• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

Head gasket???Please inform meee.Locked up

PWNED

PWNED

New member
So I just picked up a 98 Regal LS with 84k. It has the 3800 motor. I bought the car knowing it had an issue. The issue being it had a head gasket leak diagnosed by someone. So I pulled the plugs today and fluid came out of the plug holes while cranking. Put a new set in and took a while for the car to start. Got it running but it was misfiring like crazy and blowing white smoke. Another thing to note the upper radiator hose collapsed while running. So I shut it off. Tried to restart and locked up the motor. So pulled the plugs again and this time it gushed coolant ike crazy out the number 3 plug hole and the others had fluid also. Now I am at a stand still. Should I even do a compression test to confirm it is indeed a head gasket? Is there any way the LIM or UIM could dump coolant in the cylinders????
 


This morning I got back to the project. This is what I found. So was it the upper that caused this mess? Or is it the upper and lower. I was shocked when I took the fuel rail off and coolant came out of #3. Did the coolant get sucked down from the upper and puddled up in the lower? I figure its not the head gasket now. It does have green coolant thow. Suppost to have Dexcool. Should I just put in green again? I heard it will sludge up if you keep going back and forth.

DSC04069sss.jpg

DSC04063ss.jpg

DSC04061ss.jpg

DSC04060sss.jpg

DSC04057ss.jpg

DSC04065ss.jpg

DSC04066ss.jpg

DSC04070ss.jpg
 
Since I was in there I decided to pull the LIM. The coolant that was ontop went down into the motor so I drained the oil. Added new then then cranked it to get the coolant out of the cylinders once again. When I took the filter off I had a milkshake. Should I even bother fixing the engine now??? The UIM keith supplied me with had a tb also but no maf. So I went to swap my maf to it but it was totally different. It almost fits but one side sticks up. Plus the one he gave me doesnt have that wall type thing in the tb. I would much rather use the one with no wall.

DSC04071sss.jpg

DSC04072sss.jpg

DSC04079sss.jpg

DSC04078sss.jpg

Off the car
DSC04077sss.jpg

DSC04076sss.jpg

Found out why the coolant light was on.
DSC04080sss.jpg
 
yep, looks like the LIM gaskets were toast. have you spun a bearing or anything yet? if there was coolant in the oil for long enough you might be SOL for the bottom end still being good.
 
I havent heard it run really. It was spuddering when it was running. No loud knocking noises thow.
 
you should be okay, buy cheap oil and filter, and a new upper intake. put it back together and let it run. need new plugs too.will be a bit of smoke out of exaust, but will be okay .( will burn out) its af left in exaust. drive car a few miles then drain cheap oil out. replace filter again and replace with good quality oil and filter then you should be okay (replace uim)
 


I got it all together. Drained the oil again. Didnt fill with coolant yet. Tried starting and it cranks but wont start. All you smell is gas. So I pulled the plugs and they are covered with what ever remains were in the cylinders and gas.


Got a new set of plugs and still wont start. THe car keeps flooding itself. I tested for spark by pulling each individual plug wire and putting a plug at the end. I had spark on all but #6. So I swapped the #6 wire to #3 and #3 to #6 on the coil. Now I have spark on #6. So I would say I may have a bad coil but that wont prevent it from starting. Is there a way to test the coil? I have a spare set from a 3400. I thought you could ohm them out? I connected a multimeter to the know bad coil and got 5.6 ohms between both terminals. Same on the spare coils that I had also. So I am stumpped. At work today I cleaned eveything up very well. I decide to remove the idle air control valve?? Top right sensor. To clean it up. Then I re installed it. Could this have aything to do with it?
DSC04077sss.jpg
 
Last edited:
Might just have to let it dry out...I flooded the piss out of mine and when I finally got it dried out a day later (after leaving the plugs out of it) put them back in after spraying them with brake clean and after a few backfires it started right up.

I'd just swap the coil pack brackets...but if you switched the wires wouldn't that signify that it might be a bad wire too? Or is that just too simple? Get new plug wires and coil packs...clean the ICM too.
 
I swapped the wires on the coil. I originally was testing for spark on #6. Had nothing. So I put on the #3 and then I got spark. Swapped back and nothing again. How do I go about cleaning the module? Where is it exactly located? Under the packs them self?
 
