96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

So if the bad news with the clutch could not be bad enough, I went to start the car to make sure my rear main seal was not dripping. I had drove the car a few days ago after the rear main seal swap and found the clutch problems. Car drove decent then after a pull were I found the clutch problem it felt like a big vacuum leak behind the mass air flow. So parked the car since it was late. Went out today and checked the maf to find it was a little loose and maybe having a leak. So fixed that and went to start the car. Starter made some bad noises. So looked under to find a broken starter. So got a new starter installed it. Turn the key same thing. Broken Starter. So instead of checking before I put the new one in I go to turn the engine. Grab the 18 inch breaker bar and cant turn the motor forwards or backwards.

Car had normal oil pressure and the temps were good when I had turned the car off on the last drive. I am stumped. What should I do. I am just ready pour gas over the whole dam thing and light it on fire. I swear this car is cursed. 4.5 years of trouble.

3 pedal SS

iTrader: (1)

Pull the plugs and try turning it over. See whats in the cylinder(s) gas or water.

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

Alright bringing this thread back up. Finally had time to pull the plugs and check stuff. First off I did get the engine to move with a breaker bar. Feels very tight and hard to turn. Moved it back then got a full turnout of it. The whole time it did not feel happy. Pulled the inspection plate and the flywheel and the clutch look normal. So that should not the the problem for then locked up motor. Thought I would check since I just did the rear main seal which is now leaking AGAIN.

So pulled the plugs. #7 had some gas on it but the wire was a little loose. Number #8 was rusty like it had been in water. The other plugs either look normal or like they had water on them. Here are some shots. Order from left to right. 1,3,5,7 and second row 2,4,6,8.



Bank 1


Bank 2


So while pulling number two I had to remove the oil cap. Easy way to get the plugs out. Found this.....



.

This was not there before the 5 mile drive after the rear main seal drive. Everything was dry when the fresh Castrol oil went in. So I am thinking maybe the car blew a head gasket while on the drive and maybe hydrolocked.

Oil looks like water on the dipstick as well.



Any Ideas. I am just ready to sell the whole car cheap. Its been 4.5 years of bad luck. I know I am not pulling the motor again.

93M6Formula

Sorry for the bad luck....
That milky look in your oil fill screams headgaskets.... I bet the motor hydrolocked and that's why it wouldn't spin over.

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

Yeah what I am thinking. Oil almost looks like it did 4.5 years ago when it blew its first head gasket.

SS10Tech

Hard to read the plugs for signs of super lean conditions being as though it was not driven for long in that manner. Any chance you can do a leak down/pressure test to isolate which cylinders were the culprits?

Sucks the motor hydrolocked due to the bad headgasket.

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

Yeah it was running great up to this point. Was surprised to find this. Wideband in the car was reading 15-17 idle,12-15 driving,11.-12.6 at wot. Its the AEM wideband. Was going to rich the idle up some other than that it was great.

nitroheadz28

iTrader: (3)

Wow I feel for you man, my car has been a basket case too and this is what I'm most scared of now since I've replaced everything else

Good luck to you!

96z28_lt1

iTrader: (3)

i don't know my oil looked like that on cold winter days when id start the car but not drive it anywhere... something about condenstation and not running long enough. But since its mid summer there is a good chancce it could be a head gasket. Sucks your having all these troubles...

KW Baraka

iTrader: (7)

I feel for ya, man.

I had the EXACT same thing happen to one of my Impalas last year. I broke 3 starters in a 4 week period. Oil cap looked fine, but when I pulled the plugs, I had coolent flowing out from cylinder #2.

From my perspective......it's time to sell the car or an opportunity (excuse) to build the engine of your dreams.

Best of luck!!

KW

camar0corey

iTrader: (22)

Pull the valve covers, if the head gasket went the milky mess will be everywhere.

When my motor locked up due to fuel I knew right away, fuel poured out of the cylinders as I pulled the plugs, it was due to a faulty regulator, if you take the vacuum line off and turn the car on, if it is bad fuel will shoot out of the regulator.

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

Yeah this has not been fun. Just finished the rebuild to have the rear main leak. Car drove perfect minus that leak. Fixed the leak and now this.

Yeah I have had that happen in the winter when the car sat. But it drove in the summer. Just tired of it.

Ha this was not the engine of dreams but it is where I wanted the car. Its been bad luck on rebuilds to have failed due to cheap oil pumps,bad parts or just plain bad luck. Think I am around 10-12k in rebuilds and used engines over the years. Everyone of them has failed. This one was built with my buddy who has been building engines for years and not one of them has failed. All race engines. So we are stumped.

Pulled drivers side since it was easy. Its milky for sure.

LT11996

What head gaskets did you use?

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

Felpro 1074

ahritchie

iTrader: (1)

Ouch....I had a similar issue with my new 383 with a bad/not installed properly RMS, it leaked all over my new RAM HD clutch and killed it in short order Just curious, did the car sit a long time without running before it blew a head gasket? My old stock engine blew a head gasket within a week of getting it back on the road after it was out of commision 2-3 years. I would not blame you to sell it or LS swap it. How many miles are on it?

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

Built the motor around January. Got the engine in the car about March time. Broke it in and had the teflon rear main puke its guts. Drove it 300 miles before the leak got bad. Car sat about a month. Then drove onto a trailer while I moved back home. After than it sat 3 weeks to change the seal out. Then two days for the drive after the new rear main seal. Only 300 or so miles on the motor. Car has 158k.

cprmn14

Man thats no good.. Id just look for a low mile pull-out motor and slap it in. I feel for you, ive had nothing but bad luck with my build so far.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Something tells me there was far more wrong with the build than just the RMS. Were the crank journals line bored/honed?

96Formula6spd

iTrader: (7)

We did that a few years back with an 80k motor. Herd it run and saw no smoke. Slapped it in after putting my heads and cam in it. 600 miles later it had low oil pressure.

Yep had a very good machine shop do the work. All honed out and a nice tight fit. First rear main seal was that stupid teflon. I switch back to rubber when I changed it out. The rubber ones leak after 80k or so. But thats fine for me.

Yeah I used arp bolts and studs threw out the motor. Built it 100% right this time. Had a friend that has built engines for years. Everything was decked,honed,cleaned,etc etc. Ive already lost my *** in the car. Last night I played around since the car died in Feb of 2009. Money wise you don't want to know how much we have put in to motor rebuilds,used motors, a trans rebuild, a few clutches, and who knows what else along the way. I am really ready to cut the loss here. Even playing with the car on its last few drives I don't enjoy it anymore. Power is nice but I wish the car still had a stock engine with bolt ons.

Also budget is gone. This last rebuild was done on my parents dime kinda for a graduation gift. I have no budget to fix it or even the will to fix it. I'm done.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Teflon doesn't give out that easily unless it's installed wrong or something else is amiss. If this isn't top end related you need to take the block to another shop and have them check out the block to see if it's true. If it did hydrolock then most likely you have a rod or two that is no longer straight.