Rust in my engine, please help
Rust in my engine, please help Hey guys, I'll keep this to the short / short version. For the past couple of months my car has been slowing down drastically (My friends STOCK Mach I now hands me my ***). I can't even light up the tires anymore, and my tires are pretty weak. My change oil light came on the other day (Which was strange as it's only been 3.5k miles), so I poped the hood to check it out. Well, the dip stick was CAKED w/ rust and gunk. It's so bad that when I tried to wipe it down to get a clean reading, the dip stick litterally broke apart in my hands! It's a 2000 Z w/ apprx 55k miles on her. About a year ago I noticed a small amount of rust color on the stick, so I had it purged, and that was the last I thought of it, as I bought it used. Well, this is a little worse obviously. 
Any thoughts?
Any thoughts? 
Opened up the drain plug, and ran clean oil through it until it was just as clean comming out as it was going in. Also, something I forgot to mention, when I checked my oil, besides for the rust and crap obviously, the oil was still pretty clear. Smelled strongly of Gasoline though.
The rust on the dip stick is probably from normal condensation that forms in the crank case. Usually it is removed by the PCV system during warm up. Is your sig the only mods on the car? Does the car use any oil?
Yes, the mods in my sig are the only ones. And mostly "no" about does it go thought oil. If I drive it like I stole it day in and day out it'll burn though a little, but not usually. So the PCV system could be to blame? Would all the rust and crap in there cause my performance drop also? How do I fix it, and get my car back to running strong again? Also, would I get condensation w/ the temperate weather I have here in San Diego? 70's and 80's all the time. 
I guarantee the only thing rusty in your motor is the dipstick. I've seen it before...and yes its from condensation. Check to make sure you PCV system is functioning correctly. There is physically no way for anything else in the motor to rust as long as there is oil in there. If your change oil light came on in 3500 miles, you must do lots of cold starts and drive in stop and go traffic...Cold starts aggrevate condensation issues.
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Why the hell don't you change the oil every 3K like you're supposed to?
If I'm correct, San Diego is right by the sea. Which means you're car is exposed to salty condensation more than alot of other people...Salt retains condensation, BTW...
If I'm correct, San Diego is right by the sea. Which means you're car is exposed to salty condensation more than alot of other people...Salt retains condensation, BTW...
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With the few mods that you have If my car "slowed drastically" and I had no unusal conditions, I would start with the obvious, install new plugs( I would never go 100K on the factory platinum plugs even though this is the scheduled maintainence in the owners manual), change the fuel filter at least every 30K, clean TB and perform a FI service, see if that doesn't perk it up.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,242
Likes: 0
From: Lakeland, FL
Doesn't descool have that same effect on metal? I had a leaky container of it and it got all over one of my hand and hack saws and it completely broke the metal down until it crumbled. Maybe its the air mix with it ?
Dexcool is supposed to resist corrosion. Maybe it had something to do with the moisture.
Either way I think this man needs a complete tune up and an autotap if there's any SES lights...
Either way I think this man needs a complete tune up and an autotap if there's any SES lights...
The car isn't throwing any codes at all. I change my oil every 4k miles. I used to do it every 3, but the oil was so clean, that I decided to push it another grand. The oil is still clean when I do the oil change. The plugs have been changed out on the car, they have mayby 25k miles on them. And I did the FI cleaning a few months back. .... Maybe 7 or 8 months ago. I don't know what Dexcool is. She only has 53,000 miles on it to start w/, I wouldn't think anything would be wrong w/ it my now. But in the end, it's neither here nor there. I took it to my mechanic, and he spent the better part of an afternoon on it, and is prognosis is = Blown head gasket, at least 2 rings are going out, and my manifold has a leak in it. He said the damage my go deaper than that, but he's going to have to take her all the way apart to find out how far the damage went. He's going to be re-building it for me over the next couple of weeks. He's a good mech, and I trust him, so that's what it's gonna be for now I guess. I had posted this already a few days ago, but for some reason, the post didn't take. So here it is again. Thanks for all the input. Hopefully I'll be back on the road soon. Peace. 
TECH Junkie
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,242
Likes: 0
From: Lakeland, FL
thats alot of **** to go wrong man, I would get a second opinion or at least have him explain it a little to you and also request he do a leakdown, that will tell you exactly what and where it is leaking including intake/exhaust ports, rings/pistons , or even a head gasket.
Originally Posted by MyLS1Hauls
If you had a blown head gasket, the oil should look milky. And a leak in the intake manifold? Theres no coolant going through that anyway. Two rings going out? Piston rings?
Originally Posted by Mike K.
thats alot of **** to go wrong man, I would get a second opinion or at least have him explain it a little to you and also request he do a leakdown, that will tell you exactly what and where it is leaking including intake/exhaust ports, rings/pistons , or even a head gasket.
The reason he said I had some piston rings going out, was because it seemed that I was loosing quite a bit of my compression ratio. Which, in turn would explain why my cars been slowing down so much lately. I'll let you guys know what he says tomorrow. Well, now that he's got a dip stick in it, he said it's not the head gasket like he thought, (because the oil didn't have water in it) So he's going to do a little more trouble shooting on it, and let me know.
