I know you Guys are Prolly Sick of hearing My Sob stories of How I broke My car and Then Fixed it With Spending as Little Money as Possible, But here is a little story about My new years Morning, maybe You can help me Figure out Exactly what Happend...

First, The Basics.
Mostly Stock LG4 in an 85 Sport Coupe, 700R4.
AC Deleted, All Emissions sitting In a Box In the Garage. E4ME replaced with Mech Quadrajet Off a 74ish truck with 454, Unknown CFM. Comp Dist replaced with Vaccum Adv. Dist Out Of 79 Firebird. PS Is On the Bench Right Now While I try to Source a Pump that Wont leak. So all in All, A pretty Simple Little 305. 1 belt, And no Funny Wires. 152k Miles, Mobil 1 synthetic as of this last Oil Change. ( less than 500 Miles ago ) 35Psi at Idle, over 45 at RPM Via new Summit mechanical Gauge ( are these accurate at all? )


I was Driving Home from my Buddies house today on the freeway, and the Temp Idiot light came On. I immdeiatly Pulled off and check it out, and everything Seemed Fine ( The car has never done this before ) The Light even went out once i got off the freeway. So i figured that the Sensor Must have Shorted or Something and Continued to drive.

Once i got back up to Speed, it Came back on. But I drove On Figureing it was In error. I got about 20 miles and I started to hear a Ping under accleration. I have it timed a little advanced Now and it pings sometimes under hard accerlation, So i didnt worry about this Toooo much, but it registerd.

I got about 2 more miles and When I stopped at a Stop light, I heard what sounded very much to my Sorta experianced ear Like Rod Knock, I looked over and had lost about 5 PSI of Oil pressure, So I Immideatly pulled over and Started swearing When I turned if off, it made a Clattering Sound like A coffe Can Full of Lage Fishing weights I looked at what I had Got, and there was steam Pouring out the PCV breather hole ( I had removed the PCV when I changed carbs ). Also, In the radiator Overflow tank ( wich was full and Not boiling) there were bubbles. So i figured Blown Head Gasket, Lead to water In the Oil wich Lead to a Spun Rod bearing. No steam/water out the exhuast, So I suspected Coolant Blown to oil passage, Not to Combustion chamber.

Anyhow, Towed it Home ( wasnt about to let a 70 dollar Crank grind Turn into a 240 New crank plus 80 Rod Resurface + who knows what else.. )and Noticed that it was Bone Dry out of coolant. ( Actually noticed that Before we Towed it, But Didnt Mess with it on the side of the Road). Anyhow, I proceeded to Fill it Up and Fire it Up, let it Run For a while, and No Problems. Altho it did make a Loud Metal To Metal Clank when I first cranked it.
There was no Water In the Oil, the pressure was back up, and the car Ran Fine. I took it easy On it for about half an hour, and then Went ***** out, No problems.

This is were I now stand. I drove the Car all day after that, and even ran 2 1/4's vrs a 97 3.7L Z71 ( and won I Think that I just overheated it Do to Lack of coolant ( kicks self for Not noticeing ) and Got some Clank due to the expanding of metal that sounded like Rod Knock.

My main Question is, Why Would my car magically Run out of coolant, it Dosent have any leaks. ive got No steam In the exhaust, and No Water in the Oil.

But if there wasnt Water in the Oil, Then Why Steam out the PCV ?


If it wernt For the Steam out the Breather, I would Dismiss this to Carelessness and Count Myself Lucky To have the indestructable 305. But It just Dosent add up...


Any Ideas ? And Yes, My temperature GAUGE has been in the mail For weeks, Along with the rest of My tach Equipped Console out of a 84 berlinetta, Supposedly ( damn Ebay ).

Thanks In advance Guys. I have always Said that I wished I knew a person Who knew everything about Cars, So I didnt ever have to Guess.

This Is as close as Ill ever get





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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Livin' the Stereotype

 

Make that a 5.7L Z1, Gimme a Littel credit



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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Livin' the Stereotype

 

Hopefully, the steam out of the PCV was just due to the engine being extremely hot at the time. Since everything seems okay now, I'd just keep an extremely close eye on the coolant and check the oil alot to make sure it's not turning milky. If you have the time and the tools, a compression test wouldn't be a bad idea either. Milky oil or low compression in two adjacent cylinders are good indicators of a blown head gasket. The other frightening possibility that can occur when a motor gets that hot is the chance of cracking a head. I had this happen to me once thanks to a five dollar thermostat that decided to get stuck!



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89RS w/350 TPI; 69RS/SS w/450 HP 350/Muncie 4-Speed "Too weird to live, too rare to die."

 

WEll, No Milky Oil And the Car runs Fine ( altho i keep Spinning Alternator belts Wich is an unrelated problem... )

So I guess i got Lucky



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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Livin' the Stereotype