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Replaced LIM Car Wont Start

G

gprixster

New member
Ok heres the deal guys......

1) Car has been stuttering upon hard acceleration for months now...I drove to London the other week and when the car got really hot it just gave out I heard a clunk and the accelerator just dropped out but then would kick in for a bit then drop out again and again

2) I managed to get the car started but at high revs it would hesitate and fart like crazy especially the hotter it got

3) I pulled the throttle body off to see if it was caked but there was a ton of coolant in between the throttle body and the intake... Pontiac said it was probably the lower Intake gaskests

4) I replaced the Lower Intake Gaskets, The Supercharger Gasket and cleaned all the coolant off of both

STILL NO START!!!

5) Replaced the Crankshaft sensor due to the stuttering probloems

STILL NO START!!!!

6) Checked the spark plugs which looked like crap so I replaced them. NO START!!!

7) Pulled spark plugs to check for spark and they were just soaked with gas so i dried them off and have spark at all plugs.... Turned the engine with no plugs in to get crap out....Reinstalled plugs car sounds like its just about to start but just wont run

STILL NO START

I figured since the plugs are soaked in gas im getting fuel ANY IDEAS GUYS!!!! Im at my whitts end

Thanks in advance
 


the heads are probably toast, and overheating motor is an unhappy motor and the 3800 heads like to crack under normal operating conditions. You might as well pull the heads and check for piston damage while you're there, that clunk and loss of power you described worries me
 
Well the Temp guage was just a little past a quarter......The clunk was more or less like the feeling of something giving out like whatever was causing the sputtering originally... I couldnt see any coolant in my oil but there was a ton in the throttle body and in the UIM and even after the LIM gasket repair i still had some spitting into the TB but it has now stopped.... I took the exhaust off at the manifold and it seems to be backfiring/farting so wouldnt that mean i have decent compression? Also today I sprayed Intake cleaner into it and it ran a little bit and quit????
 


Im getting Spark and Fuel so that rules out bad fueling and coils...MAF was tested while running before LIM replace and was fine....Would TPS cause a no start??
 
Thanks for your help Bill Boost Ive tried pulling the plugs and cranking but I guess not enough...Ill try the syringe with the hose on it and try to suck it all out
 
*****UPDATE**** Still getting coolant into my TB which in turn is dropping into my EGR stove pipe. When I take the pipe off it is filled with coolant....Any ideas guys???? Im letting the plugs and holes dry out as we speak put a syringe in the holes but could not draw anything out maybe its too short???
 


Do a compression test. Its the best place to start. Did you use RTV on your LIM or anything like that? Im thinking that your LIM gasket did not seal correctly. It sounds like the car started before you did the gasket swap, so I would think it should start afterwards unless something is not sealed correctly. A compression test will tell you if crap is getting into your cylinders.
 
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K car starts now!!!!! Now I have another problem...

Whenever I start the car it runs for about 10 seconds then shuts off and it stalls right away if I touch the accelerator
 
vacuum leak most likely...or the MAF is bad...unplug the MAF and see if it runs good...if it does then your MAF is shot.
 
K so car is running now and not stalling... I took it for a spin and the thing started to overheat.....

I take it back home, pop the hood and hit the throttle and isnt coolant pouring out of the throttle screen whenever i gove it alot of throttle wtf?? where is this coolant possibly coming from the intake is suppose to suck but when i throttle it blows coolant through the tb

Now the symptoms for LIM failure that werent there when I fixed it are there????? Milky oil cap etc...I replaced the LIM with the new metal ones and the UIM gasket with a brand new gasket
 
gprixster said:
K so car is running now and not stalling... I took it for a spin and the thing started to overheat.....

I take it back home, pop the hood and hit the throttle and isnt coolant pouring out of the throttle screen whenever i gove it alot of throttle wtf?? where is this coolant possibly coming from the intake is suppose to suck but when i throttle it blows coolant through the tb

Now the symptoms for LIM failure that werent there when I fixed it are there????? Milky oil cap etc...I replaced the LIM with the new metal ones and the UIM gasket with a brand new gasket
Click to expand...


Eew, you may as well get a new motor. Lets all pray you don't neeed one anyway.
 


You're going to get coolant in your oil during a LIM swap. You don't need a new motor, just tear it back down again. You obviously didn't get something to seal, print out a walk thru and follow it to a tee. Sometimes we tend to rush because we lose patience. I have been in your shoes, just take your time. Also do atleast 3 oil changes. You didn't use etc or anything on your LIM gaskets did you? Don't drive anymore until you fix the problem.
 
Nah everything was done properly I just never tightened the TB before I fired it up so the coolant that runs under the TB must have got into the intake Stupid mistake didnt think anything of it...

So at this point all I should have to do is clean out the TB reconnect it this time and do a few oil changes and it should be fine...Am i correct??
 
Give that a try.

BTW your car sounds like it's an L36 or NA motor. When you had the UIM off did you check to ensure the EGR area of the UIM was not cracked? Changing a gasket won't fix a UIM crack.

It does sound like you've found the TB gasket leak issue though.
 
So what about the coolant in the oil? There is no way for the coolant to get in there unless you have blown head gaskets, LIM gasket failure, cracked head, or you didnt change the oil. You say everything was done properly yet youre posting having problems....none of us is perfect. Coolant leaking around the TB will just leak out or leak into the UIM and get burned up in the cylinder.
 
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