might not make it to 200k

[sonyman87]

Well. i dont want to say my car is shot. but its definatly not normal.

something is causeing issues with my car

 

motor 95 3.4dohc

milage 197784

 

symptoms

 

stater turn the motor fine until the first kick like its going to start then STOPs like it backfired. it wont turn at all like its vaporlocked for 15seconds after that its fine.

 

after starting it sounds like its running off 4-5 cylanders but after a few seconds they all fire just fine.

 

the cooling system went on the fritz. it overheated.. meaning hit 220* on a 160* thermistate. and i had NO heat in the cab. i releaved some preasure off the radiator and coolant came bubbleing out into the overflow. after that temps droped back down and worked fine the rest of the way home temps at 160* but without any heat in the cab.

 

i parked it in the garage and keeped the motor running. i opend the bleed lines to the heater core and radiator. and added coolat b/c i figured it was low but it Spewed out every drop i put in. i added some it went down then almot imidiatly it spit it out! the shit was spraying everywhere every time i added some coolant.

 

i dont know if its b/c of the weather but after starting there is excessive smoke out the back. quite a bit more then what i would expect on a cold day.

 

from the oil leak below the exaust manifld connects to the head. and the coolant isssue im thinking it may be a headgasket. i have decent power still but i dont know what exactly is happening yet.

 

if anyone may think its something other then a headgasket. let me know

[Crazy K]

Damn man.

I fear you may be right in your assumptions. Your description reminds me of one time I adjusted the timing on my 75 buick and completely fouled up, I advanced the timing way to far ahead and it kept overheating and lacked power such that I had to pull the thermostat to get home. I was so perplexed, I thought the radiator had become plugged! (gimme a break it was my first car) This lead me to wonder if the timing belt could have slipped. Can they slip or do they just totally fail? just a thought

I hope it's not the big one. but whatever it is, get it fixed.

[White93z34]

i really can't say for sure... so i'll throw some things out there...

 

if you have a failing HG, oil could be leaking into the cyls, and causeing that miss condition till the spark plug burns it off, could possably cause the engine st stop dead in its tracks if it can't compress the oil and it drains out through the exhaust valve. those are just guesses on my behalf.

 

i'd let it sit overnight, pull one plug, pull the DIS or ECM fuse and try cranking it, repeat till it keeps cranking without stoping. but make sure only one plug is out at a time, also inspect each one while you got them out.

[sonyman87]

i really can't say for sure... so i'll throw some things out there...

 

if you have a failing HG, oil could be leaking into the cyls, and causeing that miss condition till the spark plug burns it off, could possably cause the engine st stop dead in its tracks if it can't compress the oil and it drains out through the exhaust valve. those are just guesses on my behalf.

 

i'd let it sit overnight, pull one plug, pull the DIS or ECM fuse and try cranking it, repeat till it keeps cranking without stoping. but make sure only one plug is out at a time, also inspect each one while you got them out.

 

im going to try and pull all the plugs to see the contidion they are in..

they shouldnt be that bad but my car is hell on plugs no matter how good they are.

[19Cutlass94]

The rings may be shot as well.

[BuickMan]

your head gasket is shot. But it doesnt sound like its the only problem. With that many miles on the car you need another engine or the existing one rebuilt. The bad engine is the source of the coolant problem. My 88 Cutty has 190,000 but the engine was rebuilt at 120,000. I'm surprised your engine didnt die at 150,000.

[Crazy K]

your head gasket is shot. But it doesnt sound like its the only problem. With that many miles on the car you need another engine or the existing one rebuilt. The bad engine is the source of the coolant problem. My 88 Cutty has 190,000 but the engine was rebuilt at 120,000. I'm surprised your engine didnt die at 150,000.

 

You are correct, the head gasket is bad, and the engine may have suffered other damage. But I disagree with some of what you said.... just becasue the engine is a high mileage engine doesn't means it is worn out. Good cars from the 70's would go maybe 100,000-150,000 miles WITH good maintence.

These Gm engines if properly maintanined could go 200,000 miles or more...

 

If I ever had a head gasket fail, I would replace the gasket and keep going. without a valve job or bottom end work..... but then I want a daily driver, I'm not trying to race it.

 

I would investigate the possiblity of getting used head from a J/y and putting those on if there was an overheating issue.

[94CutlassSLCoupe]

the engine could go a lot longer...just check it out thoughly when you have it apart.

 

My '70 Duster made 248638 miles on its original 318, and I got an '89 engine that had a whopping 237,xxx miles on it and i could still see the the crosshatches on the cylinder walls...I did have to re-ring it after i had a carburator screw back out and put a hole in a piston :oops:

 

My 1988 CS that i had to junk because of rust ran just fine at 200k...never LEAKED more than 1/2 quart per 3k...no oil burning...

 

I use conventional oil, BTW...Pennzoil 5w30 and 10w30 in the duster

[chadz34]

I'm sure you'll figure out the problem, Sonyman. I'd hate to see that thing die. Could be something fairly simple.

[jimmy91444]

bad head gasket or a leaking injector, my guest.