Impala - Chevrolet :: Head Gaskets Broken Off And Coolant Mixing In Oil?
Jan 26, 2011
I have a 2002 Chevy Impala, 3.4 engine. Mileage is at about 235k. About a month ago I had to replace the radiator because the car was overheating. Not even a week later, the low coolant light was on (even after I filled the reservoir) and the car was once again getting really close to overheating. I took it back to the mechanic who replaced the radiator. He checked and said the head gaskets were bad. He showed me where they were cracked/torn and showed me that I had coolant mixing with my oil. I haven't had the money to fix it, so since then the car has been sitting in my garage.
I have drove it maybe 5-8 times though (to the grocery store down the street, etc.) Should I even invest anymore into this car, considering the age, mileage and problems (fyi, the car was in an accident so there's some body damage to the hood, front fender, the a/c isn't working)? Would replacing the gaskets or buying a used engine be a smart move? Or is it better to purchase another car? I only have about 3k to go towards another car, so I'm kind of afraid I'll get another one and it will have the same (or worse) problems.
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I have a 1995 aero with 4 wheel drive and a 4 liter. Lent it out and the engine was run without coolant. Pretty sure the head gaskets are blown. I found a replacement 4 liter from a 92 explorer and wondered if it would swap in. Will the bolt pattern match, computer, mounts,etc?
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Just bought a 2005 F250 PSD, got a smoking deal on it. It has 321k miles and has been very well taken care of however I do believe that it either needs a new oil cooler or has bad head gaskets. Pictured below you will see what the coolant looked like when I let the first batch lose. It does not seem foamy, which is interesting to me, however there is NO EGR to cause this soot.
About the truck:
- It was bulletproofed at 50k miles (EGR delete, ARP head studs, etc).
- There is no puking of coolant (drove it 100 miles from where I purchased it and nothing)
- When the truck is started you have to let it warm up for about 10 minutes,otherwise it seems to not have full power. (was going to reflash the ECU in hopes this repaired that problem).
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My 2003 Chevy Impala stalled after driving it for about a mile. The 'low engine oil' came on. I noticed white smoke coming out from under the hood. I pulled the dipstick and it was out of oil.
I poured 2 quarts of oil and attempted to start the car. The car started after I pressed the gas pedal but shut off when I took my foot off the gas. I tried several times. It started butshut off when lifting the foot of the pedal.
I'm hoping it's not the head gasket.
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I have a 2002 Chevy Impala with the 3.4L engine. The car has 180K+ miles on the original engine. The coolant temperature started fluctuating recently. Going from 200 degrees up to 240 sometimes 260 degrees.
I recently had the check engine light on with the P0420 code which indicates a bad catalytic converter, I had that replaced and I was hoping that maybe the lack of exhaust flow through the converter was causing the overheating. It is still fluctuating however after the converter replacement.
The coolant temperature seems to go up when the car is idling but when moving it starts to go back down to normal. I had the cooling fan assembly replaced last year after one of the fans failed. These are less than a year old and are both operating as expected.
A little history on the engine. It originally had that crappy DexCool in it that then ate away at the cheap plastic head gasket causing oil to leak into the coolant system. This caused the coolant to turn into 'mud' within the radiator and eventually the head gasket failed completely and I had to have that replaced along with putting in ethylene glycol to replace the DexCool. Now when the coolant system was flushed, I am not completely sure that all that 'mud' was flushed out of the radiator. So the radiator may not be operating at full capacity. In fact, driving through the mountains this summer going up inclines, the car would tend to start overheating.
So thoughts on what might be the issue, radiator, thermostat, sensor, water pump, something else? I'm pretty sure it's not the sensor because sensors don't fail in this manner (they fail either high or low). I'm leaning toward the radiator because once I get some air flow across it, the coolant temp gets back to normal.
Also, the A/C is sometimes working great and blowing really cold and other times it is just slightly cold.
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So I recently bought a Chevy Impala with about 150,000 miles on it. The check engine light is on and sometimes it will tell me my coolant levels are low. I filled it up with coolant and the message still comes on sometimes. Also, when I'm driving, I can feel my rpms go way up when I press the gas, but they car won't accelerate for shit. Sometimes the check engine light will blink, which I've heard is for safety, and my car will barely accelerate at all. I can drive it around town easily the way it is now, but I don't want to risk ruining it. On top of that, my radio and lights will cut in and out sometimes and get better the more gas I give it.
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Before we all jump on head gasket, let me ask something. Correct me if I am wrong but there are three places in a 2002 Passat 1.8T where these could mix, head, oil cooler, and turbo, correct? The reason I ask is the cars performance has not been affected at all, still running perfect minus this problem.
Start the car, within 10 minutes you lose about a half quart to a quart of oil into the cooling system. Oh this is a family members car, not my own.
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I found during an oil change that there is coolant in my oil, I had suspicions of this because of having to add coolant more than I should of had to. There is probably either a crack in my block, head gasket or intake manifold, my question is how can I tell which. I figure that if I preform a compression check it will tell me that I have a cracked block and or a cracked head gasket, what will tell me if I breeched my intake manifold.
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My son and I just rebuilt a '99 4.6L motor. A complete overhaul.
After running the motor for 15-25 minutes, I removed the oil filter and discovered a milky substance as I emptied it. I emptied the oil pan and found more water in the oil.
We removed the oil pan and did a coolant system pressure test, but didn't see any coolant coming from the bottom of the engine.
Is there anywhere other than the head gaskets where the 2 can mix or is this a normal occurrence during the break in period? The truck has not been driven anywhere yet.
I did not replace the head bolts with brand new. They were torqued properly tho.
