Hey Guys whats going on? My first car was a 1968 Buick Special Deluxe w/45k original miles. I love that car and although shes had a few close calls at being sold, amazingly 16 years later she is still with me. The problem is life was a little rough the past several years and my ol Buick didnt see much attention or drive time. I would change her oil and start her every once in a while until 2 years ago when I noticed the oil was suddenly very light and looked like chocolate milkuhoh. uzzled: According to what Ive been told (havent had a real mechanic look at it) it could either be water seeping through the intake manifold or more likely a blown head gasket. My trustworthy mechanic has closed up shop and although Id like to do some of the work myself I dont have a garage or the tools to do any major work. I am in the process of trying to find a good mechanic or someone to come take a look at the engine, but in the meantime I am doing research and trying to prep myself for a potentially expensive repair. I am here seeking some advice on what other Buickheads think. If the engine does indeed have a blown headgasket would it make sense to just repair the head gasket and anything else that caused the gasket to blow, or should I just go ahead and get the whole dang motor rebuilt? Part of me feels like if they are that deep into the engine why not just go deeper and make it all nice? Or is it possible to just replace the head gasket on a 43 year old engine, put it all back together and things continue to run perfectly?! The motor only has 94,000 original miles. To this day it still starts right up, but I try not to run it too much since the oil looks crappy, even after an oil change. Also does anyone know of a good/trustworthy mechanic or shop in Northwest/Portland area? <---- This would make my life so much easier. Or does anyone need some side work?! :grin:
just repair it and start driving(sounds easy dont it) i am doing a cam/heads/intake swap on mine as we speak and its 41 years old with 58 thousand miles on her i cant help you with a shop as i am on the other side of the country scott
Once you find someone trustworthy, cooling system pressure test is first on your list. I wouldn't assume it's a head gasket quite yet. If it is, when the heads come off flatness of the heads & block can be checked to see if there's an issue there. Devon
If all you have done is start it and run it awhile, then shut it off, it is entirely possible that a good run to get it good and hot will boil off all the condensation. The fact that it hasn't seized (if it has antifreeze in it) means it isn't coolant, only condensation. And if you don't have antifreeze in it, you deserve what happened! Get the system pressure checked first. If that checks out, change the oil and filter yet again, leave the radiator cap loose, and drive it until it is warmed up, for many miles. You might want to do it around the block a few times at first, to make sure you don't get stranded. Make sure you check the radiator level, in case it burps off. Then get it boiled off on a good long drive.
Thanks for the replies guys. Condensation you say? I will look into that tomorrow, do some more testing. Hopefully the pressure test will come back good! Now to find a good mechanic :TU:
If you want a really good guy that won't screw you over, I can recommend a shop but it is out in Boring. Not really convenient for NW portland. If interested in contact info, send me a PM.
COuld be the timing cover gasket. Did the last year on a 350, and went through the entire top end of the engine before we found out that it was the timing cover gasket. It had almost completely rotted away at the cooling passages. I could pour coolant in the radiator, and it would almost immediately start pouring out the oil drain hole.
Here is a quick update on this: Hi guys, Had a mechanic come out and look at the buick today. He did a couple of different pressure tests on the cooling system and some other tests that I don't even know the name of. Before the tests he was 80% sure there was a head gasket problem but after the tests we were only half way sure. It was evident that the valve covers, intake manifold, water pump gaskets were all leaking...mostly likely from being old and sitting around for the past 2 years! The mechanic was surprised at how strong the motor sounded and there was slightly less compression in cylinder #8 but it was only slight. He wasn't convinced the head gasket was in perfect condition considering how much fluid was in the oil. As he said "if this is condensation build up, this is the worst case I've ever seen". And I'm not totally convinced it is just condensation either after running it the past few days and seeing no change in the oil. Anyways we talked about doing a whole re-seal of the majority of the gaskets. and he quoted a price of $1250. This includes: Head gasket (New head bolts? not sure) Valve covers, intake manifold gasket Heads magnafluxed and resurfaced New Water Pump New Timing Belt(s) Hoses..etc Labor I'm not sure how good/bad this quote is but I am curious as to what is the general cost of resurfacing and magnafluxing the heads? Just curious how much that job usually costs. I'm not sure the exact course of action, but I'm going to do some more calling around tomorrow for some comparison quotes. I was also curious if buying a new intake manifold would give any noticeable increase of power on the original 94,000 mile engine? One like this? (argh can't post links!) The "Stage 1 350 Intake Manifold" from TA Performance. I would buy this manifold in a heartbeat if I was going for a whole rebuild but I'm trying to get some feedback to see if it is 'worth it' if I am just replacing gaskets and getting the heads re-done. Can anyone give some feedback? Thanks!! :beer
