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96 Grand Am Blown Head or Gasket?


Kishar
12-09-2004, 10:55 AM
1st off this was my own fault. I had a long crack on the plastic part of my radiator, well I JB welded it and also used a little piece of fiberglass to seal it up. It worked great for about 2 months no more adding coolent, no more over heating.
Well, i was coming home from work and just happened to look at my temp gauge and it was almost in the red. I pulled over and put straight water in it, it's all i had at the time. Well after that, when I started the car the engine would vibrate and shake like hell for a few minutes then it would run ok. It did this for about a week.
I was on my way to my buddies house, just cruising along and the engine shut off. It wouldnt start, almost like it was out of gas. Well after a min or 2 she fired up and blew a big puff of blue smoke out the tail pipe.
The check engine light has been on for a year or 2 because it needs an oxygen sensor, well my dash lit up like a chritmas tree and my CE light was blinking. Then it started running like crap, almost like it had water in the gas. Well then it would barely stay running, after about a 1/4 mile of spitting and sputtering she finally went. I mean a HUGE amount of blueish white smoke came pouring out the back end from under the hood, it was still running so I shutter off aint tried to start it since. Its been about a month. Also where you add oil it looked like runny peanut butter just poring out and inside the head it's just plain nasty. I know this is coolent/water mixed with my oil.

Now you know the situation here are the ?'s.

Anyone know where I can get a step by step on how to change the heads or gasket?
Is it true I should just junk the car because a car dealer told me once the head or gasket blows you'll always have trouble with the car?( I had to buy a $500 dollar car the get to and from work for the time being and my estimates to get it fixed were over 1000 dollars...was he mabey just trying to make a sale?)
If i do this myself how do I know if I half to change both heads or just 1?
And also how the hell am I going to be able to clean out the inside of the engine when its got all that nasty in there.
I'll prolly get it apart and never get back together again!

Please help, Mike

P>S> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

GTP Dad
12-09-2004, 12:41 PM
You didn't say what size engine you have but I would save my money and buy a good used engine. If you have that many issues you can find a used engine far cheaper than you can repair everything that you will need to. www.carpart.com or www.cherry-auto.com will help you find an engine at a wrecking yard in your area. Also if you choose to take this route invest in a new O2 sensor at the same time.

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