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Can the mechanic put back my motor even if he claims i wont start? He claims the head gaskets blew out but i dont understand how they blew out over 3 days when he had my car.
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My Subaru Outback 2004 has 136,000 miles. Recently the check engine light came on and the mechanic diagnosed leaking head gaskets, cost to replace $2,000. Does it make sense to fix it or bite the bullet and get a new car?
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If you have a blown head gasket on a 6.0, after the gaskets were removed would you be able to tell where the gasket failed?
Since the gaskets are metal or multilayer metal in some cases would you be unable to tell where the gasket failed or would it always be visible?
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I have a 2011 f150 with the 5.0l motor. I had to replace the head gaskets and I am putting it back together and I am wondering if I will need a special tool to align the cam gears/camshaft/timing chain. to get this back together. I can't seem to find a thread or an article to guide me through the process.
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I just bought a 2000 F250 SD 6.8 v10 and its mixing coolant in the block and leaking oil. I'm debating on just dropping a newer v10 in it but im just not 100% sure that this engine is shot. It runs great when there's oil in it and I can't even tell there's any problems going on for well over a couple hours after i fill it up with oil.
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I just had headgaskets (oem) studs, egr delete,oil cooler done on my 06 plus water pump cause the gasket blew. I have a sct livewire hooked up monitoring everything and tonight i noticed that the eot and ect's were way off. fully warmed up and rolling 65 Anywhere from 40*-50* out it was eot-156 and ect-172. Degas bottle was at the normal level.
I am also having issues with the fuel gauge. Every now and then the gauge will go to E and the miles to E will display ---. Turn the truck off and back on it works again. I am half assuming its the plug on the sending unit or the sending unit itself.
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I just pulled the cab and did headgaskets, studs. I put everything back together and when I turn the key, nothing, no lights, zero.
I've checked all connections and batteries are good, checked all fuses, where to start with this?
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So I am just wrapping up getting my head gaskets done for the second time. Last time was 7 yrs ago. Truck now has 90K mi on it and I have had nothing but Matt's tunes on it since the head gaskets were done originally. I have only towed once and I put the 8K tow tune on for that trip.
ARP studs were used but heads were not decked then. OEM gaskets, done by Ford.
So a head gasket failures with ARP studs and doing everything else the FTE way?
New heads are decked and o-ringed. Planning to go a little more gentle with the tuning, but don't really want to. Driving it stock just sucks.
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Ran fine, did the head gaskets ,egr delete, oil cooler and 12mm dummy plugs. Primed the fuel system, oil pressure looks good on the guage , spins fine but doesn't seem to be making any attempt at starting . Gave it a shot of quick start and it never so much as kicked. Everything looks good, nothing leaking and nothing obvious. To top it off we are without power after Hurricane Mathew left his mark.
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I have a 2006 6.0 that i did head gaskets on about a year ago. While I was in there I put some new pistons a valves in as well. I finished doing the job and it started and ran great just smoking a little bit. Test drove it a couple of times and still seemed great but still smoking. (white smoke) about a week went by with me driving the truck then one day driving to work I parked it then all of a sudden the truck shut off like some one hit the key and wouldn't restart after that. Either doesn't work i put a ficm in it before the head gaskets went out. new HPOP before head gaskets. I get oil pressure in the dash but it takes a long time to build up. cranks like a dream but doesn't even try to fire.
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I have a 2005 F350 6.0 PowerStroke, and I just did the head bolts upgrade to the ARP studs, new EGR cooler and a new stock turbo. Looks like everything came out good, no left over parts or unplugged connectors, all new fluids and fuel filters and oil filter. Did the priming of fuel and oil, the turbo. When it was ready to turn it on, I turned the motor by jumping the starter to build some oil pressure.
Now I turn the key to turn on the truck, it turns with no issues, it sound good, but it will not turn on.
Checked my batteries, they are fully charged, checked fluids, ok, checked oil pressure as I'm cranking it, it looks good.
It still does not turn on.
So, I jumped it with my friends Excursion, after a couple of tries, it TURNED ON.
Let it run for about 3 minutes then turned it off. It sound good just like it did before the upgrade, with an exhaust leak from the turbo.
Went to turn it on again, it turns but it will not start, jumped it again and it RUNS.
Now I let it run for about 30 minutes figured out where the exhaust leak was coming from.
Shut it off, Re seated exhaust pipe with leak, WENT TO TURN IT ON AND IT WILL TURN BUT WILL NOT RUN.
So what checks I can perform to start eliminating possible issues.....
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The car: 1991 Honda Civic, 4 cyl manual Bought a month and a half ago. Past: I have been dealing with a slow coolant leak in the car that up to this point I have been unable to locate. No puddles or obvious leaks. Small amount of smoke out back, nothing like a blown head gasket, but a little more than average for a car its age.
~Ran a block tester - head gasket fine.
~Checked spark plugs - look fine, not too clean or dirty.
~There does also appear to be water in the oil from time to time, this is not constant, and I do not put water in my radiator (beyond mixing with coolant).
Today: Looking around valve cover noticed it was dirty. Also noticed some sort of sealant/caulking like material that easily came out of the seal between Valve cover and lower engine. I then began to drive the car and noticed small amount of steam coming from the hood. When I opened it up there obviously had been coolant spraying on the left side of the engine. It was difficult to locate a leak point, but appears to be coming from the seal between the valve cover and engine. I have seen it suggested else where that coolant could not leak from a bad valve gasket, but could be leaking from the intake manifold and look like it was coming from the valve cover. Should I just try to replace the intake manifold gaskets?
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