HELP, MY BUICK IS HURT!!!

[kmtwig]

Hello all, I'm trying to figure out where to start on this problem. I like to do all of the work myself, but my diagnostic skills are lacking. My car is an 87 GN, with a TA52, 50lb, front mount, and alky. It was running really well, but at the end of a run, (1/8 mile) it just died. No bang, no clank, no nothing. White smoke poured out the back as I coasted to a stop. Oil had sprayed out of the breathers and onto the headers and the engine. When I try to start it, it runs for a second and sounds like it is running on one or two cylinders. I thought maybe a seal in the turbo went out and spewed oil into the intake. I swapped out the turbo and changed plugs thinking they were fouled out. The plugs didn't look bad, but only one looks like it is firing. There wasn't any oil pooled up inside the pipes or TB. The engine has 66,000 miles on it. Could it be the coil pack? Did it jump the timing chain? Even if it is a major problem I'm ready to tear into it. Any Ideas about this would be appreciated!!!

 

[lrayzer]

Sure sounds like a blown head gasket, do you have a compression tester ?

 

[blackgn1]

Did you see any knock during the run? You lost a headgasket. Like lrayzer said do a compression test. A leak down test would be much better.

 

[bison]

If it sounds abnormal cranking like you hear it skip over cylinders then you have blown head gaskets. No compression test needed. Diagnosing blown or damaged head gaskets isn't too hard. Knowing why it happened isn't always as easy. 99% or more of the time it's from detonation from not enough octane.

 

[Red C5]

Start with a leakdown.. What's your oil pressure like?

 

[kmtwig]

Wow, that all makes sense to me. When the starter is cranking, it almost sounds like an old mopar starter. And, like a knothead, I forgot to switch on the alcohol pump on that last run. The boost was about 22 lbs I think. I was too flustered to think about looking to see what the knock was. kmtwig

 

[EYE-OPENER]

Ouch...22psi with no alky did you in. I love the feel of how my car performs but one damn hiccup and that's all she wrote. I did almost the exact thing. Now alky's always on and pumping 100 octane only. Hg's are expensive and the downtime sucks the most.

 

[turb0buick57]

Wow, that all makes sense to me. When the starter is cranking, it almost sounds like an old mopar starter. And, like a knothead, I forgot to switch on the alcohol pump on that last run. The boost was about 22 lbs I think. I was too flustered to think about looking to see what the knock was. kmtwig

Forgot to switch it on or forgot to prime the pump?

 

[Phoneguy]

Welcome to the head gasket club...

Bryan

 

[TurboTGuy]

VRRRRRROOOOMBOOOM!

 

[krom]

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Sounds like it's infected with FNG virus.....

 

[Timbuick]

Fisrt thing I do when starting the car up is press the alky test switch to make sure it's spraying before I back out the garage. No spray, no boost for me until the alky is back.
Bad luck for you,hope it's just the HGs.