That was a short driving season

I was hoping that my coolant system needed a thorough bleeding, but a block test kit confirmed that I have combustion gasses in the cooling system. After consulting my mechanic, I've decided to expedite the repair by removing the engine myself. I began the process earlier this week. With any luck I will get the engine to him in a week or so. F-chat will undoubtedly be an indispensable resource for my project.

 

That's unfortunate. What were your symptoms?

 

I guess the symptoms are identical to garden - variety over heating due to improper bleeding. At first it would expel a small amount of fluid from the expansion tank after spirited driving. As time passed the over-flowing would happen more often with less provocation. After failing to get results from bleeding I made a trip to my mechanic. After seeing the amount of air in the system he suspected an underlying problem and suggested I test the cooling system for combustion gasses. I hope to have it repaired soon but this is my first effort at F-car engine removal. Once I get it out I'll take it to the man for the technical stuff.

 

Good luck! I feel for ya. That has got to leave a sick feeling in the pit of our stomach! I hope it all gets done quickly and painlessly.

JIM

 

JV, what about the other stuff, you know, white smoke from the tailpipe, milkshake/frothy appearance in motor oil, excess oil oozing from the head gasket area, you know....signs of a blown head gasket?

 

I was whistling past the graveyard for about 6 months hoping there were no internal issues due to the fact that none of the issues you mentioned were present. In fact, the car runs great. After going through the limited amount of service history that came with the car, I discovered a note on the invoice to the effect that the 1-4 cylinder head was loose. This service was the last serviced performed on the car before I purchased it. My guess is the mechanic just re-torqued the head bolts. I read somewhere here that the 328's headbolts are not to be re-torqued as part of the service regiment. I'm hoping that the problem is due to a head gasket that was leaking before the mechanic re-torqued it. I'm assuming the proper course of action would have been to remove the engine, pull the heads and install new gaskets.

 

Thanks for the sentiments. My mechanic suggested I park the car for the summer as he won't have time to do the work until winter. I'm hoping that by removing the engine myself, I can talk him into expediting the repair work. At the risk of sounding Pollyanish, I'm thinking 4-6 weeks total down time. However, I'm mentally prepared for 4-8 months if that's what it takes to do it right. If it takes that long, I always have the F Chat support group for therapy sessions.

 

Really sorry to hear of your trouble. I feel for you. Try not to be too afraid.
It can be repaired and you'll drive her again. She'll be a better car as a result.

Its a bit of a haul but why don't you call Bill Pollard up in CT and ask him how busy he is. He's one of the best in the country. Having a motor rebuild by him is a PLUS when it comes to resale.

 

bad luck. please take photos. i'm wondering why you're taking the engine to a mechanic to change the head gaskets. if you're capable of removing and re-installing the engine you should be able to handle a top end job.

 

I'm taking lots of pictures. I'm reasonably confident that the removal & re-installation is something I can handle. If my mechanic can't get to the actual repair work fast enough I'll try to do it myself. He has already been very helpfull over the phone. He's a great guy and would probably look over my shoulder ,if I asked , for the entire process.

 

The engine is finally sitting on my garage floor. I made two mistakes (That I'm aware of). First, I removed the ring nut on the top gear while trying to remove the bell housing. Second mistake, I put a nice & greasy hand print on my carpet while reaching for the hand-brake during removal of the axle shafts. Live & learn.

 

JV, if you can pull the engine, you can pull the heads and do the head gaskets. The experts will talk you through it. Don't let the thing sit all summer and then pay a mechanic to do the easy part when you already did the hard part!! Look on the bright side, you will do the cam belts at the same time and you're good to go for 5 years!

Birdman

 

It's been a long and expensive ten months, but my car is finally home. I drove it home (about forty miles) in the rain on sunday and got some pretty strange looks from people who must have thought I was nuts for being out in an F-car on a cold & rainy day in Feb. After I'm sure all the bugs are out, I'm considering a drive to SC (1200 mile round trip). There isn't much between here and there so I'm hesitant to make the trip, but there are some nice streaches of road along the way that would make it worth what little risk there is.

 

Interesting....what, exactly, took ten months to accomplish? That sounds like an eternity to replace the head gaskets along with doing a 30K Major....unless your heads were warped or something...

 

So what was the final verdict on what was wrong with the engine?

Glad you're back on the road!

 

I had to buy rebuilt heads from Rutlands. Mine were warped past spec. for milling. The bottom end was torn down for inspection and wound up needing some work. The crank was ground, main bearings were replaced and new rings were installed. Many other things were attended to (the "while your'e at it" stuff) also. Should be good to go for at least the next 3-5 years.

 

Where did the heads go? Im trying to get a flow bench up and running, a junk 4 valve head or two might be interesting to work with.

 

Hi Paul
IIRC the core charge was $4k so I shipped them off to Rutlands. The only parts I have left are the valves and a crank shaft bolt (the machine shop lost track of it long enough for me buy another one).

 

so, what did you do yourself v.s. what you had done ?

 

I removed the engine, cleaned it and the engine bay. Then I spent a lot of time pleading with the mechanic to fix it and put it back together.

 

The heads were warped so combustion gasses were being pumped into the coolant system resulting in symtoms similar to over-heating. Most of the other work was done because it was convenient while the engine was out (main bearings & rings). I guess I should have had the belts replaced while we were at it .

 

How about some pics of how it all looks in there now?

 

Here ya go!
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Looks great! Thanks for posting these.

 

Am I gonna get flamed for the K&N sticker?