Uh Oh!!!!!

[trading t/a]

Majorproblem. Today I was on rt 280W driving normal, I misplaced my smokes so I puled into the shoulder. Found my smokes and proceeded to get into the right lane(normal acceleration, no boost). All of a sudden it starts running like crap, I look into the rear view and see the biggest cloud of smoke I've ever seen. I thought oh well the tranny is gone(big deal). I pull over and look underneath to see if the tranny fluid is taking a walk. Wait the oil is coming from the space between the block and tranny(no TC cover). Open the hood and OH s.h.i.t. oil is on the valve cover(driver),headers(lots of smoke),frame,firewall, injectors(middle cylinder spark plug wire protector is covered in oil.

The car didn't lose a lot of oil, but was breaking up something fierce, and couldn't get more than 1/4 throttle. I'm ruling out a head gasket cause it's oil only no coolant.

So now without looking at it, I'm forced to speculate:

1. The block is cracked spewing oil everywhere. Oil pan gasket is blown(would lose more oil than that though and wouldn't cause the car to run that bad)
2. Rear main seal is a wash(again would leak, but shouldn't run that bad)
3. Oil pressure sending unit is gone spilling oil on the firewall and such(still had normal oil pressure though).
4.Rear Intake gasket is gone spewing oil out(would explain the crappy breaks and running like snot)

What are your guys thoughts! Need help on this one guys. I've blown a lot of fluids around but never oil anywhere near this bad.

Pete

 

[trading t/a]

Looks like we may have a fried piston!!!!



Gotta pull the head off to see what's going on in there now. No coolant in oil just pushing smoke out the breather and dripping oil,HMMMMMMMMMM!


Can't wait to see how bad a rebuild is gonna nail me.....

 

[TNTTA]

Sorry to here the bad news sounds like something serious is gone wrong with your motor.If it is a piston and you don't need to bore it i know where a stock set are at if that helps.WES

 

[Razor]

Do a compression test..once you find the offending cylinder..yank the head and look..If you blew your headgasket upward torwards the lifter valley you could have the same condition..

I doubt you toasted a piston.Rare...HG more common..

Ohh and you cannot reuse the stock head bolts again..

Lemme know off list if you need more help..

idoxlr8_70@yahoo.com

 

[trading t/a]

I won't put stockers back in there. I'm gonna take a look if it's not fried and the walls look good, I may get away with new pistons and rings for now.

Anybody know where or who makes forged pisons for the stock bore?

 

[Razor]

Dont bring a fire truck to turn of a candle..Dunno why people always fear the worst..

TTA pistons are almost indestructable..fat chance you hurt a piston..if you did..get ready for some serious machine work..

Head gasket for the second time..6 hours to do the drivers side..a little more for passenger side..

Do a comp test..yank the head..then tell us what ya found..wanna bet lunch

 

[Grumpy]

I would replace the whole motor...rip it out an do it over !!!! OR I guess you could just change the headgasket BUT that might be to simple

 

[Razor]

Stage motor time...twin turbo...160 lbs injectors..500 nitrous kit..100 turbo..ohh yea

 

[fly89gta]

Originally posted by Razor
Stage motor time...twin turbo...160 lbs injectors..500 nitrous kit..100 turbo..ohh yea

LOL

 

[trading t/a]

You may be correct Razor. I pulled the breather off and oil fill cap and had some serious air coming outta there. That tells me I still have compression but it's leaking past the head. I only lost about 1/2 quart of oil, thought it was worse. I'm gonna do a compression test this weekend and then rip the head off. With any luck you'll be right and I'll just have to change the head gasket..........................................

 

[TurboTA3.8]

Originally posted by trading t/a
You may be correct Razor. I pulled the breather off and oil fill cap and had some serious air coming outta there. That tells me I still have compression but it's leaking past the head. I only lost about 1/2 quart of oil, thought it was worse. I'm gonna do a compression test this weekend and then rip the head off. With any luck you'll be right and I'll just have to change the head gasket..........................................

hey do you work for pse&g and know pete franco im the guy that built his car

george

 

[trading t/a]

I know Pete ! He invited me up a few times to check out the local scene in NY. From what he tells me you must be good, sounds like he has a good running combo there. When he told me his setup I definately thought his injecotrs were a little small for what he has on there(won't discuss his combo over the web).

Just talked to him yesterday, told him hat happened. I'm a little pissed to say the least. I don't care breaking something, but at least let it break while performing. The car was basically idling then entered back into the right lane and pop. No boost before that, just normal driving.

I'm gonna do a compression test this weekend and see what I get. I thought I had a lot more oil spewing everywhere than I did. I guess it was just the pressure pushing the oil out of the breather. I blew a piston on a 350(deep water) and there was all kinds of knocking and pinging going on. She doesn't knock,ping or lose oil(unless revved) just runs really rough now.

