Drewster67

Looks like a valve dropped or a valve spring broke and I have coolant in the oil. I'm more concerned with the coolant in the oil. She's currently at my techs shop waiting to be disassembled tomorrow.

Edit - could be a lifter also

Anyone been down this road before? I'm thinking the probable causes for the water in the oil could be ...

1. Blown head gasket (engine was at normal op temp when top end let go)
2. Cracked head
3. Damaged piston/ring
4. Block damage

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

TIA -

MY03C5Z

If a spring broke and you dropped a valve it can very easily cause #3 & 4. Possibly could damage the head too, the gasket as well at that point. In all the engine failure posts here in the last few years I dont recall anyone saying they just blew a headgasket on their stock internal engine. Hate to say it but broken spring/dropped valve is more common. Good luck with it and let us know how it turns out.

FourG63 97GST

im going with damaged head or block, leaning towards head

C5Dobie

How many miles? Is it modified? Do you race it?

danziger

Ugh...that sux. Best of luck...

Drewster67

83K and yes I run HPDE4 - 100% stock as far as I know.

Drewster67

Thanks!

Drewster67

#7 Cyclinder Spun Bearing .... possible more damage ... valves/springs looked good.

Im going to start drinking now ...

silvrhand

sucks dude was there last week.. I luckily got out with less damage.

MY03C5Z

Well if there is a bright side at least a spun bearing doesnt mean the block or heads are shot which is usually the case after a bad dropped valve.
You should be able to just have a machine shop overhaul it if its just a spun bearing. A lot of guys report that heads and block are beyond repair after dropping a valve in these motors. In those cases it would cost more to resleeve a cylinder and rebuild than replace the motor. Hope they dont find any more damage.

Drewster67

My tech said his machine shop is 6 to 8 weeks out ....

Thanks for the insight - there may be a silver lining yet

jmc12

Bummer..

Paul 75 L82

I would find another machine shop or start looking for a new short block.

Mig233

I'm sorry to hear that...defenitely a bad day. But at least it's March, and it'll be back in action for the track season!

Any word on how/why it happened? Oil Starvation? How many quarts were you running while on the track?

Drewster67

Thanks brother - I run 7.5 quarts of oil and the car had good oil pressure.

I was running the car - got on it a little bit but not too red line - then all went south.

I think I'm going with a LS6 long block from http://www.turnkeyenginesupply.com/l...lock-assembly/ then all I have to do is hire someone to R&R then flash the ECU if needed. i think this is going to be the most cost effective way to do this.

Mig233

Damn...that's painful and disconserting to hear. The LS6 is supposed to be pretty stout and bulletproof.

Approximately how much more would it cost to go the LS3/LSx route? Seems to be what a lot of people here do when they are replacing their LS1/LS6.

Drewster67

Ballpark - probably another 2000.00 (5k for the LS6 longblock) - If I didn't discover turnkey engine supply - Id have to go to a LS3 setup.

FourG63 97GST

I still don't get the coolant in oil part from a spun bearing. I'm guessing coolant in the oil is what spun it to begin with.

Drewster67

Neither do I - most likely there is more damage then we originally discovered. It will be at least 2 weeks before she goes in for the new motor so time will tell what really is going on.

zeevette

That longblock you're thinking of looks like just a remam, stock LS6. It doesn't say if they're the '02-later, with sodium valves, or if the cam is stock. They quote a much higher HP/TQ rating than a '02-up LS6, too, which makes me wonder....