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FNG 05 with a problem....big problem

D

DieselDood

New member
Hey guys and gals!

Strange story on a car I may buy....

I work in a shop where we do many things but not in depth engine work (corperate says so... we want to).

It started to run poorly and then there was white smoke. The customer shut it down and had it towed in.

We could barely drive it in. 2 dead cylinders for sure. (scan tool verified 1 and 6 down)

With it running there is a VERY strong exhaust smell from under the hood. Strange. We put it up in the air and the frost plug with the block heater is BLOWN OUT of the block! The exhaust is coming out of there!

I suspect a BADLY blown head gasket. It has 141,000 miles on it, but that's young for a 3.8 NA engine!

Anyone seen this before? I think I'm going to buy it and fix it for my daily driver, but I'd rather not have to do an engine swap at home in my driveway....

Thanks!
DD
 


Oh I should add... there is no coolant in the oil, and the oil was changed 2200 miles ago and it's only down maybe 1/4 quart and still looks very clean.
 
I'd give them a dollar if the HG is blown.

Its a pretty hard thing to do. But I'm not saying it could never happen.

Its hard to say what exactly went down, maybe it was run low on coolant and overheated or something like that. Maybe the block heater plug rotted out and started dumping coolant out.

And it wouldnt suprise me if the Lower intake manifold is shot.

As for the 2 cylinders that are dead, have you checked the coils yet? And how do the spark plugs look, smashed/bent?
 
We didn't get any deeper than I mentioned above.

Once we found the Block heater frost plug hanging by the cord with the retaining fingers bent, we stopped. Exhaust out of the frost plug isn't a good thing... lol

Is the lower intake the typical GM V6 leak, or is it the replace me I'll never seal again type?
 
Typical leak on 97-05ish cars.

After GM got smart in late 05ish to 08 before they stopped production, they switch to a metal gasket instead of plastic which over time fails.

Now the metal gaskets are like 55ish bucks and will last forever pretty much.
 
Sweet. I'm hoping to pick this car up for pretty cheap and just have to tear it down and put head gaskets in it, and a new block heater. (heck I may be able to fix the heater)

I just can't remember the last time I saw a head gasket blow hard enough on a gas engine to pop a frost plug....
 


No worries.

I don't think Rogers is that far...like 20 miles one way...

I'll post for sure if I get it.

I live about 5 miles from where they have the Ricekiller meet on mondays.
 
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