The Olds 88...My G-Ride

[Artcwolf]

The Olds blew her engine on Monday (the 14th). Don't know what caused it, the engine had only 56k miles on her. The engine was clean, full of oil (replaced every 3k - 4k miles), tranny had been back flushed and filter/gasket changed, radiator was full (until Monday afternoon when it leaked all into the cylinders), no smoke, no problems indicated prior to the demise.

She just died. Went to leave work and she wouldn't start. My mechanic (a good one and friend) quickly established that the car's engine is gone.

I'm down to a bike only. Argh!

[2JSC]

Sounds like a head gasket went if all the water/fluid went into the cylinders. I've had to replace a few of those on my friends Supra(which are notorious for that).

Good luck getting it fix(if you do)!

[CyberGuy]

A shot head gasket can be fixed as well as water in the cylinders as long as the rods weren't bent due to a hydraulic lock. I don't think a starter motor would put out the kind of torque needed to bend rods. As long as none of the cylinders tried to fire you might still be OK. With a hydraulic lock, the motor will not make a full revolution. Water can be dried out of cylinders and head gaskets can be replaced. It will require a tear-down of the top end. I've done this when I've pulled heads for a valve job when there was still some water in the engine (duh...). Dried things up, reassembled the engine, and things worked fine for years.

However if it is a cracked head, the cost goes way up because you cant easily repair that. the whole head usually needs to be replaced.

[Artcwolf]

The mechanics told me that the bottom end was gone on it, causing top end damage. Now how bad the top end damage is, is unknown. It does not really matter, I'm not replacing the engine which is what's needed to repair the bottom end damage.

I'll pull the radio and alarm then will decide what to do with the rest of the car.

[eire1274]

As long as the motor is not frozen (hydraulic lock as Cyberguy said) the motor is probably repairable. Even a cracked head won't cost you much, since you know me!

What motor does the car have in it? I need year and size (Liters or Cubic Inches). GOOD head gaskets will probably cost you no more than $100 for a V8, and I can get MOST Chevy cylinder heads for around $30, if they are in stock. Let me know... I would need to tear up the head and acid soak it (they are used, of course) and make sure the valvetrain is in good order; I could send one to you in 3 or 4 days.

[Artcwolf]

As long as the motor is not frozen (hydraulic lock as Cyberguy said) the motor is probably repairable. Even a cracked head won't cost you much, since you know me!

What motor does the car have in it? I need year and size (Liters or Cubic Inches). GOOD head gaskets will probably cost you no more than $100 for a V8, and I can get MOST Chevy cylinder heads for around $30, if they are in stock. Let me know... I would need to tear up the head and acid soak it (they are used, of course) and make sure the valvetrain is in good order; I could send one to you in 3 or 4 days.

It's locked. Frozen up solid.

3800 Series II, 3.8 liter V6

[eire1274]

It's locked. Frozen up solid.

3800 Series II, 3.8 liter V6
Oh, a newer 88. I'll bet the crankshaft split, and horqued up your pistons. The water is most likely due to cylinder damage, perforations into the water cooling sleeves. Those 3800 motors are a nightmare; good power, but parts that just fail.

They are expensive to replace, too. I can get a Series II for $750, but the labor would be massive.

[Artcwolf]

Oh, a newer 88. I'll bet the crankshaft split, and horqued up your pistons. The water is most likely due to cylinder damage, perforations into the water cooling sleeves. Those 3800 motors are a nightmare; good power, but parts that just fail.

They are expensive to replace, too. I can get a Series II for $750, but the labor would be massive.


That would make sense, eire. There were not any signs of failure prior to the seizure. It just went.

I'm going to ride bikes from now on out. My g/f (soon to be fiance) has a Ford Explorer that runs good that's paid off. With some more ride equipment and a second bike, I can ride on all but the most extreme weather days. On those, we have a plan so that I can take the truck to work.

[Sidebinder]

Man, sorry to hear about that engine failure, those Series II V6's are usually one solid beast of a engine when it comes to stabilty. My friend has had a super charged one out of a 2000 something impala for a few years now in his Lumina and he said it runs great and he also put about 60k on it already cause he work like 100 miles from where he stay at. Also, if you wondering, the rear end of the impala was totaled to **** that is how he aquired the motor. The front end layed in perfect condition at the Barnies down here and he snatched it for about 2k installed. :)

Good luck if you decide to fix it. :Thumb

[Artcwolf]

Update:

As a "gift" from my parental units (a.k.a. done w/o my knowledge) they paid to have it repaired. The owner of the shop (who is also a friend of ours) and his lead mechanic had a debate as to how bad the damage was. After tearing it down just a little bit, they found the intake manifold was cracked causing the radiator fluid to leak into the cylinders.

It's fixed and back on the road. Now my g/f's Ford Explorer is in the shop. Apparantly, Ford puts plastic intakes on those engines and the O rings inside the intake is shot. Apparantly, this is common for those engine's due to the cheap plastic parts Ford used. Nice. It should be out of the shop shortly with a new fuel filter, intakes, computer reset, and oil/filter change.