Clean oil in pistons 5 & 6

[curious buick owne]

My car was clicking so I changed the starter and solinoid...still clicking so I removed the spark plugs and turned the flywheel...oil came shooting out of two of the pistons. I think they were hydraulicly locking. The oil was clean, not milky.

I am considering replacing the engine. How much would that cost and is it worth the risk/cost?

My car = 1997 Buick LaSabre Limited, V6 3800 Series II, 102k miles. the car is not "hot rodded."

[LeSabre97mint]

Originally Posted by curious buick owne

My car was clicking so I changed the starter and solinoid...still clicking so I removed the spark plugs and turned the flywheel...oil came shooting out of two of the pistons. I think they were hydraulicly locking. The oil was clean, not milky.

I am considering replacing the engine. How much would that cost and is it worth the risk/cost?

My car = 1997 Buick LaSabre Limited, V6 3800 Series II, 102k miles. the car is not "hot rodded."

Do you have any more information as to what led up to this? Just get an oil change? When did you notice that the engine woundn't turn over? Is your oil level too high? Any smoking out of the tail pipe? These engines run well past 102,000 miles. I have 108,000 on my 97 and it's going strong. Is the oil in the cylinders the reason why you want to replace the engine? Have you heard any wierd noises latly from the engine? How long have you owned the car?

Try to answer the above questions and we'll try to help you out.

Regards

Dan

[curious buick owne]

It happened seemingly all at once. I got an oil change. Drove it about 30 miles that night and parked the car. The next morning when I was going to leave for work I noticed some oil drops on the pavement and the "Check engine" light came on when i started the car. The engine started to sound a little off so I figured that I would get a ride to work and look at it later. I had to leave for WY and came back 5 days later to see what was going on. I started the car, turned it around to access the air ride compressor. I changed the compressor and tried to start the car. It would not start, just clicked. The oil level might have been too high...I could not really tell. It seemed very high on the dip stick so I spoke with Walmart who apparently checked there video camera and claims to only have filled the car 1 time. it was not smoking (that I noticed) prior to this point.
I was thinking that there may be an issue with the seals by the rockers but I am not very good with engine internals. I have owned the car since 2002. I bought it with 50k miles on it.

Originally Posted by LeSabre97mint

Do you have any more information as to what led up to this? Just get an oil change? When did you notice that the engine woundn't turn over? Is your oil level too high? Any smoking out of the tail pipe? These engines run well past 102,000 miles. I have 108,000 on my 97 and it's going strong. Is the oil in the cylinders the reason why you want to replace the engine? Have you heard any wierd noises latly from the engine? How long have you owned the car?

Try to answer the above questions and we'll try to help you out.

Regards

Dan

[maxwedge]

Get it towed back to Walmart, sounds like they drastically overfilled the crankcase and locked up the engine, speak to someone in management there, this is serious. Of course make sure you are reading the dipstick properly, this is not difficult,

[LeSabre97mint]

Originally Posted by maxwedge

Get it towed back to Walmart, sounds like they drastically overfilled the crankcase and locked up the engine, speak to someone in management there, this is serious. Of course make sure you are reading the dipstick properly, this is not difficult,

Just to add to Maxwedge's post. New cear oil can be hard to see on the dipstick. Fyi

Dan

[HotZ28]

Are you absolutely sure that you have oil in the cylinders? Could it be coolant? Your engine may be trying to hydro lock with coolant on top of the pistons, caused by the very common upper intake failure. You may still be able to salvage the engine if you have it towed to a shop that has knowledge on this failure and can make the repairs for you.

It is very unlikely that you have enough oil in the crankcase to get past the rings and into the combustion chamber!! This would be a first for that to happen. If the oil pan was totally full, (to the top) it would leak out the seals prior to the rings. You would also have to have some extreme wear in the valve guides for that much oil to leak past the seals and guides. That wear just doesn’t happen over night!

If the intake leak is in the throttle body side, it pulls coolant into the cylinder fouling the plugs and creating a hydro lock, therefore your starter can not turn the engine over with the plugs in place. The coolant is not mixed with oil, hence the clear look and not milky looking.

Again, have it checked out by a professional before doing anything else and you might save the engine.

[93buicklesabrelmtd]

I wont trust Walmart for anything!!!
I took my car there for a oil change, they started it, then called my on the PA system to tell me that they cant do an oil change on this type of vehicle!
So I left and went somewhere else, the same day my engine developed a heavy vibration! Had it checked out buy several mechanics, each to say the same thing, something was droped in there! and its at the bottom of the enigine now. and couldnt be fixed.
But I highly suspected Walmart!!!! This was like 2 years ago.
I got a good donor after that with like 60K miles!
But now my tranny just went poop, with like 300K! YEP! 300K!
Getting a new donor this week with 65K on it.