Some of you may have noticed me asking about the "exhaust gas
detector" for checking coolant a couple of weeks ago. Well, I found
the problem. This is on my wife's Astro van, so feel free to ignore
this if non-Olds posts offend you. As others have mentioned before,
this is the most comprehensive collection of automotive wisdom I know.
The van has been slowly using coolant for some time. Never steamed
out the tailpipe, the oil was never milky, it would just get low and
start running hot - add more coolant and it was happy for another
several weeks, until last weekend. My wife called me at work on
Friday saying that it had died, and would not restart. It did start
later, and she drove it another 5 or 10 minutes before the same
happened again. This time she caught a ride home. I ran the van long
enough to get it on a trailer and back off. I suspected a fuel
pressure problem - it's been hard to start, then this. I bought a
fuel pressure test gauge ($40!) and was running the engine to see if
fuel pressure would drop as the pump heated up or something (the
Central Multi-point Fuel Injection on these Votecs is sensitive to
fuel pressure.) While it was idling I decided to top off the coolant,
as it appeared low. I topped it up, then again as it burped into the
system. Then again. And again. And again. Then I finally got
suspicious and pulled the dipstick. It was *way* over-full, and
milkshake city! I shut it down, proclaimed my dissatisfaction in
largely unprintable terms, and went inside to research the problem.
Turns out that GM used super-crappy *plastic* intake gaskets (plastic
carrier with an elastomeric o-ring type actual gasket. Combine this
with the generally destructive nature of Dex-Cool, and you get
coolant leaks. Mine happened to be into the lifter valley, rather
than the external leaks many get. I have pictures of the gaskets if
anyone would like to see them, and I believe that I will join the
lawsuit in progress against GM for this problem.
In the meantime, I'm hoping that the bearings weren't completely
destroyed. I figure I'll spend $100 on gaskets and such ($80 for the
Fel-Pro improved version of the gasket, a Perma-Dry steel gasket. The
stock-type is $30. Fortunately, Rock Auto has them on eBay for $70
shipped) before I spend $2500 on a rebuilt engine or $1000 on a good
used one. I don't have $1000 right now in any case.
Now for the question: the oil/water was up to the bottom of the
intake (something like 3 gallons came out!) and mixed up pretty good.
I'd like to flush as much of this nasty emulsified stuff out as
possible. I intend to fit a new filter, fill the oil, and run the oil
pump with a priming tool to wash as much of the old stuff out as I
can. Is there anything that ancient wisdom says would be useful in
flushing the gunk out, either added to the oil or by itself?
Kerosene? Marvel Mystery Oil? ATF?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
On digest mode, so I'm a little slow...
Kevin Wright
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX http://
www.wankel.net/~krwright/cars/olds/70Olds.html
'71 Cutlass S for sale, less engine and trans: http://www.wankel.net/
~krwright/cars/olds/71_cutlass.html
Snoopy: 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass S Sports Coupe - It wants to be a
W-31! And have EFI, 4-wheel discs, a 6-speed, a turbo or two... :)
...and a '71 Holiday Coupe less engine/transmission for sale - it'll
be parts if someone doesn't buy it!
