Time for a short block?
On my way to get my 96 Impala SS inspected yesterday, I ran into trouble with my Lt1. I heard a loud pop, and all of the sudden I had coolant and steam spraying out from under my hood. I pulled off the road and opened the hood. My upper rad hose had blown off of the water pump! Luckily, I had a screw driver in the glove box that I could use to reinstall the upper hose. I then proceeded to finish my drive to the inspection place which was about 2 miles away. I paid close attention to my temp gauge as it continued to climb. Once it reached approximately 240 degrees, I put the car in neutral and cruised until I needed to speed up again. Doing so let the temp fluctuate between 200 and 240. After I made it to the inspection place, I pulled into the bay and the upper hose blew off again. I turned the engine off and reattached it again. I then proceeded to have the car inspected... It passed. When I was ready to leave, the temp gauge was showing 180 degrees, which should be correct as my thermostat is rated at 180. The engine started fine and idled at 750rpm, just like it normally does. I put the tranny in OD and all of the sudden, I've got a horrible metal on metal sound. Immediately, I put the car in park, the RPMs go a little higher and the noise stops. I even revved a little and no noise. I try OD again and the noise is even worse now. The guys at the shop looked under the hood while I held the brake. They said the sound was coming from the rear of the motor and sounded deep. I put it in reverse to back out of the bay and the noise was horrendous and the motor died. I also had only about 10psi of oil pressure when the motor died. I finally got it to a parking place by means of pushing it backwards with the help of the inspection guys and let it sit with the hood open for 45 minutes. I looked at the temp gauge before starting it up again and it was now showing approximately 120 degrees. It started just fine, idling great. Oil pressure was now back up to its usual 40psi, no noise, 750-800rpm. Upon putting in drive and moving two feet, the metal noise came back. I had it towed home and let her sit overnight. This morning I drained the oil, expecting to find a lot of coolant, but there wasn't any in the oil. I suppose that just about eliminates the head gasket being blown. However after inspecting the oil in my drain pan, I found a plethora of copper glitter. I think this tells me that after the motor oil got so hot that it thinned too much and my crank came into contact with its bearings, or perhaps the same scenario with the rod bearings contacting the crankshaft. Does this sound conceivable? If so, I think that I would just replace my engine with a short block kit and switch the upper half over.
Know of a good place to get a short block from?
Any thoughts?
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05-26-2007, 02:57 PM
