almost back together - HELP!

Well, its a long story. I bought my truck a month ago after someone ran it out of water (cracked radiator). They drove it till it quit. Well, we put in a new radiator, and it always ran rough-like it had a slight miss or something. I kept a close eye on my water and dipsticks, and it never faltered. id replaced a few maintenance items (dist cap and rotor, fuel filter, plugs), and it seemed to get better, but never quit missing.

I was headed to go see some friends the other weekend, and noticed that the truck was feeling sluggish, like it wouldnt pull itself along. All my gauges looked fine, and i wasnt overheating, but it was a little warmer than normal. I attributed it to the outside temp and the fact that id been doing a lot of start and stop driving. It died shortly thereafter. I checked everything, and found my overflow resevoir to be empty, and my radiator appeared very low or empty too. I pulled the dipstick and it looked like a chocolate milkshake-classic sign of coolant in the oil. It did not appear to be overful. I have started tearing down the truck to see whether it was a leak from the manifold, or if it was a blown HG. ive got the upper manifold off, and have started clearing the way for the lower one. is there a way to tell if its just the intake mani leaking?

Im prepared to do the HG job, but it would be nice if i could get away without it. Would an intake manifold leak cause the above symptoms?

One more question-would it be normal for the carbon and buildup in the manifold to appear wet? Should it be absoultely dry between the upper and lower manifold?

Thanks everyone in advance?

The only expierience I have with a blown head gasket is when my son blew his. It smoked like crazy. Huge white cloud of smoke. You couldn't miss it.

Here is a pic of what a blown head gasket looks like.

if ya got coolant in your oil... more than likely it's a headgasket. there's no oil passages that run through the intake.... there's oil and coolant passages that are isolated by the headgasket that flow all through the heads so I'd have to say it prolly is your head gaskets... and... if it were me.... and I already had the intake off and even SUSPECTED there to be an issue or could be with the headgaskets... replace 'em...you're half way there anyways...;)

To rule out a cracked head, take it to a machine shop and have them magna flux it. While they are there, get them cleaned, new vavle guides installed and have them check the deck to amke sure its flat. You laready ahve the head of.

i had the heads checked, and everything checked out. new valve stem seals, lapped the valves. I should be picking them up in the am. I do have a question-would a regular old gasket scraper work to remove the old hg matierial, or is it too risky? Ive been using 3m roloc pads on a die grinder, which do great, but i cant get around my dowel pins and in some areas with it. anything else you guys would recommend?

So long as you don't gouge the block, you should be fine.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hanr3

The only expierience I have with a blown head gasket is when my son blew his. It smoked like crazy. Huge white cloud of smoke. You couldn't miss it.

Here is a pic of what a blown head gasket looks like.

that is never a good sign...is that a honda motor Hanr?

You can use a razor blade to remove the chunks of gasket around the dowel pins. I have a gasket scraper that uses razor blades. If you miss any of the gasket, a little 100 grit emery cloth works well.

thanks for the reply chevy lover... ive got it almost ready for the heads to go back on... anyone wanna come to starkville to gimme a hand?

Hey I'd love to!
Where's Starkville?

Have you got all the torque spec that you need for assembly?

quote:

ORIGINAL: jagblazer01

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hanr3

The only expierience I have with a blown head gasket is when my son blew his. It smoked like crazy. Huge white cloud of smoke. You couldn't miss it.

Here is a pic of what a blown head gasket looks like.

that is never a good sign...is that a honda motor Hanr?

No, its a Chevy Corsica. Was my sons car.

I have used a bunch of methods, all depends on the situation; a scraper and sharpen it by hand to make sure there are no burs on it. wet/dry sand paper in the 440 grit range works well, a chemical in a can called "gasket remover" works well too, razor blade, wire whel on my drill, heck even the tip of a screwdriver works when your in the middle of no where. The key is not to gouge the maitng surface, and to make sure you have all the old gasket material off.

Hey, at least you don't have to take the heads off a 572. HEAVY

Starkville, MS is only 250 some miles from mei have been up there befor

but i don think i will be able to make it up there

but if i could i would help

hey guys, sorry no one has heard back from me... ive been busy getting school started and stuff.

chevy lover, thats starkville mississippi

ive gotten the heads back on, and started geting them torqued down... gonna try to get it finished today.

any other pieces of advice?

Vancouver , Canada is a long way from Mississipi...lol

You have the torque specs? The bolts should be tightened in 3 stages.
First Pass in Sequence
26 lb ft

Second Pass in Sequence
44 lb ft

Final Pass in Sequence
66 lb ft

Sounds like you know what you're doing.....carry on.
Keep us up to date.

Im trying... got the truck back together, save the upper intake and accessories and stuff. gonna try to get her back on the road by midweek or so.

Did your oil look like this????



How about the inside of the engine?



I on the other hand, created that mess with an over eager drill bit. Sorry for the highjack.

Now back to your thread.......

Good luck, I hope you get her fixed.

pretty close... it was more under the valve covers than anywhere else... Im so excited-will finish it tomorrow, come hell or high water.

anyone down for a road trip? Gotta do something for my 24th....

Did you get her done?

hey guys, i need some urgent help-im hooking all the wiring up, and am having some trouble - where did the connector for the dist come from? What does it look like? if someone had a pic of both, that would be great.

I'm begging, please help me.

-Michael

There's a wiring harness that comes around the oil filler to the back of the engine. The connector should come out of that.



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On my '93 one set of wires comes from the coil, and the other set comes from the main wiring harness and runs back to the puter.
There is also a oil pressure sending unit ont eh top of my block right next to teh distriburator.

thanks guys for all the help! Shes running again! Got a small exhaust leak at the driver's side manifold, but other than that, shes runnin like a champ. Thanks again everyone!

-Michael