ZandersFbody

long story short at bottom

I recently bought a 98 trans am with the motor apart and supposedly 110k ish miles(odo doesn’t work.
Owner said that it had low oil pressure and he didn’t feel like messing with it anymore
Fast forward to now, I have to motor apart and I finally get it running(No coolant flowing through motor, but everything is connected because I cannot get the coolant drain plug in)
When I originally got it I drained the oil and it was very milky/watery, so I changed it twice and had to let it sit for a week, I changed it again right after the first start up of around 1 minute of overall running. (There was some metal both times) not a lot, but enough to raise concern.)
anywho when I run the car which I don’t run It for longer then a minute sits at around 1100rpms, oil pressure flutters around 38psi sometimes get lower/higher, I’ve seen it smooth out once.

what should I be looking for here? I’m a very broke 17yo so the cheaper the solution the better.
I’m worried it’s a rod/main bearing. What should my plan of action be?


Bought car kinda taken apart, just put back together and now idles at 1100 rpms, oil pressure flutters at about 35psi and I won’t run it for more than a minute because I’m nervous. Changed oil 2 times and had water in both(I’m not putting coolant through the engine, but I did let it sit intake manifold off for 2 weeks.)
I’m scared I have a motor with spun crank/main bearings.

Che70velle

iTrader: (6)

The engine would not make 38psi with a hurt main or rod bearing. Plus, you’d hear the hurt rod bearing clanking/knocking terribly. Sounds like a vacuum leak or tune issue or a sensor issue regarding the high idle. Get the coolant plug in it, put coolant in it, and let it run long enough to throw a code. Code will tell you why it’s idling high. We can go from there.
Did you happen to cut the oil filter(s) open to check the media for debris? That’s the best tell-tale sign that you have a hurt bearing.

ZandersFbody

I unfortunately did not cut the oil filter off but I’m thinking about pulling the drain plug real quick again to check for more metal, the only reason I can’t put coolant in it is because I can’t get the drain plug to go back in and I cannot run it for extensive amounts of time without the motors start to smoke from passenger side, I don’t have any plug wire protectors on there so maybe I’m eating up the wires because it smells like plastic.
a Vaccum leak would 100% make sense because I had to put the whole top end of the motor on, I’m gonna finished doing new spark plug again, add coolant, and check for metal again and we will go from there. 😎

grinder11

iTrader: (1)

Replace the oil drain plug with a magnetic drain plug. Metal in the oil is not a good thing. As Che70Velle said, you MUST get the coolant plug installed. Also not good if the oil was milky. Can anyone in your area that may have a bit more experience offer a little help? If you still have the OEM oil sender in place, remove it and throw it as far as you can!! If the senders were human, they'd be pathological liars, lol!!!!

ZandersFbody

It had the coolant temp sensor before, but just now I finally added water into the system. Haven’t ran it much but my step dad has a very sophisticated scan tool which I’m gonna use to look at all perimeters. Before I ran the engine I checked the oil dipstick and well what do you know, water in the oil, it’s not an insane amount but not reasonable either.
You said I should install an oil drain plug with a magnet but it already has one.
After using the scan tool to see what I can see from there I’m gonna wait to run the car anymore until I can go buy new oil again. This time I will take the filter off and cut it apart to see what I can see.
Keep in mind this is a brand new oil change with less than 5 minutes of overall run time on the new oil. I will post pictures of what I find when I do this.

Old Buzzard

Don't waste your time/money on new oil until after you find out where the water in the oil is coming from.

ZandersFbody

I’ve got them on and now the car won’t start… sounds like it’s out of timing, camshaft is reading
its got 13 degrees of spark on crank and it’s getting fuel and spark…
im lost here.