I am rebuilding the top end on my 87 Firebird's 28.L V6, because it developed a coolant leak. I originally posted in the General Tech section (https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=194392), but have not been getting any response from anyone in the last three days. I have two questions.

1. I have a blocked coolant screen in the intake manifold. How do I clear it so the leak doesn't develop again?

2. My distributor won't sit down on it's bore after I install it. It wants to sit with its base about a half inch above the bore, and I know that this will cause an oil leak. How do I get it down lower?

 

1. don't have a clue what your talking about

2. oil pump shaft probly came out, & distributor housing hitting it. remove distributor, get needle nose pliers or magnetic wand & get pump shaft, reinsertinto distributor & put back in.

 

Remove the thermostat and look inside the intake manifold after letting the coolant evaporate for a little while. You'll see what I mean. It's located just under and about a half inch behind the stat. It's abut a half inch circle. It's not hard to miss unless it's clogged with that white crud, in which case it's camoflaged.
And as for the oil pump shaft, can I use a heavy grease to hold it in place while I reinsert the dist?

 

nope, don't have & neither does the 3.4 manifold.

 

I still can't get the blasted oil pump shaft to sit in its bore right. The dist is still half an inch too high for the clamp. I tried three times (in the rain...again) today to get it to work, but it won't go down any more. Is it keyed in the oil pump or something? Or could something be in the oil pump shaft's end that keeps the driveshaft from sitting properly? If so, How do I get it out? And as for the coolant leak, besides there being a clogged screen, what else could have caused it? I didn't see anything wrong when I took the intake off, other than the gaskets tore themselves to pieces when the intake was removed.

 

put some rtv on teh end of the shaft that goes into the distributor. Should hold it in better.

Remove screen so it wint clog again? flush system & put some new green stuff in

 

I have no other option than to flush and refill the cooling system-it's half water now, whatever's left in it. I am about to go and see if I can take care of the oil pump shaft problem.

 

I don't ever recall there being a screen there either. It wouldn't even make sense... that'd be a hell of a flow restriction. It's been a while since I looked down that hole (haha) but I thought the coolant flow went to the sides, not straight down.

Is your cold-start-injector plug getting in the way of the distributor? My distributor won't even pull out unless I un-clip the CSI's electrical plug.

Did you change the o-ring on the distributor shaft? By now it'll look like a hard black plastic "square-ish" ring, and if it does, it'll be the cause of an oil leak unless you replace it. Spec is a 1 inch inside diameter o-ring.

 

Naw, I was just confused on that. I went out and put it in. It just seemed to be too high for the clamp. And yes, I changed the o-ring on the shaft. Now, all I have to do is troubleshoot my F/P relay and start the engine if it'll go.

Edit: Okay, I went outside and filled up the radiator. And guess what? It still leaks like a sieve. I have replaced all of the upper end gaskets other than the passenger side head gasket, and I have no way to remove that head because I can't remove the exhaust manifold. I have the necessary parts, I just can't do it. Most of those bolts are so rusty they won't come out even with special tools.

 

You need heat. It help if the car was ran for a bit before you tackle the exhaust bolts.

Matt

 

just remove the flange nuts/studs & save teh bsnapped exhaust bolts for later

Trust me, my 2.8 heads need some work in that department

 

New report: I got it running! The leak isn't where I thought it was. I am going to take a trip to the junkyard tomorrow to pick up a new thermostat housing and fuel block I have a really rough idle, if it even idles at all. I have a spare coolant temp sensor, so I will change that tomorrow, since the engine has no coolant in it anyways. The timing marks on the balancer were so far off I had to use a compression test to find TDC. Is there any other way to get rid of the rough idle? And how difficult is it to swap in a new set of lifters? I tried to pull some out of the top of their bores when I had the intake off, but the higher they got, the more they stuck. I have a nasty lifter/valve noise that is audible even over the exhaust coming out of the empty EGR hole.

 

Here are some codes to decipher, well, I already did that, but what do they mean?
12 (I know, this is the standard "not receiving engine RPM" signal)
22: TPS?
34: MAF?
And my favorite: 54 (Fuel Pump/relay receiving below 2 volts).
Well, let me see, I may have gotten some water in the TPS as I was rinsing the degreaser off of the engine before I started, but I immediatelu noticed this and tipped the water out and blew out the rest with compressed air. I have no idea about the code 34. And the code 54 is telling me that I am going to have to get a new ECM (I already tested the relay and pump and that's the only thing left in the flowchart that could be causing the error). Can anyone tell me what this may mean?