This isn't about my two third-gens, but it could become something to do with them, if stuff gets worse.

My wife's car has been acting funny in the Collnat category, for some time. It has a low collant sensor, and that has always been tripping the indicator lamp on the dash, despite us topping the car off properly. The thermostat has been removed, about two years ago, without incident - it would just take longer to get heat out of the vents if we wanted heat. And it ran sort of cold, unless you were in stop'n'go traffic.

Yesterday, the temp gauge wsa fluctuating erractically, so I took a look to see what the problem was. Overflow tank had milky stuff in it. Looked slightly oily, so I pulled the dipstick to see if I had milky oil. No, but it looked thick and sludgy. Okay, I take off the oil fill cap, on the front valve cover and take a look. Huh? Nasty-looking cottage cheese in the valve cover. Steam comes out. Water is sitting on the surface of the head and all over the internals. Great.

I took it to work so I could show it to a mechanic, while the wife took the GTA to work. (See? I'd plug third-gen content in there somehow...) I don't know how long this has been going on, but the engine is probably well on it's way to being junk. It's a matter of time before corrosion sets in on the internals and bye-bye engine. Time for a rebuild, if not outright replacement.

My question: Where are the good quality rebuild shops at, and has anyone else ran into this sort of problem before?

 

Same milky white substance as you described on my 396. Pulled the intake and found a eroded intake gasket that prolly, 100% was the culprit but refused to put it back together only to find out that it really was a head gasket. Soooo...off came the heads. Slapped it back together and it's been fine ever since. One good thing that came out of all this, I was able to see what was in this engine since I bought the car with the BBC.

IIRC...Grand AM? Wouldn't happen to be a Quad 4 engine, would it? Mine blew a headgasket, too and I believe there was some kind of TSB/recall for the headgasket. Called Pacific Olds, they paid for all the repairs and the cost to tow it there.

stew'86MCSS396

 

No, it's a Grand Prix, a bit bigger then the Grand Am. 3.1 V6, a newer version to the LHO 3.1 that powered the last of the V6 third-gens. The newer motors got aluminum heads and some other goodies from the factory. Sure felt faster then my LHO-powered '89 Grand Prix, that was for sure. I'm going to get a can of engien flush and do an oil change tonight, and put some more coolant into the car. I may have to do an intake gasket change shortly, though. Someone sugested that the PVC system might be suspect, I'll look into that.

 

more than likely, if it runs ok, it is the intake gasket leaking water into the crankcase (common with the 3.1/3.4) the intake gaskets are plastic, with a silicone rubber insert, the plastic cracks, and liquid goes into the crankcase...

Not a hard, job, but time consuming.

 

i'd agree that the intake manifold gasket is causing the problems... n' i don't see how the PCV system has anything to do with oil in the coolant. The PCV only controls the flow of air from the valve area to the intake manifold/back of the throttle body right? coolant doesn't get anywhere near the PCV valves... and the baffles keep the oil out, or they're supposed to neway.

 

Hey Danny... I've been meaning to ask you if you stil had the wrecked car at your house?

Ian, FWIW, if you have cottage cheese in the VCs you will wind up replacing a lot of the rubber, because the petroleum product wreak havoc on the rubber designed for coolant.

 

actually, yeah the car is still out there... supposedly it'll be taken care of soon.

 

I took it to Tandall's in Waipahu. He recommended replacing the whole engine, rather then just replacing the seals. I caught it before it seized the engine, but he's concerned that the bearings may have already taken a beating from the water and sludge and it would've been stupid to just replace the seals and call it a day. Two months later, and I may hear a rod knock or something. So, a new engine is going in, as soon as he gets it. I should have the car back by Saturday. In the meantime, the wife's driving hte GTA, and I'm taking the TTA, so no real loss, right?

Of course, why did I bother changing the oil, replacing the PCV, running engine flush and topping off the coolant with actual coolant, if all I had to do was replace the whole engine?!? I could've had fun and revved it up to eight grand or something and at least done a massive burnout, and got the wife to take some pictures of a nice FWD fog bank... So, I'm out thirty bucks I really didn't need to spend. Still, when I changed the oil, after the oil was done coming out, I got a steady drippage of COOLANT right after that, out of the oil pan. Filling it up, hte dipstic had water and oil on it.

 

Now if I could remember who needed something from it...

 

1320....what kind of car is sitting out in your yard? Also, do you still have the pedals? I've been so absent minded lately.....been forgetting about everything that I want lol!

