Bought a car and 100 miles later the head is bad.

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

im guessing someone blew a motor or something?

[nixtux]

The car runs, it just overheats because coolant is getting into the oil. It never got over 3/4 to the top of the temp gauge before it was parked. It
even has a brand new water pump. Changed it before I figured that was
what it was and it wasn't.

I'm just going to have a 3.5 put in and a low miles transmission since the
quote to fix it rounds out to about the same. Also then I shouldn't have
to worry about it breaking for a long time.

If someone wants the rest of the motor or transmission and you're near St. Cloud MN. It'll be about two weeks before it's available.

im guessing someone blew a motor or something?

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

my comment was in regards to removing DOHC heads with no wrenches.

[Superdave]

The car runs, it just overheats because coolant is getting into the oil. It never got over 3/4 to the top of the temp gauge before it was parked. It
even has a brand new water pump. Changed it before I figured that was
what it was and it wasn't.

I'm just going to have a 3.5 put in and a low miles transmission since the
quote to fix it rounds out to about the same. Also then I shouldn't have
to worry about it breaking for a long time.

If someone wants the rest of the motor or transmission and you're near St. Cloud MN. It'll be about two weeks before it's available.

getting coolant into the oil won't make it overheat, it'll seize the engine up. Have you verified that there is actually coolant in the oil?


I still think you could save yourself a ton of money with a metric socket set and a couple hours with a repair manual.

the 3.5 is going to add more to the total because you are going to need an external crankshaft trigger at the very least to get it running.

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

motor swaps always have just one more thing than you plan for... it can work. thats all i gots to say! put a ford motor in there!

[Superdave]

so he'll have to replace it again in a few hundred miles?

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

hells yeah. and i dont mean to point fingers but you show me an engine that can out last the Ford 4.6 that goes in the cabs, cop cars, mustang, trucks, vans... and whatever else... those things are un-killable and you can run em with no oil for 1000km. or atleast i did. haha and had 565.000km on it when i got rid of it and still rode like a brand new car

[nixtux]

My friends 93' Cavalier has 320,000mi (514,000km) on a 2.2l. Doesn't burn
oil or coolant and actually runs pretty good. A fun little 5 speed to cruise
around with. Gets great gas mileage, over 30 on the highway and at
least 24 in town.

I've read the 2.2's have various issues but that 2.2 is rock solid. His family
has owned it since 97' and have overhauled the motor once at 90k and
replaced the flywheel twice.

It's also been three of their kids first car before my friend bought it from
his sister (the last one,) and just romps around town in it now.

I think a lot of motors can be good provided they are built good and get
properly cared for.

hells yeah. and i dont mean to point fingers but you show me an engine that can out last the Ford 4.6 that goes in the cabs, cop cars, mustang, trucks, vans... and whatever else... those things are un-killable and you can run em with no oil for 1000km. or atleast i did. haha and had 565.000km on it when i got rid of it and still rode like a brand new car

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

ill agree with that. but still, its a rarity for the 2.2 to last that long... i can show you, easily, a handfull of crowns with OVER 600,000km on the clock. honestly for its unmaintained durability i think that its one of the best engines ever made. when modified it can be quite impressive too. i mean there might be less than 0 mustang fans here. but you have to admit, unltill recently there really wasnt anything to compete with the mustang, price for displacement what in its range came with a V8 in a coup for an option for the price of a base GT?? there really wasnt anything. and 315 stock HP isnt really anything to giggle at. its a good place to start. or if a guy gets himself a marauder or Mach 1 mustang then you get a little more power and DOHC... OR one more step up and get an SVT (im not talking about the newer mustangs) just the good ol shaker hood scoops and superchargers) and still be riding the same block i think. haha
but the heads on the crown vics are a pretty good roller setup too. i dont know the specifics on it. but yeah, thats a damn good motor if you ask me.

[andrew383]

i have not read this whole thread just the first and last pages,sooo.Do you know how to pull the dip stick? Orrr maybe drain the oil and see whats in it???Like stated above coolant in oil wont make it over heat.Im guessing you have a blockage weather it be the radiator or the t-stat.
Start the car and let it warm up and feel the hose's going to the radiator to see if there hot or not.

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

i learned today that i bought my car minus one thermostat... will be installed tomorrow... though for this car it seems to be twice the price as a normal one.

[nixtux]

Digging up a old topic. However, I was thinking about tearing into the engine
since I'm at least 4 weeks away from having the remaining parts to swap the
3500 in.

I was able to verify the heads were milled and bench tested about 110 miles
ago. I think it may be worth dropping the 100-200 into it and hope for the
best. In the long run, I think it would be cheaper than driving my truck which
gets around 2-3MPG in town.

Just figured I'd ask your advice since you seem to have lots of it. hehe.

Thanks for the advice on the truck BTW, the old girl runs fantastic.

it's a couple hour job, and i bet it's just the LIM gaskets. You could fix it yourself for around $100.

[RedZMonte]

sucks your car broke... No sence in crying over spilt milk.... if you buy a older car with miles, expect to have problems... wasting money going after the guy. I sell cars for a living and 9 times out of 10 you won't get anywhere. My 1st z34 the alt died a month later, i called the pot lot that i bought it from i got a "sorry" and "i can reccomend a good shop". all i can say is, it had 220K on it expect to have to fix it sooner or later..

S

[nixtux]

I am fixing it, I got a new engine and transmission. I just need to get a few
more parts before I can start the swap. But it will be a month or so before
I will be able to buy them all.

Additionally, I wouldn't get huffy about a alternator going out. That's a fairly
routine item. Heck I'm not even too pissed about the car anymore. I was
at first, but that's to be expected. I'm weighing toward the gaskets going
since it started having issues when the cooling line blew. It wasn't properly
bolted down so I think it's safe to assume the intake was torqued wrong
and the gaskets may have warped when it got hot. Thus causing the cool-
ant to leak.

Just throwing some ideas out there and maybe Friday see if the shop the car
is at can try to replace the gasket. It would be cheaper than driving my
truck around town over the next month.

It would also give me a chance to drive the car; that way once the swap is
done I'll have a good comparison.

Alternator, fuel pumps, water pumps, those are little things that just go out.
But when someone replaces the head, intake, and the likes, you would expect
it to last a little longer than 100 miles. Regardless to having 220,000 miles.
My friends Cavalier has 317,000 miles on the original motor with only one
overhaul. The transmission is original too, however the clutch has been
replaced 3 or 4 times.

sucks your car broke... No sence in crying over spilt milk.... if you buy a older car with miles, expect to have problems... wasting money going after the guy. I sell cars for a living and 9 times out of 10 you won't get anywhere. My 1st z34 the alt died a month later, i called the pot lot that i bought it from i got a "sorry" and "i can reccomend a good shop". all i can say is, it had 220K on it expect to have to fix it sooner or later..

S

[nixtux]

I had the shop pull the Alero in. I was really tired when he explained what he did.

But there was a cooling hose that would blow out under pressure, thus proving the shop
that pressure tested the cooling system didn't test it or didn't put much pressure
through.


He determined it was a head gasket, so he put some stop leak in and said between that
and the bolting the hose down it runs good. Hopefully it will make it the month.

I'm picking it up tomorrow AM. Crossing my fingers it holds together for more than 100
miles hehe. If I can get 1000 miles out of it this month, I'd be fairly happy with the
purchase.