Well at least I can accomplish two things now. Add the injectors and fix the engine at the same time. That's if Turbo BoB can get my chip back to ramchargers and then to me in time before i start ripping it apart.

Yup! good ol' PSEG........................................(SARCASM)

 

[TurboTA3.8]

stay away from the pum gas and xylean dont work like race gas pete drives on nothing but race gas good insurance and he runs a chip from jay carter works good key to high boost is loose the stock i.c

george

 

[Razor]

Ok..i'm gonna start something here..

Whats wrong with the stock intercooler on a TTA in a drag race application.You cant get air into a bigger one becuase of our cars design.And a cold factory IC will perform like any other for an 11 second TTA...

True pump gas and xylene dont equal race gas...

Trading T/A..sometimes you detonate the motor and squeeze the gasket outward where all it needs is ..the old straw that broke the camels back..one straw didnt.it was the 2000 others.

Keep your detonation in check.Also check your head for warpage..and lemme guess you blew the number 3 cylinder..

 

[1badTTA]

Check your coil pack!!! I would have to say (from experience) that it is probably bad and caused detonation (not necessarily under high boost) that blew the crap out of a headgasket. After blowing more than my fair share of HG's I can honestly say that you have better than a 50% chance of not getting coolant in the oil when they blow. HTH

 

[trading t/a]

Without ripping it apart it does look like the #3 cylinder(good guess). Very slight oil film on the spark plug protector. Maybe my knock sensor is bad! I try not to bull**** a lot cause eventually you'll have to ask someone to throw you a line to get you outta it, but I had almost no knock at 18-20 psi on strret gas. With Xylene it wouln't knock at all(didn't try a neutral drop, but I think that's what it would take to get it to get some knock, even false knock).

I'll look into the coil pack idea. To tell you the truth though, before i switched over and sent my extender back for the reburn for 50's and put in the thrasher it idled like a sbc(dead on). I've seen a few turbo buick motors and they idled nothing like mine. With the thrasher it would cut out intermittently(maf dropout i feel). Even then there was no knock. The only time i seen knock it was 2.4* that's when i put on the electric cutout(it is set for 18 psi through the exhaust) when I punched it the first time with the cutout opened in shot to 28 psi and pulled like a raped ape(right tire hazed at highway speeds). I got out of it before it got some serious knock though.

Now here's the question. Should I fix something that isn't broken(passenger side HG)? I know you can't reuse the head bolts so do I swap both for a better head gasket on the other side. It can't be much harder than a sbc(swapped heads and cam in two days in car with a 350 TPI).

Thanx for your replies guys! I definately made the right choice buy going with the 3.8, I used to frequent the THIRDGEN>ORG board a lot and would probably get some stupid ass remarks from all the kids there. I bet the subscribers over there majority(60%) are under 23. Thanx again. She'll be fixed and meaner than ever. Took a little extra cash to fix her and get some MT streets. My luck the tq arm or tranny will be next. If that happens it's TH400 time and 3.08 or 2.77 gears.......................

 

[TNTTA]

If it were mine while I had it apart I would do the passenger side as well.Your already that far into it and it may possibly be on it's way out also. If your considering going faster as all of us want to.... now would be a good time to think about beefing up the heads-cam.Bigger valves ,port job,etc.Just make sure it is someone that knows what there doing!Good luck with it ! Wes

 

[Razor]

when I punched it the first time with the cutout opened in shot to 28 psi and pulled like a raped ape(right tire hazed at highway speeds). I got out of it before it got some serious knock though.


Um ahh..thats all it takes..Your scan master wont pickup all the knock signals..Direct scan will.I can tell you theyre close sometimes.

As far as your HG..do a compression test of all your cylinders.Please be sure before ripping it apart.If only ..lets say the number 3 blew..I'd check the head,put a new gasket,a new set of TTY bolts,and call it a day.

Inspect the cam also for a worn lobe.The number 3 exhuast is notorious..easy way to do so is while spinning the motor over,observe how much movement you have on the rocker arms.They should all travel the same distance.If a lobe is worn,that rocker wont travel like the others.

This will get you started..felpro's 9441 for HG's are ok.Some will say get the ARP head bolts..I say stick with the stock TTY stuff.

BTW, my heads have never been off my motor..the stock stuff will hold things together nicely.

 

[trading t/a]

are the stock hg still available? Don't feel right using two different hg's on the engine. I may rip both sides down and get some good hg's and arp bolts(insurance)....



Pete

 

[Razor]

I see your a bit stubborn..thats ok.

One gasket..done..

get back to racing..

Live a happy life.

Felpro and stock bolts..bada bing..call it a day.

Tear into it too far..you'll be sorry..