I've had a couple issues trying to start L36's after lockup. The cylinders likely have a ton of water in them and the second it cranks over the water grounds the plug.

Have found that a vacuum line on the end of a compressor air blow gun works wonders for getting into the cylinders. That and cranking it up a few times to try and dry it out.

On the oil...well next time you'll clean the coolant off the lim before pulling either of those two lower bolts. It's a mistake you only really make once.
 


Last night I was cranking it until it stopped. Like a time out or something. While doing that it was getting closer to start. One more thing. Is there any way the Coolant temp sesnor can affect it? As it is not hooked because it broke. Iirc didnt zzp have an issue with the wires being chafed on a car and it was turbo'd and ran like complete garbage. Once they fixed that issue it ran like a top. When I get home I will blow out the clylinders with an air gun as I was working on the car till 11 at night and didnt want to make too much noise.
 
I am, confused as to why you decided to run the car knowing it had a head gasket issue diagnosed by someone else?

Seems like you could have created some issues from running it and should have done the head gasket right off the bat. Not flaming, just what I read here.

Coolant temp sensor should have no bearing on it starting or not. Running poorly after start yes, but not initially. Oh wait, I see it is not even hooked up, not sure now if that would prevent it from starting, I doubt it though.

IAC should be clean but if it were IAC, or a dirty IAC, you should be able to keep it running by giving it gas. Throttle Position sensor would cause starting issues though.

You do not need to put Dexcool back in either.

For the flooding? Not sure?
 
Last edited:
Head gaskets are extremely rare. Coolant in the cylinder is a good change it is on most cars. But with the coolant in the upper plenum being fed into the into the combustion chamber I figured I would start there.

So I did an ohm test to the coils. Got any hwere between 5.6-5.4 on the plug side. The terminal side that connects to the module I got .7-.8. Now for the module it self. I believe it is faulty. I did an ohm test to that also. As seen in the first picture top terminal i got 260 k ohms. Terminal below that 558 k ohms. Middle set top terminal 305 k ohms. Terminal below that 558 k ohms. Now for the problem i think. As picturedlast picture. Top terminal reads 15 Mega ohms and the terminal below that reads 558 k ohms. No specs to go by but wouldnt you guys thing the mudule is defective? Due to the drastic differance on that top terminal compared to the others?
32dad393c888__1254810214000.jpg

be818ea23c34__1254810260000.jpg

b16558c290f1__1254810358000.jpg
 
toolguy said:
I am, confused as to why you decided to run the car knowing it had a head gasket issue diagnosed by someone else?
Click to expand...

Because any L36 suffering from hydrolock and being diagnosed by someone unaware of the manifold issue has probably been misdiagnosed as a head gasket.

Pat.. Please see the Regal GS post. Short version, no the ICM is fine. Our coils fire both posts at the same time. It's either both at once or bad coil.

My experience on where you are at right now is the cylinders are still wet. Pull the plugs and crank it over a ton, then blow them out with air and ensure your plugs are clean and dry.
 
Good news. I blew out the cylinders and put the plugs in. Installed a new temp sensor. Dummy me the end of the old temp sensor broke off on the harness making me think the harness was junk also. Took the piece off and connected it to the temp sensor. Good as new.The car fired right up. No lower end noises thank god. Did 2 oil changes to it today so far. So far so good.
 


Nice glad to see it worked out, im having the same issue, i was driving home last night all was fine, andit started to misfire, thinking it was just being stupid i got it home, not even 3 min. i stopped it popped the hood, went to start it up thinking it just needed time to rest and a HUGE plume of white smoke came out of the pipes, and it died out. is it the HG? or LIM Gasket? its at the shop right now and i cant affort to dump really anything into it. anything info helps,
 
That'll have nothing to do with it. Here's the issue. The EGR tube comes up from the LIM into UIM right behind the throttle body. Meanwhile the throttle body cycles coolant from the UIM through two passages in the UIM that run directly by the EGR tube. The EGR tube area of the UIM cracks over time from the many heating cycles. The crack would not be an issue except on the other side of the crack is the coolant supply to the TB. 16psi in the cooling system pushes coolant in and fills the LIM until it reaches the UIM to LIM gasket inside the manifold and coolant spills into the runners of the heads.

Our head gaskets are not prone to issues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top