est

hey now! Have 84 berlinetta head gasket problem ( someone did not tightin radiator ****) had a small leak in rad- would fill before any distance driving. The last time 25 mi. oneway, forgot to re -fill on way back. Wind was rolling in a heavy rain storm as I was going into a tunnel under the Great James River. I notice my temp gauge up there and no place to pull over, so drove thru and found help on top. thermastat stuck fill up water twice said get up to 45 mpr and it should un stick--- nott! In the morn changed oil 3 times park it for 10 yrs with a car cover. I started it periodicly to
lube the engine. No! I did not take good care - its meldew, head liner gone,digital dash won't light, except on rightside middle a red lite I\I (H with slanted bar)? heater pod wasn't working
so I kept pushing button got on noisy screech , so i turned it on and off and it started working. after shutting it off, it decided to come back on on its own, id shut it off and it would come back on again. must have damaged the button or something. I'll use a head gasket sealer after flushing my radiator cooling system. Did it for ten minutes but it is bringing oil/water into the breather and shuts itself off. now i cant use the sealant because I cant get the car started, what is the next step. clean the breather and plugs? Once I put the sealer in I have to run it for forty minutes but it only ran for 10minutes before cutting off while flushing. Any suggestions, do I still have hope? Ive given alot to look at I hope you can help.

fireturd350

iTrader: (8)

If you have anti-freeze and oil mixing it's time for head gaskets. How does the oil look on the dipstick? Does it look milky? Does it look foamy? Is there darkness (oil) in the radiator when you look in the cap?

Hopefully you didn't fill the piston holes up with water. You could remove some spark plugs and see if any water comes out.

You'll need to get the new head bolts too when you do head gaskets The OEM ones will stretch after there torqued down and shouldn't be re-used unless you're in an extreme pinch. You'll also need intake gasket kit. Heads should be taken into a machine shop and true'd up. It usually costs me around $40-$60 for that service. That's to make sure they mate correctly again.

It might also be good time to replace the valve stem seals in the heads while they are off. It's a heck of a lot easier to replace those off the motor than on. Usually you can tell if you they are bad because the exhaust will smoke a little when you first start the car. They are usually included with Head Gasket Kits anyways.

est

There is no oil getting back into the radiator but the dipstick does show that coolant is mixing with the oil. Does it make a difference that oil is not getting back into the radiator?
I am trying to avoid having to replace the heads/head gasket and want to try this sealer/flush fix.
Will I have to change the oil and try the flush again, allowing the new oil to mix or should I try with the already mixed oil.
Have you ever tried the bottles of head gasket sealer?
The right side head cover has a breather tube that goes into the breather ontop of the engine, when I was doing the 10min flush I was accelrating it but I didnt have dash lights to tell RPMs, there was oil mixed with coolant going into the breather and the car stopped itself and that is where I am now. How should I procede?

camaronewbie

Nope - sorry bud - your only option is to do head gaskets, and have the heads checked for cracks, warpage, etc. Might as well bite the bullet and get a valve job done, and new valve seals as well since you have to remove themn and take the machine shop anyway.

I guess there is one other option - late at night when no one is looking .... sink it in the James River.

fireturd350

iTrader: (8)

I only asked about the coolant because that will also show some containmation if you had some. Sometimes you see oil in the radiator easier than the other way around.

If you have coolant in the oil stop messing with trying to patch it. You're just going to containment the oil again. I made the mistake once on my Cutlass v6 of having coolant in my oil. I pulled it into the garage on tear down I found bad intake gasket in the water jacket passage was leaking into the valley. I figured save some money and not do head gaskets also. That was my mistake because 1 month later I blew the headgasket also.


That being said I've used stop leak before on very minor things.

Time move it into the garage if you have one and tear it apart to fix it or cash out the money to a shop if you don't want to do it. I would just stop trying to patch it because really those patching tablets/mixes are really only for small minor leaks. If you were losing 1/4 gallon every 500 miles like in my daily driver sure the stop leak would probably fix it. If you have coolant leaking into your oil do you really want stop leak mixing in the oil and getting on the internals and bearings also?

You're going to need a Head Gasket Kit, Head Bolts, and to have the heads checked/true'd up so they mate properly with the new gaskets. Normally the Gasket Kits contain the bolt pattern for proper torquing, which should also be your Chilton/Haynes manual.