So my recent 'low coolant' light even after I topped it off made me realize the other day what's likely going on. I had no leaks in the cooling or radiator system- my coolant was going somewhere... sadly, I pulled out the dipstick and was disappointed to have my expectation observed... most likely this is the last straw. I was going to fix the body damage myself from a crash previously described here, but this is too much. I guess what I'm wondering now is what the possibilities are for the internal leak from the coolant to the oil system? The car actually runs and drives fine, there's no obvious smoke pouring from the exhaust. It would be nice if it wasn't the headgasket- but seems to me to be the likely culprit.
Are there any other options? I had a camaro and a chrysler that had a oil cooler inside the radiator- is that a feature of '92 vettes as well? Anything else? sigh...

Anyone wanna buy a '92 vert? cheap!?! I'm going back to mustangs..

 

Unfortunately, the most likely cause would be a head gasket. There is also the possibility of an intake gasket that could also be causing the problem.

 

The LT1 doesn't have oil cooler lines to the radiator. It was the first Vette that left the factory with synthetic oil so the cooler lines weren't needed.

There are no coolant passages in the intake of the LT1 so that wouldn't cause your problem. Just about the only thing that could cause what you describe is a head gasket failure.

How cheap?

Good luck,
Dave

 

Man that sucks though, but you can get through it.

 

lt1's are notorious for loosening intake manifold bolts....i've disassembled several that had the bolts near the egr so loose that you think you've got the wrong wrench on em and it's not engaging the bolt...chased a ''flutter'' in my lt1 buick until i started to change the egr valve and found loose intake bolts on the way in.

change your oil IMMEDIATELY...then grab a 9/16'' and tighten your intake down....you have a chance that the rod and main bearings are still ok...keep at least one eye on your oil pressure gauge for the next couple of hundred miles and switch to cell phone motivation at the first sign of dipping pressure...i'd just change bearings anyway to be comfy

 

I don't see how the intake being loose can relate to coolant. These are dry intakes... as such, there are no cooling ports exposed to the valley.

How many miles are on this engine?

Head gasket failures on an LT1 are very rare. GM reengineered the LT1 so as to eliminate the corrosion problems that can lead to head gasket failures. Mine has 160k miles on it, and there are no signs of head gasket problems (KNOCKING ON WOOD!!!).

 

My bad, Bogus is correct about the intake.

 

So I'm in a waffely mood today, and I thought up another question:
On a scale of 1-10, what would you rate the pain-in-the-***'edness of changing out a headgasket or two? I completed that task on an old mustang of mine and I'd rate it pretty high.

 

At least it's easy to get to the engine on a C4.

 

Yeah, I've been looking into it- realized there is no cooler, and it makes sense when you consider its a full-synthetic engine. I haven't found any other explanation than a head gasket either.. Anyway- whatever's going on is currently not big enough to cause any of the characteristic smoking, or run problems that I would've expected.. actually am probably kinda lucky that I noticed it quickly as everything else seems to be running fine. Anyway- changing the oil... will be monitoring both fluids closely this week.

Dave-how cheap? haven't really been thinking much about it- will probably throw it on ebay with no reserve and let the market decide. Expecting a grand or two. The good news is that it has a fresh clutch/flywheel, cats, custom rims, and convertible top. I'm sure I'd be better off selling the parts individually, but I have a 1 car garage, and need transportation. I think the engine has about 143k on it. Never had any trouble till now.

On a related note: Anyone have a mustang GT/SVT vert for sale? or a reliable jeep?

 

The problem is that ussualy to blow the head gaket there is some other problem. Streched bolts (head), warped head, or even a warped block(very rare) but if some-ome else was playing in there it could be gouged. Be sure to check every-thing twice while you have it apart just to make sure you are not backin there in a couple of months. I just hope that you didn't crack the block...Look real close at the walls of the liffter valley when apart as well. Good-luck. If you pressure check the cooling system sometimes you can hear where the leak is.

 

..

How cheep? I am looking for one for my brother.

 

I had this happen once. It ended up being a crack in the exhaust port on my AFR 190LTs. It would run fine for 2-3 mins until there was enough pressure in the coolant system to spew coolant into the exhaust port. It killed the O2 sensor on that bank and ran like it was on 4 cylinders.

There was coolant in the oilpan, cylinder, and it even managed to get up in the intake manifold.

When it first happened I thought it was a gasket. I pulled the engine, stroked it out to a 383, had the heads and block checked out. The machine shop missed the crack and I assembled the motor, reinstalled and it did the same thing. I pulled it again and a second shop found the crack. AFR repaired the head and checked the other one free of charge.

No problems since except for the poor spider gears. Im on my 3rd set and I hope Jeb's cyro'd set holds up better than the others.

