96 Jimmy Engine trouble, Opinions!

[humveeluvr]

I am new here and now I ask for your opinions as I am desperate for answers and suggestion's, this will be a long entry sorry!

OK I bought a 96 jimmy with 280000km back in march and in June i decided to go and get an oil change at Mr. Lube, well they tell me that I should get a Engine flush as well to get rid of some of the buildup, so I tell them to go ahead and do the chemical flush. The job was completed all done!

I decided to go shopping and on my way home the engine over heated so I pulled into a gas station and discover that I am out of coolant, I go in an grab a 4 L jug of premix and poured it in still not full (how big is the reservoir) so I grab another 4 L start it up and I will not cool down, again my coolant is down I grab another jug and still not full! I now start checking everything and oh boy there is a buttery colored/textured substance in with my oil, I am told that coolant is mixing with my oil not good! This happened after driving 20km from my visit at Mr. Lube

So I tow it back to my place, my friend says that I may have blown my head gaskets and that he can replace them he has done them in his Grand AM. We discovered that with the oil drained and the plug off by pouring coolant into the rad and the engine off 30 seconds later the coolant pours right out of the oil pan! Great now I may have a cracked block!

So here is my situation I am on a tight budget as I have a newborn child and as I see it these are my only options.

1) Used engine 50000km private sale no warranty, not installed in a vehicle now! $450.00 + $200.00 to have a buddy to install plus cost of tow.
2) used engine 180000km 1 yr warranty with install $1400.00 plus cost of tow.
3) New rebuilt engine $1350.00 3 yr warranty $900.00 install free towing
4) scrap the truck and find another beater.

just to note that about two weeks before it broke down I just put 4 brand new tires and a brand new alternator not rebuilt, new heater core and a security system!

So does anyone who may have been in my shoes, have any opinions as to which route I should go? Cause I am at a loss and running out of time!

Thanks

[Rick Norwood]

If you want my vote, go with 3 or 4. I would not trust a used engine, as you never know what you are getting.

If you don't know who did the rebuild in option 3, I'd be very careful there too.

You can probably do something with the tires and the security system if you go with item 4.

Hope this helps. Good luck

[MT-2500]

Engine flush is a big NO No on a high mileage engine.

As far as coolant leaking into the oil it may just be a intake manifold gasket.

Was the engine in very good shape before the engine flush and coolant leak and how hot did you get it?

[humveeluvr]

Yeah my buddy slapped me for getting the flush. As for condition of the engine well there was now warning lights poping up while i had the truck running and it did run smooth but probibly run down a bit, when it started to overheat I pulled over it only once got into the red and that was for only about a min while I was parking!

[Rick Norwood]

MT has a very good point. Your Buddy needs to see if the gaskets are leaking before yanking the engine out. Coolant leaking into Oil pan that fast would almost have to come from a bad gasket, either the Intake manifold or a blown head gasket.

[humveeluvr]

So a paper thin gasket could cause the coolant to pour out that fast (Like pouring pop from a bottle) we thought that it must be a crack in the block for it to come out that fast. So maybe we should tear it apart to check the gaskets? while we are doing this is there anything that we should look for other signs of other problems.

Again Thanks

[Rick Norwood]

You are not dealing with paper thin gaskets. both the intake and head gaskets are thick gaskets and more than likely eaten away by the flush/Dexcool. so It would be worth your while to tear the intake manifold and/or the heads off and inspect. But before you even go that far, you might try getting a radiator pressure tester and pump up the cooling system and see if anything leaks around the Intake manifold. You won't see an internal leak this way, but I seriously think a quick teardown might just reveal the smoking gun. My 2001 S10 intake manifold gaskets literly come out in small pieces as well as eating holes into the intake manifold itself.

I have not had good luck with either used or rebuilt engines. You will be a lot better off fixing your own engine if the gaskets are the culprit.

[humveeluvr]

Originally Posted by MT-2500

Engine flush is a big NO No on a high mileage engine.

I have heard this from so many people now, why dosen't such a big company like Mr. Lube know this?

Anyways does anyone know of a good engine tear down manual for the 4.3 V6 engine I have an Haynes manual but not so detailed.

also what should I use to clean out any of the left over coolant

Thanks, you guys have given me some hope!

[Rick Norwood]

They do or should know it but they're in the business to do whatever you'll pay them to do.

One other thing you can do to rule out head gaskets is a compression test on each cylinder. You might be able to borrow or rent a compression tester from you local parts store. What you will do is remove each spark plug one at a time and put the compression tester into the spark plug hole. I would suggest you remove the coil wire so the engine doesn't start, Then Crank the engine over with the starter. Record each pressure reading on a piece of paper. You should have consistent readings from each cylinder. If one cylinder is significantly lower than the others, usually means there is a compression leak.

[MT-2500]

Originally Posted by humveeluvr

I have heard this from so many people now, why dosen't such a big company like Mr. Lube know this?

Anyways does anyone know of a good engine tear down manual for the 4.3 V6 engine I have an Haynes manual but not so detailed.

also what should I use to clean out any of the left over coolant

Thanks, you guys have given me some hope!

The fast quckie lubes are in it for the bucks not the damage they do to engine.

Motors or chilton manuals and repair CD's have engine repair info.
Most Public libarys have car repar info and some are online.
E Bay may have some factory repair manuals.

Or A All Data online repair info DIY sub.
http://www.alldata.com/products/diy/index.html

On your it may be just the intake gasket.
Remove intake without draining c coolant and look at gasket and check if coolant level is just below intake ports.
If so it is just intake.

On getting old coolant/oil out of engine drain oil and change filter and add new oil.
After engine is back together and running warm it up good and the drain oil and replace oil and oil filter again.
Good Luck

[Schrade]

Originally Posted by Rick Norwood

My 2001 S10 intake manifold gaskets literly come out in small pieces as well as eating holes into the intake manifold itself.
.

What are you meaning by this?

[Rick Norwood]

Originally Posted by cbec1999

What are you meaning by this?

It means that when the intake manifold was removed, the gaskets were broken, split, cracked, leaking, and came out in pieces. The Dexcool had eaten into the aluminum intake manifold, almost to the point of ruining the sealing surface.

Junk gaskets and Dexcool, thanx GM,

I'll bet they're wondering why their stock is in the toilet.

[humveeluvr]

Any suggestions as to who makes good quailty gaskets?

[Rick Norwood]

Originally Posted by humveeluvr

Any suggestions as to who makes good quailty gaskets?

Fel-Pro. Available at many different Auto Parts stores.

[Schrade]

Originally Posted by Rick Norwood

It means that when the intake manifold was removed, the gaskets were broken, split, cracked, leaking, and came out in pieces. The Dexcool had eaten into the aluminum intake manifold, almost to the point of ruining the sealing surface.

Junk gaskets and Dexcool, thanx GM,

I'll bet they're wondering why their stock is in the toilet.

Wow!!!

I know how bad Dex blows... but are you sure it eroded the aluminum???

That is really hard to see...