 

ethylene glycol has corrosive properties, if left in the crankcase, can be detrimental... but IMHO, I've done a few of them... never had comebacks... or the supposed failure Tandals is talking about.

FWIW, he is going to put a NEW engine in it? or a second hand (used) which will eventually have the same problem with the intake gasket...

 

anthony(acecarrsRS), meet Danny (1320 Right Ln.)

 

haha, thanks Rob... n' sorry Anthony, but Shawn asked for them just a few days ago. After he n' Stew work out the shipping details I'll be handing them over to Stew so everything can be sent to Shawn all at once. Phew, I hadta re-read what i just typed cuz all the names got a bit confusing. The car is an 89 IROC though, or used to be anyway, but it'll probably sit there for a little while. Problem is, most of the useful stuff is gone... motor n' trans went into my dad's 92 Z, most of the front end went into fixing the 91 RS i'm driving now, and the back of the car lost a fight with a boulder.

 

I agree. <i>Try</i> changing the gaskets and seals first. If it looks really bad or you know the bearings are shot, then you can rebuild/replace the engine.

A new engine is going to be costly... how much is the car worth (or worth to you)?

Scott

 

And I thought the Z was yours.... LOL...

I think someone was looking for black interior pieces...

 

well... the chassis belongs to dad, but the motor and tranny came from my "donor" car

 

Got fenders? LOL

 

No problem Danny. I didn't really need the pedals......It was more of a want so it's cool. lol! Maybe I can check out the car one day soon just to see what's left. Laterz.

Anthony

 

The front fenders are in decent condition, replacements for your drift car?
You could if you want to, if your in town someday... i think it'd be nice if we could get as many people on here as we could to get together one of these days so we can all meet each other in person. I figure a few people have already met everyone, but it'd be nice for everyone to be in the same place at the same time... like a cruise night, or night at the track, or bowling er sumthin haha.

 

Well, lessee... so far I tried to get a group thing (1) at Haleiwa Pizza Bob's 'cause it has a huge off-street parking lot that's mostly empty before noon and the New York pizza is outstanding, but no-shows except me and I did enjoy the grinds. (2) show up at my place, chow-down on rib eyes and hibachi stuff, watch car movies, etc, again ... no-show except me and I did again enjoy the grinds. Buncha guys DID show up at a noontime drift session to cheer CH around the track, was nice to see those third gens lined up around the pits. So, my 2-cents is pick a drift session when CH will be sliding Gangreen around the track and let's tailgate. Nothing like the perfume of burnt rubber and teriyaki wafting through the breeze. Yeah -- think I'll go outside and light 'em up!

 

The drift thing was hella-cool. Food would make it better! Another group shot and turns in Gangreen would top it all off.

 

so shawn, when's the green monster goin back into action?

 

This upcoming Saturday the 26th, I'll be there all day. If my plans go right the car will look really different and drift really different too.

Yeah I'm always looking for fenders hehehe. Just in case.

 

I'm gonna be at that drift session also with camera in hand

 

Hopefully, you'll have 250+ lbs of ballast in the passenger seat...

 

I got my wife's car back today, paid in full and we drove off no problems. Stopped by her parent's house (in Wahiawa, near where Rob lives) and washed it - grease stains on the front end and it needed it anyway. Washed the TTA also, becasue we wanted to cover it up and I didn't think a car cover on dirt was going to do the paint any good at all. Okay, two shiny cars alter, we drive home, cover the TTA and park her car.

Now for the plot-twist.

Tonight, we decided to pick up a few things from K-Mark in Waikele, and her car is mis-firing terribly. BAD. SES light is blinking! I had to feed it throttle to stay lit. Just a bit, and it would idle terribly, then race all by itself, then go back to sputtering real bad. Stop engine, pulled code P0300 out of the ECM, multiple cylinder misfire detected. Great. All on a 44k-mile engine. Pop the hood, I check for any obvious problems, like spark plug wires not seated, coil packs wet or damaged, sensors not plugged in, but I doubt those, the ECM only had the P0300 code, no other faults detected. Wiring looks okay, but I smell gas, probably form the misfiring cylinders. No smoke of any kind out of the tail pipes, I was looking for black smoke in case I had an injecytor flooding a cylinder or something. Anything. Anything at all.

Sigh. Monday I'll go back to Tandalls and explain the problem, as they have a 30-day warranty on their work. Looks like I'll have to use it. I don't know what heppened, but it was runnign totally fine when we picked it up. Now it's misfiring something fierce and can't stay lit to save it's life, unless you baby the gas.

Anyway, back to regular third-gen content, it looks like the wife gets to drive the TTA around for a while still...