The sad thing is that I'm totally used to this and not even upset.

[DCEPTCN]

A couple of weeks ago my car was overheating, remember? I flushed the hell out of the radiator several times, swapped the thermostat and was still having problems with the temps. Well, I thought 'All that is left is the water pump' and tore the old one off. For the life of me, I couldn't find any difference between the old one and the new....it appeared that my old pump (by 'old' I mean a few hundred miles) was fine. Hmmm? Oh well. I put the new water pump on and fired her up......and got white smoke out of the exhaust and milked the motor within about 30 seconds. I called a buddy of mine here in Albuquerque and asked him if there were any parts I might have that he wanted, 'cause the P.O.S. is getting parted out. He thought about it and called me the next morning. He asked, 'The four long water pump bolts that go into the water jacket- did you put thread sealer on them?' I said, 'Fuck! I forgot to do that.....but I was following the instructions to a T and it didn't mention it'. Oh well, live and learn....I should've thought of that on my own- instructions or not. So, the next day I cleaned the shit out of the threads on those bolts and gave 'em some sealer. Then, I put the whole shebang back together, filled her with good new oil and fired it up. Now, having learned to be paranoid with this stupid car, I only let it run for about 10 seconds and killed it......I checked the oil and it was milked all over again. Fed up, I drained that crap oil and slammed the door on the garage, done with this POS again. Now, the more I thought about it I figured that I should have let the thread sealer set up over night *and* there was probably some residual water in there when I refilled it. So, yesterday I ripped off the pump again, put it all back together, replaced the plugs (they were wet) and let it sit over night with the oil pan drain plug out. Two hours ago I got ready to fire it up. I ran two quarts of oil straight through it with the oil drain plug out....the first half of a quart came out milky but after that it ran nice and clear. Groovy, so I put the drain plug in, threw a few quarts in and started it. I let it run for five seconds, killed it and checked the oil. It *looked* okay, so I started it up for ten seconds and killed it. Again, the oil *looked* okay. Now I drained that oil, put a new oil in and my spirits were up, believing that I had solved the problem and gotten all the water out of my motor. When I went to start it again, I had to give it some gas to get it to start.....not good. Then, I go to check the oil and there was what appeared to be steam coming out of the dipstick tube. There was water actually coming out of my exhaust. So, I look at the oil on the dipstick and it *looks* fine, but I notice it drip off and it seemed to drip too quickly.....su re enough, I rub it between my fingers and there's precious little viscosity. I drain  that oil out and -although it looked okay on the dipstick- in a thick stream coming out of the pan it is obviously milky. I pulled a plug and it was all wet. I just put in steel shim headgaskets and have not gotten so much as .01 of knock since it's been back together (all 50 miles or so that I've driven it this year). I am so goddamned sick of this stupid car and the way it breaks itself for no reason.

[Be4u]

Time to pull the motor? I wish there was something I could do to help.

[Recklessrob]

You had mentioned that the plugs are getting wet. Is it on both sides of the engine, or just one ?

[87natty]

Check the torque on your intake manifold bolts. Better yet, check, then back them all out and then tighten them again, factory tightening pattern, and to spec.

If worse comes to worse, pull your valve covers and check your head bolts. But I'm a firm believer in the flexing of metal, and once you tighten it down, and then the engine gets hot a few times, those bolts and gaskets are gonna move until they settle.

Now, did you use ARP's or stock bolts? The stocks are torque to yeild, don't use them twice.

Another thing in the back of my mind is did you resurface your heads when you replaced them? Or did they even need it?

[DCEPTCN]

I'm gonna pull the whole motor and strip the bitch down. Heads are getting ported, block is getting girdled. From there I plan to do weight reduction, get a front-mount, go to a 70 series turbo (or bigger), get a trans brake, etc. If this car acts like a really fast one (i.e. always broken, always robbing me blind) well then goddamnit I'm gonna make it really fast.




I don't think I'm kidding, either.

[87natty]

LOL It COULD be just a few fucking loose bolts man...

Good theory on the speed though!

I'm sure there's something easy as shit you can do. I'm just now reading the TBs posts...

[TSM Girl]

I think you should retorque the headgaskets, then check it again. That is just my .2

[sun dog]

What about the oil cooler core in the radiator?  Since it was over heating to begin with it might not be a problem with the engine.  Yank that radiator out and take it to a shop to pressure test.

[87natty]

I thought about that too. Freak shit happens. Is your tranny fluid clean? All engine lines go through the radiator.

[DCEPTCN]

The radiator is brand new. Forget it guys, I've already started making up my wish list and I'm too excited to back out now. It wont be until next spring that it's done/close, but it's gonna rock.

[Be4u]

Mua hahaha, I knew you were going to do it!

[87natty]

Gimme anything stock related! Broken or not!

[TSM Girl]

The radiator is brand new. Forget it guys, I've already started making up my wish list and I'm too excited to back out now. It wont be until next spring that it's done/close, but it's gonna rock.

Yeah, but are you going to race it?

[DCEPTCN]

The radiator is brand new. Forget it guys, I've already started making up my wish list and I'm too excited to back out now. It wont be until next spring that it's done/close, but it's gonna rock.

Yeah, but are you going to race it?

Up and down your back, baby. Of course, why wouldn't I?

[TSM Girl]

The radiator is brand new. Forget it guys, I've already started making up my wish list and I'm too excited to back out now. It wont be until next spring that it's done/close, but it's gonna rock.

Yeah, but are you going to race it?

Up and down your back, baby. Of course, why wouldn't I?

OOOOH sounds kinky!  Cool.  You should.