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LIM or head gasket or ?
Need alittle help from you guys, THANKS in advance. My son just started driving our 2000 pushrod 3.1 alum head malibu that has about 70k miles on it and i screwed up, i put off showing him the gages and everything for a couple weeks because what could happen in a couple weeks? Shame on me. It had a blown head gasket 3 years ago under extended warrenty when my dad owned it.
He said a red light came on in the dash and the temp needle was all the way up in the gage, he was about 30 seconds from home so he drove home and shut it off. I took it down to the local garage,they tried to do a pressure test but they said LIM gasket was so blown it would hold no pressure at all. The dip stick showed allot of water in the pan.They said $700 at least....sorry Ill try it myself, Im a machinist and I built a 327 30 years ago.
We put a new fel pro LIM on and just filled it with water for 1st start up(shop had put green in it 3 years ago,not sure if they got all dexcool out).
Had new thermostat but forgot to install it. It has no rad. cap so I let it idle and kept filling overflow tank, it got to the correct temp and stayed there so we took it for a drive w a jug of water. About a mile down the road the needle started climbing so i shut it off well before red and filled overflow, thought it just wasnt full....but the next day it did the same thing and it was low on water again, strange thing though even though the needle never went into the red area that engine seemed damn hot, the upper rad. hose was pulsating like a human heart and steam came out of the overflow bottle. There is a light vapor and water in the tail pipe on startup but after a 3 mile drive today i checked it and there was no vaper but just a small trace of water. Overflow was low on water again. There is a loud clicking noise in the engine bay when i rev it up...possibly from alternater,waterpump or rocker arm?
I pulled all 6 plugs out at the same time tonight and the compression checked 180-140 lbs. with no plugs in it.(cranked 5 seconds per cylinder). There is NO water in the oil. I hooked up 1 of those prestone flush kits to the heater hose and water poured out of the upper rad. hose that i took loose.
So is the problem
1) blown head gasket
2) straight water, no antifreeze yet in engine
3)water pump
4)air pocket in coolant system
5)blockage in coolant system
6)thermostat
THANKS.
He said a red light came on in the dash and the temp needle was all the way up in the gage, he was about 30 seconds from home so he drove home and shut it off. I took it down to the local garage,they tried to do a pressure test but they said LIM gasket was so blown it would hold no pressure at all. The dip stick showed allot of water in the pan.They said $700 at least....sorry Ill try it myself, Im a machinist and I built a 327 30 years ago.
We put a new fel pro LIM on and just filled it with water for 1st start up(shop had put green in it 3 years ago,not sure if they got all dexcool out).
Had new thermostat but forgot to install it. It has no rad. cap so I let it idle and kept filling overflow tank, it got to the correct temp and stayed there so we took it for a drive w a jug of water. About a mile down the road the needle started climbing so i shut it off well before red and filled overflow, thought it just wasnt full....but the next day it did the same thing and it was low on water again, strange thing though even though the needle never went into the red area that engine seemed damn hot, the upper rad. hose was pulsating like a human heart and steam came out of the overflow bottle. There is a light vapor and water in the tail pipe on startup but after a 3 mile drive today i checked it and there was no vaper but just a small trace of water. Overflow was low on water again. There is a loud clicking noise in the engine bay when i rev it up...possibly from alternater,waterpump or rocker arm?
I pulled all 6 plugs out at the same time tonight and the compression checked 180-140 lbs. with no plugs in it.(cranked 5 seconds per cylinder). There is NO water in the oil. I hooked up 1 of those prestone flush kits to the heater hose and water poured out of the upper rad. hose that i took loose.
So is the problem
1) blown head gasket
2) straight water, no antifreeze yet in engine
3)water pump
4)air pocket in coolant system
5)blockage in coolant system
6)thermostat
THANKS.
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