 

....on the water in the oil. If it were a head gasket the water in the oil pan throws me as the first symptom you notice. I apologize for saying this but usually a failing head gasket will do "steam leaking" first along with small traces of CO in the coolant(dye test & coolant system pressure test in order here) along with wisps of white smoke from exhaust....which gets progressively worse until the gasket fails from a relief hole & or water jacket hole to the cylinder sealing ring....at which point the motor don't run well & the coolant enters the oil pan. JMHO

You say the motor runs fine & no smoke & you did a dye test on the coolant and a pressure test on the cooling system? Hot & cold? I vote for something cracked to leak enough coolant into the oil and not the combustion chamber(motor runs fine) as the source of the trouble...most likely candidates: block & heads. Block crack below last ring = water in oil or block crack at bottom of V near the main web = water in oil. Heads on intake port = smoke & miss, dye test positive & gets progressively worse. Head crack exhaust port = maybe no miss due to scavanging but tail pipe smoke has to be there and if it floods the cylinder you have to have a miss or how else does that yield coolant in the pan???

Sorry JMHO
Tom

 

So I'll post once more here in my original thread since the other has now been closed by mods. I will say that I'm disappointed in the closing of that as I was enjoying the read and the intelligent, thought provoking posts from members, even amongst the rude comments and even attacks that an odd idea elicits from some people.
We had vetnutjim who obviously has a spelling bee trophy on a shelf somewhere (though I'm still wondering what word set him off) spouting his assumptions, and centralcoaster telling me how stupid the idea is... Then on the flipside, we had guys like bluewasp and rocco16 (and many others) making intelligent and logical points about the idea. In fact, yesterday I was enthused to find a coworker's Carera Porsche has a 4 cyl engine with 12qts of oil running through a big radiator in the fin as well as two in the front wheelwells. Also cited was rolls royce and VW- generally when 'air cooled' engines are built, they have extra oil capacity for the purpose of added cooling, so in fact this premise IS already being used (so much for my millions!).

Anyway, the point a lot of folks seemed to be missing is that my efforts were to extend the lifespan/functionality of this specific car by turning it into a purpose built vehicle- 8 minutes commute at a time. Yes, it's a workaround, and yes the proper fix is obviously to replace the gaskets. Nobody's ever argued otherwise. I also appreciate the encouragement from those who've completed that job- I might just take it on...

In any case, kudos to Rocco16 for pointing out the effects of the pressure differences between the two systems. That, combined with the increased load/viscosity to the water pump has pretty well dissuaded me from following through with this. Excellent point**

Finally- to the number of offers I've had to buy it I guess I'll try to get a hold of everyone once I'm ready to sell. I don't know the price yet, and you don't know the details of the car (it has good points too! ie. new rims, top, clutch, etc.). Also, I need to line up transportation before I can really do the deal. Was thinking I might try getting another jeep for a different type of fun that hopefully gets me into less trouble. And even though I know you guys love to hassle mustang guys, I still like 'em- though I'm bracing for the disappointment of driving anything but a vette. I've always loved the C4 body, and the fact that my 16yr old car will still outperform a shinny new z3. Once I get my finances under control I'd love to own another. Until then- I have a 1 car garage.

**Though- another engineer at work who drives a viper-- suggested I leave the pressure cap loosened from the 'cooling' system to keep the system depressurized.... but I digress...
And now we return you to your ordinary corvette topics.
salukikev@gmail.com
... *converts vette to biodiesel*...

 

If you toss me some gas money, I'll come to Charlotte one weekend and we can do the head gaskets. You'll need the head gaskets, exhaust manifold gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, and some silicone or RTV. You said you have a one car garage and that you had done head gaskets before on a Mustang so you can't be totally new to wrenching. If you've got a decent set of hand tools I would think we could knock it out in 1 long day, or over a Saturday/Sunday kind of deal.

Let me know if you want some help.

 

Headgaskets aren't that hard. My advice you be to pull the heads off now and take them to a shop to be checked for flatness and cracks. If you need help putting them back on contact neat or someone close by. I hate to see someone give up on a vette. And believe me, you would lose more money by selling it now than you would spend on fixing the headgaskets.

 

Figures.

Play dumb and get him to use his Viper to show
you what he means.

Water boils at 212º/100ºC at sea level. Well below
the typical operating temperature in the heads
of modern engines. As elevation increases,
atmospheric pressure decreases and thus boiling
point decreases.

The cooling system is pressurized to raise the
boiling temperature. A 16 psi rad cap and a 50:50
water:glycol mix can elevate the boiling temp to
about 260ºF.

The engineer should reacquaint his/herself with
the ideal gas law and laws like Boyle's which it
generalizes.

.

 

By the way, I just checked the locked thread and one of the last posts was from 'Coaster, who said this:
" If you knew me and lived near me, your car would probably already be in my garage and I'd be fixing it in exchange for beer and spicy chicken sandwiches."

I do know CentralCoaster, and this is a true statement.
He may think your idea is without merit, but he'd help you replace your headgaskets in a heartbeat.

Larry
code5coupe

 

I love spicy chicken sandwiches, where does CC live?