The car only has -40K miles on it. I got it last summer w/32K miles on it and noticed after I changed the oil that it had a slight orange tint to it. I thought that it could've just been from sitting a while. Well the next oil change it had the same color (1500 miles later). I've changed it 3 times since then and still the same color. Yes I also changed the filter each time.

The other day the "Low Coolant" light came on while I was about 50 miles away from home. I pulled over to the nearest Shell station and looked under the hood only to find that the coolant had moved down to the "Cold" line on the reservoir. I just used straight water to get it up to the "Hot" line. About 10 miles down the road the dash light came on again. I pulled over and it was down to the "Cold" line again.

I let the car sit running for a few minutes looking for any drips under the engine. Nothing. Then it hit me. I turned it off and pulled the oil dipstick. Sure as **** the oil was orange and cloudy, and WAY above the "Full" mark.

I know that the possible causes are head gasket, cracked head, or cracked block, but could it be as simple as an intake gasket? I know I'll have to pull it off to find out for sure, but is this even possible?

One more thing. Anyone know of simple thing that it could be? Maybe something I overlooked? I doubt if that's possible, but never hurts to ask. And are there any quick fixes (temporary of course) that I can use just to trade the SOB in before the engine locks up? I've changed the oil and filter again today and used some "Barr's Stop Leak" in the radiator to try and slow it down, but no such luck. It's no where near as cloudy, but there are still bubbles on the valve cover, as well as on the radiator cap .

ANY help would be greatly thanked,
AJ

BTW, I'll be sure not to trade it in at the dealer which you work for!!!

 

Pull the plugs and see what's on them. When I blew the head gasket in my L98, water poured out the #7 cylinder. Sounds like your's isn't as bad, since it still runs.

 

It could be an intake gasket. Check the plugs. Don't run it much with coolant in the oil, you can really screw up your engine. Does your exhaust smell sweet? Have a compression test done, that should really tell you whats up.

Or you could just fill your radiator up with oil

 

These engines are bad for the intake gasket. All the way back to the early 90's 3.1L, to the current 3100's, they all like to leak coolant at the intake gasket. Your best bet now is to park it until you can get it fixed, because antifreeze will eat your engine bearings for lunch and it will be all over. Once you get if fixed, you may need to do two or three oil changes in a row (including filter) to get as much of the "pink tainted" oil out of the car. Some oil additive at that time probably wouldn't hurt either.

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'87 Trans Am
S/D TPI retrofit including functional PassKey,
22# injectors,
Whatever chip I feel like burning,
JET AFPR, Ported Plenum,
TB Coolant Bypass, Custom Cold Air,
SSM SFC, KYB Shocks, Boxed LCAs, Wonder Bar,
8mm Accel wires,
Flowmaster Exhaust,
16" GTA rims,
Corvette Servo,
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Summit 1-5/8" headers, 2.5" Dynomax catback.

Best 1/8: 9.519@72.74

'97 Bonneville SSE

 

I was given a '86 2.8L with a bad water leak problem. The intake gasket failed. That caused a spun main & rod bearing.

 

GMTech,

Should I have the intake manifold or the heads resurfaced if the intake gasket is the problem?

AJ

[This message has been edited by AJ_92RS (edited September 11, 2001).]