I think my engine is done for. :'(

[Farrar]

Cylinders 1 and 3 are leaking. The other four cylinders are not leaking.

In other news, I looked underneath the intake manifold because I saw liquid there. In this photo you can see where my previous engine hole repair is.



I mopped up some of the liquid with a papertowel. It looked like oil, but was absorbed very quickly into the papertowel, so it is quite a thin liquid.



Then I saw this puddle, which clinches it.



Joe, thanks for the link to the blog! I have bookmarked it. It looks like I will probably end up with a 3.0L engine swap. Assuming the original electronics are gone from the donor car, or they don't work, I will probably end up MegaSquirting it. (Anyone else besides me think that "MegaSquirt" sounds a little NC-17-ish?)

[jangell]

Joe, thanks for the link to the blog! I have bookmarked it. It looks like I will probably end up with a 3.0L engine swap. Assuming the original electronics are gone from the donor car, or they don't work, I will probably end up MegaSquirting it. (Anyone else besides me think that "MegaSquirt" sounds a little NC-17-ish?)

There's a short section on the MegaSquirt site where they talk about the name, and that once it got popular it was too late to change it. I get the impression they'd have preferred to go with something a bit more professional had they known.

I don't know if anyone has used the original electronics from a donor car, nor do I know if it's possible at all. One issue is that the crank sensors is on the transmission in the Eagle/Monaco, while none exists in the DeLorean normally. The 3.0L swaps seem to favor welding a missing tooth gear to the back of the main pulley so that MegaSquirt et la can read it.

Also, remember that you'll probably be spending another $1500 or so on the EFI parts (MegaSquirt, fuel lines, pressure regulator, etc), although you can probably sell some of your old parts on eBay. Probably still cheaper than buying a 2.8L, and likely more efficient as well.

-- Joe

[Josh]

sub'd

Joe knows his stuff as he is going through the same thing!

[David T]

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.

The only way to know if the motor is salvageable is to perform some diagnostic tests including oil pressure, compression, leak-down, and coolant system pressurization. Once you do that and interpret the results you may be better off replacing the motor. Especially if you don't have the knowledge or tools to repair it. Doesn't really matter automatic or 5-speed. With that much coolant in the oil you probably lost all the bearings and rings because with that much water you don't get enough lubrication. One possibility is you have a coolant leak on top of the motor and it gets into the oil through the holes in the top of the block. A better repair and fixing the coolant leaks may be enough assuming you didn't burn out your bearings and rings yet.

[DARCOM]

I would pull the motor a see what went wrong. Then rebuild it if possible. But if you want to try your luck you can try stealseal, it fixed one of my engines tell i could get around to rebuilding it.

[Farrar]

I'm going to put exhaust on it so that I can do a proper compression test by turning the key. Maybe later this week. Here's hoping.

[DMCMW Dave]

I'm going to put exhaust on it so that I can do a proper compression test by turning the key. Maybe later this week. Here's hoping.

You don't need the exhaust on it for a compression test. Just a functional starter.

[Josh]

You don't need the exhaust on it for a compression test. Just a functional starter.

x2

ive compression tested an engine while it was sitting on a pallet! you can jump the starter directly to a battery if you have everything unhooked. Not recommended but do-able.

[DMCVegas]

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.

Like this:

100_0208.jpg100_0209.jpg

[Farrar]

I realize I made a mistake on the post at the top of this page: it should say "leak test"not "compression test." My bad.

You don't need the exhaust on it for a compression test. Just a functional starter.

That sounds noisy, but OK.

Like this:

Yep, it looked pretty much like that. (I am pretty sure I had some pictures of it, but they were on the .com version of the site.) I ended up taking the oil breather/filler apart and cleaning it as best as I could. The consensus at the time was that I hadn't been running the car enough to get the engine good and hot, and the substance was caused by water condensation in the oil passages.