junkyarddog

last summer my '84 T/A was stolen and then found a day later. when I finally picked it up from the impound lot a week later,the carb was missing and the coolant recovery cap was unscrewed and there wasn't a drop of coolant in the engine. I was pretty sure the engine was toast. I was also sure that the workers at the impound lot conducted some type of sabotage along with helping themselfs to thier choice of parts. (the reason I know they stole the carb is because the gasket was still square on top of the intake.....after it had been towed??) ...anyways,I was sure the engine was done for,but I checked the oil and it was fine,then I turned the crank with a regular sized socket wrench,it definitly wasn't siezed!! I was surprized that it turned so easily. I picked up a used CC Q-Jet from the JY,and bolted it on. besides from being all crusty and in need of cleaning,the carb worked fine....it started right up and stayed running. there was NO smoke of any kind from the tail pipes and the engine made no mechanical noises. it wasn't running perfect because the carb needs to be tuned and it's gaskets are dry,but after I got everyhthing hooked back up (the bastards cut all the wires & cables from the old carb!),I took it for a ride around the block a couple times. the car shifted ok,but the engine was bogging out and idling way too fast and after running for 10min it was overheating and boiling coolant out of the radiator overflow res. for a couple weeks,I had thought that the new carb wasn't setup right for my engine and may need some work,but I just got off the phone with my friend and he said that no carb problem will overheat the engine like that!! It must've been taken for a beat ride!! I'm sure it was,but what did they break to make it overheat?? the thermostat/pump/fan works and doesn't leak,I've got it filled full with 50/50 coolant. there is NO smoke of any kind coming from the exaust and the engine sounds fine internally besides having a fast idle. could the head gaskets be blown?? where should I start troubleshooting? should I just forget about this engine all together and asasainate the guy at united towing who told me he was hoping I would leave the car there so he could use the suspension parts off of it for his '89 camaro??

Rob P

iTrader: (1)

Two things. First does the car have a mechanical fan or electric fan? I'm not totally familiar with the 84 model year. Check that the car has a functioning fan. Also, make sure the air dam mounted under the car is still in place. Perhaps a quick joy ride by the thieves involved tearing that off with a curb or something.
It's the solid black one under the car, just below the radiator.

junkyarddog

the cooling system is fine,the '84 L69 cars have an electric fan. I make sure mine is working by using a switch to ground the relay so it can stay on full time instead of relying on the sensor. the car must have been run with the radiator cap off and coolant sensor disconnected until it boiled dry and overheated. the cap was sitting right on top of the overflow tank too,just like the carb gasket. so these guy's obviously wanted me to know who caused the most damage to my car,......anyways this reminds me of a former girlfriend who drove her '89 cavalier with a bad cooling system filled w/water for a whole month against my advice. needless to say,she ended up overheating the block so bad,that it would barley stay running and warped the head and cracked it too. she ended up having to replace the head,but I never saw the car much after that. my friend told me the same thing,the heads are definitly toast!! and the bottom end may not be doing so well either. the engine starts and runs ok and doesn't smoke or back fire,but it doesn't wan't to stay cool after it's under load. the air dam got ripped off by the tow truck,but I'm not driving the car fast enough for that to make a diifference I'm sure,especially with the electric radiator fan on full time. my friend advised me to do a vaccume test and a compression test,before I pull the heads. worst case scenario could be having to buy a set of reman heads and new head-gaskets.... what kind of engine damage would make the heads overheat so fast but no signs of coolant leakage in the crankcase or exaust???

camaro6spd

sounds like our countour.....overheated, warped the head and the compression fired all the coolent out of the system as soon as it pressurized........replaced the whole engine..

junkyarddog

if the heads are warped,could I just replace the heads?? I just replaced the engine less than a year ago and it was quite expensive!! also I don't have the cash to pay the labor charges on a motor swap or the equipment to do it in my driveway.... I could change the heads with my measliy socket set though. it could be a pain because I've never changed heads on a SBC,is it hard to keep all the lifters in place?? this would be a great time to change the cam if I'm changing the heads,can I check the deck surface with a good strait edge leveler,to make sure the block isn't warped with the heads?? the engine is a reman longblock w/11k miles on it,it's warrantied up to 75k or 5 years.....but I think it's obvious that the car was stolen. if anyone can swap in a 350 longblock using my existing L69 setup for a good price around hamton,VA..please let me know.