Just a thought... The oil does not smell like gas does it? I have seen fuel pumps leak fuel into the engine and dilute the oil. Be aware that the milky oil can cause MAJOR rust inside your whole engine, which may require a complete rebuild to fix. I had an intake manifold gasket leak coolant into my oil and even though I drained it right away and flushed the engine 5 times with new oil after fixing the leak the valve covers rusted all inside and they where too damaged to bother fixing... Needless to say that engine is in my spare parts pile now. If you are going to pay to have the whole engine re-gasketed, which is a good idea in my mind then might as well add a new timing set. The TA intake is lighter which makes it easier to install however I would not expect any increase in power with that mod alone. In fact you would have to modify your choke to work which is a pain. The best bang for the buck mod is a TA212 camshaft and new lifters, then next best mod is head porting. Another option to gain power is headers and dual 2.5 exhaust however save that for another round of upgrades, deal with the internals first. The price does not seem out of line considering parts etc are included in the price. I know it would take a while to do all that with the engine in the car so it is not like he is making too much per hour for labour.
My Wildcat engine had a blown head gasket when I bought it. Once warmed up, I would begin to lose water pressure & it would boil over. I had it flat-bedded all the way from LA to the Bay Area, and once it got here I checked the engine over with my friend's help at my house. A cooling system pressure-tester and a leak-down tester are helpful tools. My head gasket had blown directly to the outside between cylinders, so no water was getting into my crankcase. New intake & head gaskets were installed, and she ran like a top after that.
No sense guessing. Just tear it down and replace gaskets and seals. Do a valve job. Clean and paint. You could probably do most of it yourself and save a few bucks if you wanted. Sounds like the engine is still fine.
Don't overlook the timing cover gasket! It sure would suck to get all that other stuff done and forget one of the biggest cooling passage gaskets on the engine, later realizing you haven't fixed the problem yet. Sean recommended replacing the timing set while you've got everything apart...definitely not a bad idea, and it will require you to replace the timing cover gasket at the same time.
Since you don't know for sure where the water is coming from, magnafluxing the heads is a good move, as is surfacing them. Both are potential problems if the engine overheated. Although I must say that if you are running antifreeze, the engine should be locked up. You don't need new head bolts, IMO. That stretching business is a whole lot later technology.
Gary, that IS guessing. Just throwing new gaskets in and crossing your fingers is not a wise move. There's more testing to be done as was just mentioned. Devon
Wow this forum is awesome, thanks for all the replies! Ok so if I go this route I will definitely grab a new timing set and gasket from TA Performance. I will hold off on new intake manifold or any other performance options (even though I want them) until I am good and ready for a complete overhaul. As Sean mentioned it could be really nasty inside the engine and we won't know that until we start digging inside and if it is ugly, a rebuild will be the choice. I'm not sure about the oil's smell, will check that out when I get home today. I'm still in the process of calling around to get some more quotes to see if this guy is within range of other shops. Seems fairly reasonable to me. Halfway through the diagnosis and talk of repairs he turned to me and said "Y'know you could do a lot of this yourself, it wouldn't be that hard and it would save you tons of money" True but I just don't have a good place to work on the car now. It's funny how life changes. 16 years ago when I bought the car I had a good place to work on it, a dad to help me and the time, but no money (and it really didn't need anything). Fast forward to present day and I don't have a good place to work on it, way less time, no one to assist, but I am better off financially (I'm no richy rich, but I am finally able to save a bit each month). Maybe in 30 years I'll have the time, money and space haha.
What? You don't think he should remove the heads at this point? Ok. What further tests do you think would be wise?
Sure he can pull the heads if a pressure test doesn't show a front cover or intake problem, but just changing gaskets and putting it back together is wishing on a star. Sorry if you meant to say otherwise, that's how your post read to me. Devon
No need to apologize, Devon. I was going on the second post in which a mechanic indicated possibly multiple top end problems. I was really trying to encourage a "do it yourself" approach and a few bucks of savings. Sounds like the bottom end might be fine. The front cover suggestion was also a good idea. IMHO.
