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2002 gtp with blown head gaskets??

sdstutz

New member
I’m new to the forum and I’m not sure how this works yet. This past weekend I bought a 2002 grandprix gtp that was said to have a blown head gasket. I had read on here that it’srare for that to happen but I’m pretty sure it’s the head gaskets. The oil doesn’tlook milky but it is blowing antifreeze out of the radiator when the cap is offand it’s also blowing a lot of water out the exhaust that has a slight smell ofantifreeze. It was leaking some oil on the trailer that appeared to haveantifreeze in it. The girl that owned it before said it happened at the end of November.I have not tore in to it yet. I’m wondering if the engine will have any damage fromthis happening?
 


Your rod bearings could go if theres coolant in the oil. I would replace the head gaskets, and intakge gaskets, flush the coolant and change the oil ASAP! then change the oil again in 500 miles to check the consistancy again. If you see any metal flakes, be prepared for an engine swap.
 
The oil on the dip stick didnt look milky and i didnt hear and knocks or ticks. Next week im going to bring it down to school with me and start working on it and see whats going on.
 
Drain the oil first and look for water. Since water is heavier..it might not show on the dipstick. It'll be in the bottom of the pan though.

If you have exhaust in the cooling system, that would be a good indicator, as well as some coolant out the exhaust.
 
i found a kit on rock auto for $700 to rebiuld it as long as the crank isnt pitted up. I figure ill pull the pan off and check the main and rod bearings with plastigage and go from there to see if ill need that rebiuld kit.
 
I feel as though youre showing the symptoms of a couple of really bad lower intake manifold gaskets and a stuck/sticking PCV valve.


It's very common at around 80k miles for the LIM gaskets to leak, this causes coolant to go both into the intake ports, (why it smells like coolant from the exhaust) and down your valley pan. Also can be why your cooling system is getting excess pressure if this happens under boost. It will also show signs of coolant in your oil since coolant will mix in the valley. Which is why if left alone, will only get worse and start giving you these problems

If they are bad enough, they will give you all of the symptoms of a blown head gasket without actually being the head gasket )provided you can do a compression / leak down test first to confirm this

Don't jump the gun and just start tearing down the engine, first take your blower and LIM off since they are going to need to be changed reguardless and see if the rubber is seperating from the plastic. It's fairly easey, and can be done in 45 mins to an hour with basic tools.

Word of advise, replace the LIM gaskets with a pair of aluminum replacements VIA GM directly, or ZZPerformance.com or any other similar sites, they are a better quality, and almost never go bad even with running higher boost levels and Be sure to be carefull when replacing the heater core elbow as they always tend to break off/fall apart

Provided that this car is completely stock, the odds are very slim that she blew a head gasket even with overheating the engine.

Also while im thinking about it, check around the ports of the LIM for pitting as the LIM gaskets if left to leak can allow coolant to cause this, and inspect the coolant "o" rings for signs of leaking as well
 
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Alright thank you very much. Ill start taking it apart next week and check that and hope i have to stop there. The car has 137000 miles on it and i got it for 1200 so I think there is room to do some work on it and stil be alrigh as far as money goes. I guess ill save all my questions for next week when im working on it so i dont drive you guys crazy.
 
i picked up my 2nd 97 coupe for 2500 and had the same issues with it and almost at 200k miles its still goin strong, although the valve springs are pretty much done (really bad valve float) i plan to freshen up the valve train soon once my olds is on the road. Good luck with it man, let us know what ya find i'll try to help as much as i can
 
Thank you. the rebiuld kit i was talking about was from DNJ on rock auto. Would that be an alright brand if it came down to that?
 
if it came down to that, I wouldnt know, im not familiar with that brand i normally stick with hastings, or clevite. Or go directly from GM

If you had a spun breaing of any kind you would know it just from listening to the engine. It honestly takes alot to spin a bearing on these motors your more than likely to chip a piston than anything else
 
Will it be obvious that the LIM is blown if thats what it ended up being? I also had some oil leaking on the ground when the engine was running that has water in it. Could this cause that as well?
 


There could be other issues as well, but i would just start by trying what I advised first since they should be removed anyway to begin engine tear down

There are alot of threded holes that go through the side of the engine that hold down various pulleys (example would be the SC idler pulley assembly, has one bolt that runs through the cooling system for the block that can leak if its backing out for some reason
 
There is a tensioner that i believe is for the s/c belt that is making some noise. When i put a screw driver at the base of the pully it seemed to be where the noise was coming from. I though it was a bad bearing in the pully but could this have something to do with what you are talking about?
 
no, the bearing is probably bad, but one of the bolts that holds the mount for the pulley blocks off coolant through the engine sometimes those bolts back out and seep coolant from that mount
 
Ill be sure to look at that as well. With the car stock would I put a smaller pully on the S/C to get more but or no?
 


you can, but with this many miles, and your presant problem, id worry about fixing the issue at hand first, then make a list of things to freshen up the motor first IE valve train, transmission, among other things, then start making a goal of what you want to get out of it before throwing performance into the mix.

These cars respond very well to mods, but you need to support those mods to make them relaible

Best bang for the buck is a 3.4 pulley, PCM, intake, headers or front powerlog, and downpipe, VS cam, with springs if you can swing it if not, springs, rods, and 1.9 rockers give you better power on a budget
 
I was just wondering. I do a lot of sitting around after school so i was just looking stuff up to see what all could be done with out putting alot of money in them. With out the car down here I got nothing to do but look stuff up on it haha
 
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