So just for the sake of conversation...
I am working on burning through all available cash in my house between two car projects out of control. Sound familiar to anyone?
I am working on breaking every part I can on the Sunbird braking system when I notice two telltales of trouble for the 1.8 OHC.
First, the coolant level is way down in the overflow tank. Second, I have oil leaking out the cap on the top of the engine.
I would like to hear your thoughts on what this could be. I think I know, and it sux for me.
It is a good thing I do not have access to a cliff as either I would drive the car over it, or more likely, the car would drive me over it.
]:->
I know what you mean about these wonderful money pits. And to think we call this a fun hobby...
BTW, was this a reference to the cliff??? "I will most likely have my 84 the rest of my life. Engine after engine..." Because it kinda sounded like a positive statement in the other thread...
Yep, I am bi-polar
I think I was happier in the other before I found out that I might be well on my way to engine #3...
If that is the case, I am thinking LT1 power for my bird at some point. I love those engines.
At any rate, I will have the brake work done this weekend, then on to the rest. Eating the elephant one bite at a time...
I understand. All my vehicles are a love/hate relationship...
Let me know how that LT1 swap turns out...
I've got that in the plans for my '71 Camino (a 6-spd would be nice too, but I'm probably dreaming now, just thinking about affording the LT1 swap in the near future), however it is in line behind the 360 stroker for the Belvedere, which I will hopefully be getting all the parts for in a few weeks...
My 318 runs like a top, sounds fricken sweet, and will promptly kill every mosquito in the neighborhood, and with a blanket I could send smoke signals to the neighbors...
BTW, can I have your turbo when you do that V8 swap???
Ummm well even tho the coolant is low could it be the water pump weep hole or ur upper/lower hoses or even the heater core or its hoses.I would trace it out but,headgasket is thing that came to mind.As for oil at the cap I have never had the issue being mines ohv 2.0 but oil caps are prone to leak over time from use and age.Worst case I prolly rebuild it.That is my take on it.
I forgot to mention I have 12K miles on a complete rebuild and about 2K miles on this headgasket...
I had something similar; running through coolant and oil comming out the dipstick tube. I did a compression check and sure enough #4 was only 60 lbs. Pulled the motor apart only to have the rear of the piston fall apart in my hand. Yes, just below the compression ring, the piston had a 'chunk' ready to fall off. Once I removed the second and oil rings, that's exactly what happened. Oddly enough, there were NO damage to the cylinder wall because the rings kept things together. The coolant leak was due to a failed head gasket. BTW, I put 150K on this engine after the first rebuild and have 256K on the car now (wonderful little engines). I need to locate new oil seals for the turbo because I can smell burnt oil once the car comes up to temp (and oil in the inlet side as well).
