dipstick out and smoke was rushing out again and also the stick was so hot you could cook a steak on it, literally. It was as if it was burning the oil off.

Another thing is the radiator was very foamy and shot out a lot of pressure a few times. Here's a video of that. Is this a clear sign of a bad head gasket?

Justin89Formy

iTrader: (26)

I think I see your problem....you're missing your radiator cap!

Black88Z

lmfao


It looks dark, like its got oil in it. Does it? It looks very frothy and foamy, like youve got oil in it. Check your oil - does it look like a milkshake kinda? Or the same as whats in your radiator basically. You can smell the dipstick too, to see if it smells sweet like coolant.


Was the bottom rad hose as hard as the top?


I think the easiest and best thing for you to do right now is a compression check. Test all 8 cyl and see where you stand. Also, since you have to pull the spark plugs anyways, check them for indication of coolant exposure.

If you find 1 or more cyl with questionabnle compression, you'll have to do a leak down test to see where your losing your compression.

spicyskater

i think you have enough signs of a bad head gasket...befour u open the engine u should do compression test on all cylinders to find the bad one...sometimes its hard to see when u open the engine and look for signs at the gasket...cylinder that burns coolant looks washed and clean...good luck

TreeFiddy

Agree with the compression check. Also get a vacuum gauge on the intake, and see what that tells you:

http://www.earlycuda.org/tech/vacuum2.htm

If it behaves like #14, would indicate a blocked exhaust like you had last time you got these symptoms. If your cat broke, maybe some chunks got hung up further downstream.

Damon

Before you start thinking it's a blown head gasket (which it very well might be) you should take it to a shop and have them do two tests on it- one is a pressure test (to see if it's got a leak somewhere- like past a head gasket and into a cylinder) and have them put the "coolant sniffer" on it (which smells for traces of exhaust gasses in the coolant). If it fails one or both, and I think it will, it's time to take the motor apart.

And you may find the problem isn't even the head gasket but a crack in the head or block. They can sometimes do OK when cool but open up more when they get hot.

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for all the reply's guys.

As far as a compression test, really need to get one done. I did however pull the plugs prior to the video I posted and found no evidence of coolant exposure. Only thing that kinda seemed out of the norm was I guess hot spots on some of them? I'll attach a picture of that as well.

I did do a vacuum check probably about a week ago and everything looked good. I was getting the normal vacuum and when I gave it throttle it'd drop to zero then shoot up to about 25 then go back to normal. I may do another test again and get that on video. I'd imagine everything helps at this point but I won't hesitate to pull the heads.

Here's a pic of one of the plugs. Mind you. These plugs are a week or two old and don't even have a full mile on them.

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Couldn't really see if there was oil in it. It looks that way cause the water mixed with the coolant that was in the block and that's what I got lol. The dipstick looks like good clean oil. It's not watery by any means and doesn't smell sweet. Almost smells burn't like the engine is burning it up on the inside, which it is. Cause every time I run it I get smoke out of the dipstick tube.

Didn't check that bottom hose to see how stiff it was.

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

my 97 camaro does that until all air is out of system. Buy a pressure release cap, warm it up, release pressure, add coolant, repeat if necessary.

Just needs to be burped, and are you sure you have correct waterpump and not a reverse rotation pump?

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Funny you say that cause it crossed my mind. I've serviced the coolant system many times and have even ran the car a few times with a coolant hose unhooked.

I did buy a pressure release cap and actually right before that video I released tons of pressure and it overflowed my overflow tank to the point it was coming out of the cap. That's why in the video is looked low. But it did sound like it had a lot of air bubbles in it?

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

then keep doin it after you get cap off refill radiator

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Well another update. Ran the car till I saw no bubbles in the radiator, check. Then put a vacuum gauge back on it and instead of the 17-18 I got a few weeks ago, now it's around 10 and drops to 5 and back to 10 but insanely fast. And this was at idle.

Pulled the intake completely off and noticed the intake port openings on the heads were damp with oil. There was also oil in the bottom half of the intake runners and of course oil in the intake manifold. There was no puddles but it was just damp/wet.

It's not the PCV cause even that was bone dry and has always been. So where do I go from here, what would cause this? There was also oil on my spark plug threads when I pulled them a few days ago. Anybody have any ideas?

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Well I believe i've figured out my problem. They say to start with the simple things first

Black88Z

What was it?

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

I was about 2qts over full, wayyy up there. So tore the intake apart. The oil blew past the intake gaskets and got into the intake ports on the heads and even into the runners about half way. Sealed her up with new gaskets and drained the oil, refilled the system with water (for now) and all seemed alright. It has nice vacuum again but it's still erratic.

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Video of the vacuum after a few minutes of run time

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

What does the vacuum gauge do if you just let engine idle. From what I saw it started to drop until you revved it up a bit. I would be concerned about that decline in vacuum. For instance on my 90 tpi engine it will idle for what ever amount a time and stay steady around 17-18 inches of vacuum.

that decline in vacuum is a sign of a plugged exhaust if that is what it was really doing and that could explain your rapid heating up.

Jeffs82TA

iTrader: (1)

I had a for windstar that did the jumping around from 5-10 then after about 20 seconds of doing that it died. The windstar also had a terrible miss. turned out it was a broken valve spring. I would check out your valve train if it is still doing this or a heavy ignition miss.

hydrolic144

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm definitely gonna look into my valvetrain on the engine. Waking the engine up from a long sleep like that probably didn't take so well with a couple of things.

But turns out the EGR solenoid was beyond bad and was causing havoc. Unplugged it and everything smoothed out like butter. Ran it for about 20-30 minutes, drove around. Normal temps and the fans always kicked on and brought temp down. No SES light, no miss. I'm happy. Thanks for all the help!