I think my engine is done for. :'(

[Farrar]

I bought the car in 2007. It has never idled properly. In 2008, a pin hole in the engine valley started causing oil to leak out. I patched it with engine epoxy and drove on. Then in 2013, the engine died while hot. Happened again and again. I changed the pickup coil in the ignition distributor. 2014 came and went with no opportunity for me to fix the car. Now it's 2015 and I'm trying to put it on the road again. While removing the old headers, I had to take the oil filter off. I had sucked out the old oil, anyway, because I was going to change it, but got sidetracked so the engine has been sitting for a few weeks without oil in it. (No big deal -- the engine hasn't turned.)

And this is what I found when I took the oil filter off.



There are a few possibilities:

1. coolant leak in the engine valley has entered a pin hole and filled the crankcase.
2. cylinder liner has failed.
3. ???

What are the other possibilities?

Most of the people I have talked to so far have said it's time for a new engine -- especially since I have that pin hole on the top of the engine.

So my motto is "hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

I have never swapped out an engine before. Granted, my car is carbureted so there's not a whole lot on top of the engine, but all the same -- I have no air tools, no lift ... is this something an amateur mechanic could do? With no impact wrench or special tools? Is the fact that my car is an automatic going to make it more difficult?

Any glimmer of hope would be nice, but it looks like I am preparing for a heart transplant for #2613. Any advice on engine swaps would be appreciated -- like, maybe, where to get a functioning, compatible PRV for less than $1000...

Thanks in advance.

[Hokie]

OMG that video was so sad! I feel like someone should play 'taps...' Good luck to you man, and if I hear anything about an engine I'll let you know. Don't ever give up!

[Farrar]

Thanks, Hokie! No, I'm not giving up. Maybe this is my excuse to put an even-fire 3.0L in there...

[Doogie]

Ouch. Yea, we've seen similiar stuff. Here's one of the oil being drained. Little too much water :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXqogKyGwyc


There are a few possibilities:

1. coolant leak in the engine valley has entered a pin hole and filled the crankcase.

TRUE: But if you fix one pinhole, 3 come to the funeral, and you have to fix those, and again and again..

2. cylinder liner has failed.

POSSIBLE: Complete engine tear down and rebuild is warranted if this is the case.


What are the other possibilities?

Boy that's the million dollar question.. If you are LUCKY, it could be a failed Head gasket, allowing Oil and water to mix.

Most of the people I have talked to so far have said it's time for a new engine -- especially since I have that pin hole on the top of the engine.

So my motto is "hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

I have never swapped out an engine before. Granted, my car is carbureted so there's not a whole lot on top of the engine, but all the same -- I have no air tools, no lift ... is this something an amateur mechanic could do? With no impact wrench or special tools? Is the fact that my car is an automatic going to make it more difficult?

Sure, with help from friends, you can do the engine swap. No Air compressor tools are not a problem, but you have to have tools. Personally, I think it being an AutoMatic makes it MUCH easier (No clutch splines to line up getting it back in, no clutch lines to mess with). Being a Carbed car prolly makes it easier also (none of the K-Jet stuff to work around). If you find a "Complete Engine", you'll have to swap all the Carb stuff from the old to the replacement, or go back to stock.

Any glimmer of hope would be nice, but it looks like I am preparing for a heart transplant for #2613. Any advice on engine swaps would be appreciated -- like, maybe, where to get a functioning, compatible PRV for less than $1000...

Thanks in advance.

Glimmer of Hope: Hang onto the thought you just have a Bad Head Gasket. No engine removal required. If you are lucky lucky, you found the problem before any coolant circulating where oil is supposed to be did any damage.

Perhaps a compression test is in order first. You should be able to get a compression tester loaned from AutoZone / Napa / etc.

A compression test might show a few things. Low Cylinder compression in one or more obviously means something is wrong. (Crossed fingers: Head Gasket )

I remember that you can apply pressure from an air hose (oops, might need a compressor for this test ) into the Spark Plug holes and look for bubbles in the coolant overflow. If you get bubbles, you got troubles! (Head gasket! yea!)

But I'm not sure how to test for how coolant is getting into oil.

I'll let the better shade tree mechanics chime in here on that. Don't give up the hope! If I was close, I was definitely lend a helping hand!

Doogie

[Farrar]

I bought a compression tester back when I was having other engine problems, so fortunately, I can do that! Thanks!

[hmcelraft]

Coolant in the oil is usually an indication of a major fault. It may be repairable but complete disassembly is probably the only way to find and fix it. In my opinion the fault, with the highest probability is erosion of the block at the union of a cylinder liner and the block. It is just a simple function of dissimilar metals, time, and a harsh environment created by running and setting. Block rot.

[Farrar]

It just occurred to me that I had a peanut-butter-like substance on the underside of the oil breather a couple of years ago. I chalked it up to condensation since I had only been making short trips in the car, changed the oil, drove it 500 miles, changed the oil again, and drove on. Now I am wondering if this coolant-in-the-oil thing was actually the problem all along, and it's merely got worse while the engine sat with coolant in it.

Here's something I found on the Internet:

When an engine is designed with a coolant oil cooler it can fail allowing coolant into the engine. After the engine has been run and then shut off the cooling system will have about 15 pounds residual pressure forcing coolant into the engine oil.

Thoughts?

[davidc89]

Depending on how long you have had coolant in the oil, you may want to check the rod and main bearings. Coolant can eat away at these causing premature failure of the bearing.

[jangell]

I have never swapped out an engine before. Granted, my car is carbureted so there's not a whole lot on top of the engine, but all the same -- I have no air tools, no lift ... is this something an amateur mechanic could do? With no impact wrench or special tools? Is the fact that my car is an automatic going to make it more difficult?

I have never pulled an engine either, but wound up doing so when I found a hole in my block as I began an EFI conversion. Next weekend I'll be lifting a 3.0L engine into my car. I've been detailing my progress on my site, if it helps; I've tried to be as thorough as possible.

I also do not have a lift, nor any reasonable air tools. You really just need a way to get the car high enough that you can disconnect everything, and then an engine hoist to lift it out of the car. You can do all the bolt removal with hand tools.

I think a 2.8L PRV will probably run you at least a couple thousand dollars used, unless you can find one from a Volvo in a junkyard. I decided to do the 3.0L upgrade, and found one on eBay for $250 plus another $200 for freight shipping. But the DMC ignition/fuel components aren't compatible, so you'll need to do an aftermarket fuel/spark solution (I'm going MegaSquirt, like so many others have). The intake manifold design is intended for EFI, so I'm not sure how hard converting to a carburetor would be, should you want to go that route.

I had other unrelated issues: I discovered some holes in the frame that I needed to weld (which first involved learning to weld), and eight or so months (over the last year and a half) of just waiting for parts to arrive, waiting for USPS to find a lost box of parts (they never did), and waiting for the weather to warm up so I could to paint the welded frame patches. At this point I'm hoping to get it operational in late June or July, assuming something else doesn't come up.

Good luck!

-- Joe

[davidc89]

If you took the oil pan off and then pressurized the cooling system(with a radiator pressure tester) you might see where the leak is if it isinternal. That would test to see if your cylinder wall was leaking or possibly head gasket. That's really the only way I know how to check for internal leaks.