Dark Ride Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Hey guys, Lumina seems to have blown a head gasket or LIM or something and it's leaking coolant and water into the engine. When I changed the oil last time I got almost 9 quarts . It has 209K, the tranny has no overdrive and the car itself is rusting away. Needless to say I'm not going to fix it. The engine sounds fine and still runs fine aside from some slight whining at start-up. What I'm curious about is whether you guys think running a little thicker oil, say 10w40 or heavier would help compensate to get some more miles out of it. Another W-body will soon bite the dust... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 I doubt thicker oil will really help if you have that much water in there. This would be a good car to try one of those "head gasket in a can" products on since you don't care too much about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threepointone Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 i hear blue devil is a decent product its around $50 dollars and i would think the thinner the oil the better if its thicker i would imagine the water/coolant would separate even faster the thicker you go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Addicted to eaton Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Liquid Glass... the end. i have did it for a friend on an old thunder bird. with the 3.8 got almost 30k miles out of it befor he sold it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOT2B GM Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Have a free afternoon? Fix the LIMG and don't worry about it......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BXX Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Seeming he drove around with 4.5 qts of oil and another 4.5 qts of coolant in the crankcase, its pretty much game over for the bearings. Try some block sealer of the sorts (even though it rarely seals a leak from plastic gaskets like your leaking LIM gasket) and shove some 15-40 diesel oil in it. Orrr, just keep driving it until it starts knocking and then scrap it. Cut the converter off and scrap it seperately and that all should net you almost $500:thumbsup: $500 will put a decent dent on another w-body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Ride Posted February 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 Seeming he drove around with 4.5 qts of oil and another 4.5 qts of coolant in the crankcase, its pretty much game over for the bearings. Try some block sealer of the sorts (even though it rarely seals a leak from plastic gaskets like your leaking LIM gasket) and shove some 15-40 diesel oil in it. Orrr, just keep driving it until it starts knocking and then scrap it. Cut the converter off and scrap it seperately and that all should net you almost $500:thumbsup: $500 will put a decent dent on another w-body Yeah, I drove it for a while before I realized what was happening, it had always burned a little coolant so when the coolant tank started going down a little I didn't worry too much. I'll probably look into a couple of those products mentioned, do they just get mixed with the coolant? I was thinking that the water mixture would thin the oil and that thicker oil would be harder to get washed off the moving parts. But I just changed the oil, so it's back to mostly oil again, maybe I'll just leave it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carkhz316 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 You said it isn't making any noise, sooooooo, dump some mechanic-in-a-can in it and keep drivin it; at least that's what I'd do. Maybe change the oil a few times. Let me know what happens man. If you do decide you want to fix it, lemme know. 3.8 LIM gaskets are cake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted February 16, 2011 Report Share Posted February 16, 2011 You said it isn't making any noise, sooooooo, dump some mechanic-in-a-can in it and keep drivin it; at least that's what I'd do. Maybe change the oil a few times. Let me know what happens man. If you do decide you want to fix it, lemme know. 3.8 LIM gaskets are cake. Complete waste of money for that "mechanic in a can." Sell it. Tell someone you just discovered coolant in the oil, and buy another car. That, or do what was recommended earlier and take it to the junkyard while you can still drive it there. The LIM gasket is gone. With that much driving around, there's no telling how much longer your bearings will last. You now have a ticking time bomb. At least if you can drive it to a junkyard, you won't have to have it towed there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Fury Posted February 17, 2011 Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 Destroy it with NOS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
734_jackson Posted February 17, 2011 Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 hay whats up, the problem sounds like you intake manifold gasket is shot believe it or not, this is a problem with almost all gm v6 intake manifold gaskets, they are junk. the thiker oil thing wont help,there are many products to help seal things back up. but it sounds like you have a hudge leak. if you have the time an nohow the intake gasket is not that hard to change. good luck either way. and the nos thing might be funner. later Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tornado_735 Posted February 17, 2011 Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 Destroy it with NOS? :thumbsup::thumbsup: [video=youtube;BrOghb3JbDA] [url= ][/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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