going, going, have I lost her yet?

[Alt space n]

Multiple problems have arisin in just a matter of days. Background: Wasn't getting any heat so I flushed out the old antifreeze which was horrible orange and filled it back up with the green stuff. Flushing consisted of multiple water flushes and some prestone radiator cleaner and more water flushes till almost all of the orange crap was gone.

About 2 weeks later: Car starts overheating like the thermostat isn't opening when it should, buy another stat and install. Replaced antifreeze lost during install, seemed like more than I had spilled.

Week after that: Car continues to overheat, temp gauge pings to the top and then drops to about 210, does this about 4-5 times then drops to 180 and runs fine.

Next day: Car starts missing like its the fad. Warms up and it fires on all cylinders like normal. Overheating issue still there.

Tonight: started car, extremely loud valvetrain clacking, exhaust smoking grey/white, smelled like gasoline, same extreme misfiring problem. Pulled oil fill cap to see some of that burnt orange dexcool residue on it. Pulled oil dipstick, appeared to be normal. Did not let car run enough for temp gauge to move above 160.


Someone please give me some sort of advise or a possible $ value this is going to cost me in the long run.

[Alt space n]

Started the car back up tonight and let it run for a while. Babied it up and down my neighborhood and everything wound up working correctly after a few passes on the road. This problem is really getting to me now.

[vroom-chirp]

i feel for ya man, i have the same exact issues, minus the clacking tho. im gonna try changing the water pump and thermo, then im gonna check my temp sensor. ill let ya know how it goes.

[vanbibber]

well if you have coolant in the oil you have at the very least a blown head gasket and possibly cracked a head. that would explain the overheating,coolant loss and smoke. im not sure why there would only be coolant residue on the cap but not on the dip stick though.

as far as the valve train clacking.. could be a few different things. things that come to mind are bent push rods and collapsed lifters. on my lt1 when i bent a few rods it made a crap load of clacking.

im just throwing that out there. i may be wrong. best thing i can tell ya is to either take to a shop or do it yourself and save some $$$$

[Alt space n]

The only thing thats is now blowing my mind is that after I let it run for a bit everything returned to normal functionality.

[camaroman1181]

cracked head maybe?? i know ive seen some heads that get small cracks in them that seal up once they get some heat in them and expand... it does sorta sound like a head gasket or cracked head problem since you are over heating, burning white smoke, and misfiring... valvetrain noise could be antifreeze mixed iht the oil thats not allowing the proper lubrication to get to your valves and let your hydraulic lifters properly prime themselves. i dunno if id be driving your car much (if at all) until you get some more answers.. you could potentially ruin your whole engine... good luck man and keep us posted...

[glen]

I would go ahead and change your oil that you can see if there is coolant in there. I f there is get new gaskets and have someone inspect your heads and block for warping and what not. My mx6 i had didn't crack a head but they were warped i just got new ones from the junkyard and a gasket kit. Never had the problem after that.

[Alt space n]

Well when I drove it today and it never "fixed" itself on the road, nor would it rev above 3k in drive. The lower intake manifold appears to be leaking coolant onto the front of my block. My cat was also clogged, so we cut that out and it helped a little but still won't go over 3k. Blowing out white smoke again. How difficult is it to teardown my heads and replace the gaskets on my own?

[vanbibber]

i think it maybe more in depth that just a cracked head now.

you might have killed it.

[camaroman1181]

yeah.. you should probably stop driving it... with all hte issues you are having. if htere is antifreeze in the oil, you could easily spin a bearing or something of that nature from the lack of proper lubrication in your engine. Can you do a compression test? if so, do that and post results... that might help us figure out whats wrong..

[$*Blake*$]

i had the same problem kinda. the car would run fine then when it got up to about 210 it would run really bad as if misfiring and then when you turn the car off and back on it would run fine for awhile. i couldnt fingure it out after replacing water pump and thermo so i took it to a few places. no one knew. asked a dealership they said it was a blown head gasket. one of the tech knew exactley what it was. my fuel pump was running to lean or to rich i forgot. i dont know to much about cars but dont try to tell me that wasnt what was causing it because it was fixed after that was replaced. so go ask them to test it and find out i guess. srry i know that problem left me riding in my friends mustang for 2 weeks

[$*Blake*$]

"My cat was also clogged, so we cut that out and it helped a little but still won't go over 3k."

i forgot to tell you mine was to i had to replace it.

does it not go over 3k when it starts to feel like its misfiring and dieing? cuz mine wouldnt got over 2k. i really think its the fuel pump like mine cuz it sounds exactly the same

[Alt space n]

When its in gear it won't go over 3k, when it's idling and feels like its dying it'll rev over 3k. I'm not all too worried about it being winter and I have a company van to get around in if need be. Its just quite saddening now that the car isn't sitting because of winter, but sitting because now I can't find a mechanic that I "trust" enough to diagnose and work on it.

[Alt space n]

UPDATE: Took the car to F-Body Centeral, here in MD and they took a look at my motor for me. They're sending my heads to a machine shop to be reworked and I had 3 disenegrated lifters and some other valvetrain damage. Not a happy camper with that but its got to be fixed so I started talking to Josh? at FTPP to price me a new valvetrain. Might need new heads as well, depends on what the machine shop says.

[Camaro Dom]

what exactly did the orange crap look like in the oil fill thing? i've always had a nasty looking orangish residue there, but i havent had any problems motorwise 'cept for a slight exhaust leak at the manifold. i always chaulked it up to old oil just kinda getting caked on and not getting rinsed off. this... now this makes me worry.