New member - old problem??

[billabobprice]

After 200k the 3.1 in my Regal is acting bad.

Yesterday it stalled out when pulling away on a hill, started after some turning. I crawled it back home and switched it off. Temp gauge was normal but it felt hotter

There was coolant leaking from the engine (Front&drivers side), and air bubbles coming back into the reservoir.

Now ive started it to check hoses and tried a new rad cap, it runs smooth, normal amount of white smoke for winter, oil looks fine, no oil in water etc.

But when cold as you gas it theres a definite delay in pick up, (goes when warm) also i may have been seeing things but on start up i caught a few seconds of thin smoke coming from front upper intake area?? Also still dumps water after switch off.

Is this the old intake manifold problem, or head gasket etc. How can i test ??

anything appreciated Billy

[RedZMonte]

few things you can check fairly easy. if a HG is going bad sometimes coolant and oil will mix sometimes not.. with the white smoke it sounds to me like your definatly getting coolant in the combustion chamber.. smoking around the intakes could be lower intake leak... intake leaks are pretty common and not to hard to fix. you said it hesitates when cold and smooths out when warm? the intake gaskets are usually the culpret (metal expands when hot and seals up) but you may want to pull your EGR and clean out any gunk in it (heard others say they have drivability issues when egr is gummed up)

* pull your plugs and check them. If they are corroded then you are most likely getting coolant in to your cylinders.
* look at your coolant, if its a bad Head gasket it will some times make the coolant brown and nasty from the carbon monoxide mixing with the coolant.
* pull the intake manifold and check for leaks... that kind of miles it most likely getting the intake is getting leaky....
* Compression test should also indicate if the HG is going bad cause it will push past the HG and cause a low reading.

S

[billabobprice]

checked the plugs, they were a little dirty nothin bad.

Ive taken it a guy down the road, (same cross road/hill it stalled on B4, had to drop it in Neutral, hold it on the foot brake and build up the revs to get off the line - thinkin big lack if compression) asked him for a compression test also test the coolant for exhaust gases with a "sniffer"

-Will keep the thread posted-

Howz owning an STI ? I think buying a Subaru could solve all my car problems

[60dgrzbelow0]

I think buying a Subaru could solve all my car problems

If you decide to do that... dig into the circumstances of the car you choose when it comes to the last time the car had the Timing Belt and Water Pump replaced. My daughter graduated from the Honors College at USF last May and was immediately accepted to the Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine. This situation threw "The Old Man" into a frenzy to find her a car that would be simple to drive and yet, be able to handle driving on bad country roads during the winter months in very hilly terrain when her classes have to venture out to local farms to perform Large Animal Veterinary Treatment. In very short order, I managed to find her an All-Wheel-Drive 2005 Subaru Legacy that had around 84,000 miles on it but was in absolutely perfect condition.

But as the time was getting down to about two weeks before she had to leave... I did some research on the transverse 2.5i SOHC engine in her car and found out that something as simple as replacing the Timing Belt/Cogs and Carrier Bearings and the Water Pump that is also driven by that "Chain of Events" might cost as much as $1,200+ to get done at one of "The Stealerships". Being a competent mechanic ...I thought, "WTF is the Big Deal?"...at least I thought that ...until I discovered that getting the "Jesus Nut" off of the crankshaft to even get at all the major belt and pulley and bearing assemblies to swap out the belt could become something between very dangerous to almost impossible to get off the crankshaft due to an horrendous amount of torque and the finicky nature of the Water Pump change-out that required a very specific kind of Anti-Freeze and Special Additive or risk lunching the motor when stalagmites started growing in the coolant and seizing the motor from being stupid and using the wrong stuff!

Undeterred, I set about finding the right replacement kit parts and pieces that were either OEM or actual Subaru Replacement parts for both jobs and then I ran into the little problem of not having the right specialty tools to remove the Crank Nut and align the valve train on both heads well enough to keep from eating all the valves the minute I started the car. Long story short...before I would pay another $200-$400 for tools that were unavailable anywhere that I could avail myself of on short notice...I decided to design and build my own for this touchy task. You can look at what I made.., and download the images and instructions from my photo-bucket which includes a Scale Image with a Machinist's Ruler of Duct Tape Template I made of he Crankshaft Harmonic Pulley so you can easily duplicate the Tool I made. Take a look at my images here:

http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/60dgrzbelow0/05SUBARULEGACYCRANKBOLTOOL/

So if you either know anyone who owns a Subaru vehicle in the same genre...or if you really will soon be getting one yourself... get something in writing if the dealer tells you, "Oh...don't worry about THAT...the belt was changed around 60,000 miles and they're supposed to last for 105,000 miles..." while he sports a big grin on his kisser while counting your money. He might be right...and you might get lucky...but just for drill...get that Yo-Yo to put it in writing ...and guarantee your Subaru against Belt and Water Pump failure for as many days as you can squeeze out of him or you may regret not doing so. Don't be tempted to take any short-cuts with buying a Cheap Belts and Pulley Set and/or any after-market Water Pump for this necessary repair. The Haynes manual will be adequate for information on the repair...but if you intend to own your own...spend a few more bucks and you can glom a full set of OEM Shop Manuals from eBay.

My Specialty Tool allowed me to take the Crank Nut off the engine in less than a minute... and install the nut and torque it to spec (180 nm) in less that 30 Seconds when re-assembling everything! Avoid any suggestions of using a "Horse C*ck Sized Breaker Bar and "Bumping the Starter... to get that damned Nut loose...at best, you could bend or even break the crankshaft trying that ridiculous idea...at the worst...it could suddenly fly loose with enough force to kill or injure either you or someone else nearby...and you still won't have the means to easily re-install and torque the Nut when the job is nearing completion without the proper tool to hold the crankshaft still.

The same precautions go for any Anti-Freeze you put in the motor. The Japanese designed a weird aluminum engine that absolutely requires ONLY the factory A/F AND that Little Blue Bottle of Brown Goo that is the special additive needed to keep the inside of the engine from going to sh*t!. Hope this is edifying and helpful. Good Luck with your AWD....

--==Bob==--