89BlueTA

Well I finally get my SLP headers installed and take my car for a drive to check out the new found power. ANd I notice right away, that it is smoking like crazy. So I figure it is just the new exhaust burning itself clean. After about a half hour drive I roll to a stop and smoke rolls out from under the hood, not a good sign. The headers had already cleaned themselves off so I was now worried. So I pull in my driveway, and now that I have dual exhaust you can see that the drivers side in letting out a smoke screen. So I pull it into the garage for the night since it was late, and now the thing is either locked up or siezed. The oil is about two quarts high. Now my ??? is does anyone think that the bearings in my engine where damaged, or can I just pull the heads and replace the gaskets. Any ideas would be appreciated!
Also there is coolant on the ground under the car, so maybe the head is cracked.

nick

Sparkee

I would take the heads to a shop to get them checked out. Since they will be off the car, now ould be a good time to recondition them:valve job, new seals and maybe guides, check for cracks, etc. If the level on the dipstick is at least 2 quarts high, then you probably have at least 2 quarts of water in the engine--not good! After you get the heads/gasket fixed, now comes the fun part.

I have done this on a new engine that wasn't turned over with water in the oil, and I am not making any gaurantees on your engine. Buy 2cases of cheap oil and get a oil pump priming tool. It goes where the distributor is and you spin it with a drill. Drain the oil and fill it with new oil, run the drill a bit(1-2 minutes) and then check the dipstick. If it comes out looking milky/foamy, stop, drain and repeat until you don't get the milky crap on the dipstick. It should gradually get better each time. We had to do it 4 times on my buddy's engine, but it is fine now. Since yours was running when it happened, you may want to play it safe and check the bearings. There is a good chance you will have to rebuild it. Good luck.

89BlueTA

The oil has not changed colors, to that milky brown color you normally see with a blown head gasket. I have a feeling that while it was running it was burning all the coolant that was dumping in the cylinder. Then when I turned it off coolant just drained into the oil. The oil still looks like oil, I am also mildly concerned that I might have damaged something when I tried to start it, though it did not turn over at all.

thanks guys
nick

Sparkee

Drop the oil pan and check everything really good. I didn't think we got oil in my buddy's engine. The dipstick looked fine, just a bit high. When we used the oil pump primer, then it turned all milky. Oil floats on top of water and since the dipstick doesn't touch the bottom of the pan, you can have water under the oil. If the engine didn't spin, then drain the oil now before you do anything else. It may not turn over because 1 or more cylinders are full of water/antifreeze. Drain it and pop off the heads to see what you got. Later.

88gta305

Ok, not wanting to rain on anyones parde, but please please check the cylinder walls if you have had a hydrostatic lock.
A friend of mine had a hydrostatic lock due to a blown head gasket on a Summit Racing CNC block. Believe it or not, it actually split the cylinder wall, and once that piston was removed, it could clearly be seen that the hyperutectic piston was split in half.
I really hope this is not the case in your engine, but please check before you reassemble anything.

Cheers and good luck

Richard

89BlueTA

I am trying to decide whether I should just pull off the heads or if I should just pull the motor. I would also like to find some cheap performance heads(lol). I hate to tear it all apart with out making it better. And if I do pull the engine I would like to put a cam in it. I am on a very limited budget, because the only mod I was planning on was the 500 bucks I have in the headers. So if anyone has any good cheap cam/head combo's let me know!

thanks guys
nick

P.S. If any michigan guys read this check my thread on the midwest regional forum!

GRENDLE

before you do anything else, pull the plugs, this will let the coolant out, and also give you an idea of what your looking at. wile there out, turn over the engine to get all the coolant out (if possible). next pull the drain plug for the oil pan. if coolant comes out it's either a head gasket, cracked head or cracked block. usually the gaskets go though. this will at least give you an idea of whats going on. also your motor might not be seized. the same thing happened to my z, it turned out the starter was locked up from the heat of the new headers (i almost stripped the crank bolt, and a then broke few teeth on the flexplate trying to turn the motor over!!) when an engine seizes it's usually ugly sounding , lots of scrapes , bangs and expensive noises. if it didnt do any of that , you might be in luck.