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clear to me the guy has his mind made up and only wants
agreement to his position.
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. I haven't taken ANY position at this time. All I'm doing is absorbing and responding to comments and answering questions posed to me in order to gain a better understanding. At the appropriate time I will formulate a game plan.
You've been absolutely no help. Please leave this thread and don't respond to any more of my threads. Those who are here to help and want to help are all I need. I don't need you.
Hats off to the rest of you guys. Your participation has been very helpful and I have a better understanding as to the proper course of action.
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. I haven't taken ANY position at this time. All I'm doing is absorbing and responding to comments and answering questions posed to me in order to gain a better understanding. At the appropriate time I will formulate a game plan.
You've been absolutely no help. Please leave this thread and don't respond to any more of my threads. Those who are here to help and want to help are all I need. I don't need you.
Hats off to the rest of you guys. Your participation has been very helpful and I have a better understanding as to the proper course of action.
DC
knew that would show your colors.
and that you can't read and comprehend.
i offered up, you just don't like or trust it.
keep taken samples
You don't know what the hell you're talking about. I haven't taken ANY position at this time. All I'm doing is absorbing and responding to comments and answering questions posed to me in order to gain a better understanding. At the appropriate time I will formulate a game plan.
You've been absolutely no help. Please leave this thread and don't respond to any more of my threads. Those who are here to help and want to help are all I need. I don't need you.
Hats off to the rest of you guys. Your participation has been very helpful and I have a better understanding as to the proper course of action.
DC
It's a bummer, but you need to hear the inevitable for encouragement.
If the rear end goes boom, you pull it out and apart. No brainer.
If an engine has your issues, better now than later. It just gets worse.
How many bolts to pull an engine? 20?
I'd rather do all that BS on a stand.
If you start tearing into it in the car, it's easy enough to pull later., and reinstall all at once.
I hope this makes sense after a shot of *****
Since it was "rebuilt" 18K miles ago, check the exhaust tips on both sides of the car. Look for dark oil deposits OR for an unusually clean tip. The side that shows oil discoloration has a problem with its cylinder head (most likely). May be just a gasket problem...don't know.
If you have a very clean tip or you see white "smoke" (steam mixed in with exhaust gases) coming out when you rev the engine, you have a head gasket problem (most likely) or a cracked head letting coolant into the combustion charge.
I wouldn't pull the engine first; I'd start with the heads. If you find gasket problems (the PO might not have re-torgued the head bolts after some initial use) and see nothing else unusual, fix the problems and go your merry way. If other "stuff" shows up, you might need to do the engine pull.
P.S. Check your heat riser valve (right-side exhaust manifold outlet). If it is stuck in the closed position, you are going to find a damaged head gasket between cylinders 4 & 6. If it was driven much with that condition, you could have cylinder head damage on the passenger side. If you remove the heads, PLEASE take them to someone who can check them for cracks.
Last edited by 7T1vette; Mar 24, 2018 at 11:06 PM.
Since it was "rebuilt" 18K miles ago, check the exhaust tips on both sides of the car. Look for dark oil deposits OR for an unusually clean tip. The side that shows oil discoloration has a problem with its cylinder head (most likely). May be just a gasket problem...don't know.
If you have a very clean tip or you see white "smoke" (steam mixed in with exhaust gases) coming out when you rev the engine, you have a head gasket problem (most likely) or a cracked head letting coolant into the combustion charge.
I wouldn't pull the engine first; I'd start with the heads. If you find gasket problems (the PO might not have re-torgued the head bolts after some initial use) and see nothing else unusual, fix the problems and go your merry way. If other "stuff" shows up, you might need to do the engine pull.
If you get the heads off, the block is a snap to remove. Check it out, inspect, check rods and the cam,re seal all the gaskets, check the chain, assemble, reinstall as a unit, painted,done.
You can stare at it in your easy chair.
(It's required before dropping it in).
When we did rebuild electric motors, anything under 600HP was done on a bench. (Analogy)
I worked on a 6000HP motor once. Brushes like cinder blocks. In place.
Last edited by Big2Bird; Mar 24, 2018 at 11:12 PM.
I had a similar situation with the coolant level. I could not figure it out. There was no steam or anything from the tail pipe.
I rented a combustion gas detection kit and bought a bottle of the blue fluid. You fill this thing with special blue fluid then put it in the radiator cap opening and run a line to a vacuum source. If it turns to a yellow color, you got a crack.
I sat their telling myself it wasnt yellow, it was green, maybe turquoise... The middle intake runners were coated in coolant and the center two exhaust valves on each aluminum head had cracks.
The lesson for me was to use the felpro gaskets with the larger coolant passages. Check out the difference below.
One that caused the crack on bottom. replacement on top
I am going to say it sounds like the intake is leaking.......but as mentioned it could be a couple of things.......
Strip off the components and check them........just tell everybody you are detailing the engine....
Since it was "rebuilt" 18K miles ago, check the exhaust tips on both sides of the car. Look for dark oil deposits OR for an unusually clean tip. The side that shows oil discoloration has a problem with its cylinder head (most likely). May be just a gasket problem...don't know.
If you have a very clean tip or you see white "smoke" (steam mixed in with exhaust gases) coming out when you rev the engine, you have a head gasket problem (most likely) or a cracked head letting coolant into the combustion charge.
I wouldn't pull the engine first; I'd start with the heads. If you find gasket problems (the PO might not have re-torgued the head bolts after some initial use) and see nothing else unusual, fix the problems and go your merry way. If other "stuff" shows up, you might need to do the engine pull.
P.S. Check your heat riser valve (right-side exhaust manifold outlet). If it is stuck in the closed position, you are going to find a damaged head gasket between cylinders 4 & 6. If it was driven much with that condition, you could have cylinder head damage on the passenger side. If you remove the heads, PLEASE take them to someone who can check them for cracks.
Good info. Thanks. After you posted this, I did check the exhaust tips. Both look the same. Both are a gray ash color very similar to the exhaust tip on my '05 Suburban. But, under the top gray ash layer is blacker more sooty layer. I'm assuming that is due to the previous carb running very rich.
I did see a little white smoke at times. Primarily when the engine was cold and I revved it fairly high.
No heat riser valve on mine.
Originally Posted by johnt365
The lesson for me was to use the felpro gaskets with the larger coolant passages.
Appreciate the tip.
DC
Last edited by DC3; Apr 2, 2018 at 03:40 PM.
Reason: Typo
Been away from the computer for awhile so just getting back to this today.
Thanks to all of you who helped me better understand the issue.
As I mentioned before, I'm remodeling the house and won't be able to tend to this until at least summer. I won't be driving the Vette until I can get the coolant use sorted out.
Before I tackle this, I'm going to investigate LS swaps. If I go down that road, this engine will end up on a stand in the corner of the shop and I'll tear it down later.
If I decide not to do an LS swap, I'm going to use this as an opportunity to just replace the heads, fuel inject the engine and swap to better headers. I've been told cast Vortec heads will outflow the current heads so there should be tons of better aftermarket choices. I'll deal with any internal engine issues as I make these changes.
The only gotcha is that I'm going to be without my Vette for much of the summer unless I bite the bullet and take it to a mechanic.
