96montecarloz31 Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 the 3800 in my lesabre is burning its coolant at a very high rate. currently trying to identify the cause before i decide how to proceed. its got to be either the headgasket or intake gasket. what is the easiest way to rule out either one? if its the intakes ill fix them, if its the headgaskets ill change the whole motor. little background, the car nvr overheated and actually ran fine till i started it the other morning and it was missing rather badly, drove it to a grocery store about 2-3 miles down the road and shut it down. it would not restart, ended up finding the spark plugs were the cause (less than 1500 miles on them, they were fouled or had gotten wet from the coolant, alot of unburnt fuel on them from cranking it w/o starting) got it to start and it was blowing clouds of white smoke, got it back home (the 2-3 miles) and it as missing the whole way. coolant was empty by the time i got home and the oil was milky. its been making some strange noises recently. when cold it sounded like an exhaust leak on the driver's side rear of motor that would as the car warmed up turn to a sound like a knock, then go away completely. it also had been loosing coolant very slowly over the last 1500 miles (thought it was just a small external leak) any help is much appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTThornhill Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 My opinion would point to the headgasket/head. specially with the mily oil. if it was the intake, i dont think you would get much (if any) coolant into the oil, and it would all go out the exhaust or hydrolock the motor. I would say pressure test the cooling system, but im sure thats going to fail and would leave you with the same intake/head question. only thing to do would be to start tearing into it at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96montecarloz31 Posted December 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 it kinda did seem to hydrolock, right after i shut it down, and attempted the first restart, it turned a bit, the seemed to stick, took a couple key turns to get it to fully turn over again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 L36? if L36 replace upper intake plenum, lower intake gaskets, headgaskets rarely go on these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTThornhill Posted December 18, 2011 Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 deffinetly not a good thing, either way i dont think the end result will be good (hate to say that), but even if its just the intake, I would be scared that the watery oil has already damaged your crank and top end. but if you got the time, start digging into it and see. and keep us posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96montecarloz31 Posted December 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2011 yes its L36 i think im gonna tear into it and see what i can see (after i tow it home, its about an hour and a half south of me right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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