97supreme Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Hello everyone, I'm a new member, but have been using this forum for a little to read up on my car. So for a while my CS has been making a ticking sound like a sticky lifter, yesterday a cylinder started misfiring. A while back a different one was misfiring and a plug/wire change fixed it. I checked the fluids and it turns out my coolant is nearly empty (temp gauge always showed pretty cool, so it wasnt overheating, my "low coolant" light used to turn on randomly when the coolant was completely full,but apparently didnt turn on this time...) Anyway, I checked the oil and its all mucked up with frothy, foamy gunk (solves the missing coolant mystery), so I'm trying to narrow down the problem. Is it likely a blown head gasket? My family also owns a 97 lumina that needed a head gasket around this mileage (110k). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White93z34 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 It could need headgaskets, its far more likely it needs intake gaskets though. Perhaps pull the intakes off and see how it looks, if the gasket is obviously bad I'd consider replacing that, flushing the coolant and going about your day. May be further ahead to do head gaskets while its down that far though. Any idea how long its been running with coolant in the oil though? The more time that has spent sloshing about the engine the more likely the mainbearings are wiped out. You might get it back together for a short while before it blows up. Might be fine. Kinda gamble if coolant has spent any extended amount of time in the oil while being run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_e777 Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 If the lumina has the same engine you could do both at the same time if you had planned on doing it yourself. Wouldnt seem like you had to do the job twice:thumbsup: But while you had the LIM off change the distributor plug o-ring in both while you at it, and maybe get some new coolant sensors, one on the radiator(level sensor) and one next to the thermo housing(temp sending). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97supreme Posted February 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Turns out an intake gasket is what the lumina needed. We had that done 4yrs ago and it cost 1k for parts and labor. Not really trying to spend that again. I have no idea how long its been like this, but the oil was fine when I changed it 2000mi ago. Are there any guides for doing this myself? Is it a job i could probably do myself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 yes you can do it yourself with simple hand tools and a torque wrench. It will take you several hours. Get good gaskets and do this only once. You need to drain your coolant, remove most everything from the top of the engine, remove the valve covers, rockers and pushrods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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