IHADAV8.com - Turbo Buick Tech, and Nonsense
Tech Area => General Buick Tech => Topic started by: Pyro6 on January 11 2012, 05:56:16 PM
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I got a call at the shop Monday from a new customer. Just out of the Air Force, just bought an 87 GN. He was hunting for someone to work on the car and he wanted a GN guy, Dave and Mark sent him my way. He came in to talk about what had happened within an hour of the initial call. On the way home from the car dealer, the radiator blew and until he got a place to pull over, it started missing like a bitch. He towed it home, put a rad, water pump, NGK plugs, and a coil pack. Still missed. He took compression test, 5 & 6 dead. Joined up with a bunch of the websites and got my name from one of them, thanks to Mark and Dave. I figured I would post if anybody was interested how it's going.
Unfortunetly, he bought the car "as is". He towed it in, we started on it Tues. I first double checked compression w/the same result as him. Pulled the valve covers, first noticing dislodged exhaust pushrods 5/6, pulled em and they were bent. Looked closer and saw the valve springs were still compressed too. Pulled the heads, took em to the machine shop Wed. AM first thing. My machine shop tech, (Chad) and I looked them over and decided when the rad went, it got hot enough for the valves to stick and the rest is history. As always, money is an issue, and he hasn't even driven the thing yet. We're gonna do our best for him to get it driveable in the long term for a base to work from. Than, any mods, he can do from there. It's a nice, repainted, reupholstered, nice DD. Chad will redo both heads, expecting minimum all new exhaust guides plus the normal stuff. I'm replacing the 2 lifters and pushrods of the affected cyls. I was concerned when taking it apart of the coolant laying in the OEM air filter housing. I flushed the IC as a precaution. Also, the valves did hit the pistons. It nicked em and I seriously considered pulling the block. They weren't deep gouges but did have enough to give a small amount slag that would stick up. I studied it for the longest time. Given the finances of the situation, I decided to bring each piston up, carefully Dreml the slag and ponder again. One of those decisions you hate to make, but I think it will be fine. He isn't planning on racing it so we're gonna move on.
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Took some pictures on disassembly
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I think smoothing out the dents so there are no sharp edges to get hot will do it okay. I have seen it before.
Tough luck, but, I am glad he found you.
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Thanks, Steve. Hopefully we can get him back on the road soon. I suspect the heads won't be done until Tuesday. Until than, clean and prep.
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Did the rad let go because it got pressurized? Head gasket?
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Head gaskets were ok. I didn't see the rad.
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Good to know - thanks for the repair notes.
I'm a relative newb, but I never heard of a head getting so hot that the valves stuck. WOW.
And thank Dave - I only made a smart ass comment. :P
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It usually happens when they are a really hot. Probably not as much oil at the rear to carry away the heat so they galled. Guy musta really cooked it.
Check his oil pressure when you get it back together, Gary. Makes sure it responds to the throttle as it should just in case he has a problem there. Tired pump or worn front cam bearing can wreak havoc at the rear of the engine.
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Mark, smart ass comments are expected :D . Steve, the extent of overheating is yet to be seen. The car shows 53k. I was looking for overheat damage on disassemble but didn't see anything. Will put op gauge on, thanks.
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Finishing up on the 87. Was held up a week from a supplier that let my order get put aside and forgotten. I won't mention any names but his initials are Jason :D No biggy, the customer was o.k. Today was an assembly day, should be running tomorrow.
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Sweet. I was wondering about the progress.
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Customer was happy to pick his car up Monday night. I had a huge list of things that still need done, like a Scanmaster for instance. Just got an e-mail from him: the alternator went out on the way home, he made it o.k. though. He said he got all kinds of questions at the gas station. Sounds like he's enjoying the car already.
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tell him to buy an alternator for:
1996-94 Buick Roadmaster 5.7L, 1996-93
Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham (RWD) 5.7L,
1996-93 Chevrolet Caprice 4.3L& 5.7L,
1996-95 Chevrolet Impala 5.7L,
1995-92 Chevrolet Lumina APV Van 3.8L,
1995-92 Oldsmobile Silhouette 3.8L, and the 1995-92 Pontiac Trans Sport 3.8L
This alternator was also installed on police cars, and fleet vehicles such as taxis where normal operation may include lots of non-moving use with heavy radio traffic.
It is listed as a Lester no. 8112 which may be helpful at wrecking yards, or such places.
This is the standard Impala alternator which is rated at 140 amps. Has about 30 amps more at idle than ours and is the revised GM CS144 that is more rugged than ours
Plugs right in
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where the heck are these formatting codes coming from?
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Looks like you copied and pasted into the reply with the WYSIWYG editor active.
I will clean it up
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Thanks Steve, he already had it fixed when he e-mailed me. Good info though :icon_super:
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He posted on the boards that the GN let him sit, he's been driving it for over a week. Lost all power, went to start and it backfired and blew the muffler. I e-mailed him with what I thought. He decided to just let it sit for awhile, the car has cost him enough already. The car is nice, but I think it's had a tough life. Hopefully that will change.
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He posted on the boards that the GN let him sit, he's been driving it for over a week. Lost all power, went to start and it backfired and blew the muffler. I e-mailed him with what I thought. He decided to just let it sit for awhile, the car has cost him enough already. The car is nice, but I think it's had a tough life. Hopefully that will change.
Oh no. What do you think it is?
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crank sensor, or cam sensor wheel?
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I was concerned about the crank sensor. When I got the car started after the head work I heard this "Tinging" noise. Here the crank sensor was loose in the bracket and hitting the damper pulley. You could see where somebody just replaced the damper pulley. I figured they biffed the sensor and started the mess up. I put my spare on from my car and all seemed o.k. Cam sensor looked original.