Diagnosis please?

[Joe_SHO]

I'm going to be buying blue 92 next Saturday. Only $400, but the description states that "the car burns oil and blows white smoke out of it if you put your foot down." I know white smoke generally means coolant. Any guesses as to what might be the problem(s)? I want to say head gasket? Car has 206k, and I doubt it's ever had a 60k. Thanks for any responses. Just looking for some ideas before I get back home to dig in. -Joe

 

[firebat45]

Unless the body or interior is real nice, I'd pass on it. Either that or offer him $250 or something. Could definitely be a head gasket, but head gaskets don't usually go bad on their own, so what's the preceding problem that caused it?

Check all the accessories, pull the spark plug boots out and look for oil, check for oil in the overflow tank or milky looking oil on the dipstick.

I have an engine where the idler bearing came apart, the belt came off, and the water pump stopped being driven. Led to overheating which led to a blown head gasket. Overheating can cause it due to the different expansion rates of the iron block and aluminum heads.

 

[SuperHO]

excessive overheating is the only thing i've ever seen to cause head gasket failure on a SHO. it's not really something that commonly fails on it's own with these cars.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

valve seals maybe.

 

[geomarathoner]

At that asking price and with those symptoms, you should assume the engine is going to need a lot of work. What are your plans for the car? If you're gonna part it out and it's otherwise in good condition, the price is okay. But white smoke is usually coolant, all right.

 

[geomarathoner]

....another couple of quick thoughts....if it's never had a 60K then it's likely never had much else. Smoke and oil consumption could also come from a bad crank seal leak. Drips off and wind blows it back onto the cats. Ask if the white smoke come out the pipes and look for burnt oil residue on the cats/y-pipe area.

 

[kikkinasphalt]

I'm going to be buying blue 92 next Saturday. Only $400, but the description states that "the car burns oil and blows white smoke out of it if you put your foot down." I know white smoke generally means coolant. Any guesses as to what might be the problem(s)? I want to say head gasket? Car has 206k, and I doubt it's ever had a 60k. Thanks for any responses. Just looking for some ideas before I get back home to dig in. -Joe

install 3.2

problem solved

 

[Joe_SHO]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm looking for a project for when I get back from training. The body looks neglected but straight; of course, blurry cell phone pictures can be misleading. The owner claims there is no rust anywhere. My plans for the car are either to put the 5 speed in my current ATX (probably get it rebuilt first), or make this motor work, possibly bore it out to 3.2 or 3.3 (can someone remind me the site that sells pistons?)



I know the spoiler looks horrible. The owner says he has the missing door trim, just hasn't installed it for whatever reason.

 

[walser]

car does look pretty staright. rear springs/struts don't look to bad, i would say it wouldnt be to bad of a deal if your planning on a rebuild. check for rust on the bottom of the door, inside the back doors around the tire tunnel if you know what i mean, thats usually where rust is on the cars over 200k

 

[NEp8ntballer]

I predict there is rust on that car.

 

[jthod]

valve seals maybe.

I predict there is rust on that car.

^ Sounds like my two SHO's.

If it's coming out the exhaust, and it is white, them yeah probably coolant. I'd check the color before you buy. It it's blue, it could be valve seals, or worn rings. (most likly the valve seals)

 

[rubydist]

A couple of thoughts regarding the smoke. While white smoke is the sign of coolant leaking into the combustion chambers, I find that much more noticeable at low throttle when there is high vacuum wanting to pull the coolant into the cylinders rather than at wot when there is little vacuum.

Many times, the smoke from burning oil is a very light color, and that is much more likely to occur at wot than at low throttle position.

The fact that he says it burns oil and smokes, suggests to me that it is oil burning rather than coolant.

These engines are very prone to sticky rings, due to their low tension ring setup. If the previous owners were not so good at changing oil, there is a very good change that the ring lands are all carboned up and the rings are sticky. The good news is that many guys have pulled the engine apart, removed the rings, cleaned them up and put the same rings back in w/o even honing the cylinders and made the engine stop burning oil and perform like it should. With 200k+, I'm willing to bet that is the real problem.

 

[Joe_SHO]

Picked up the car. I haven't personally seen it yet, but I plan on replacing all gaskets in the motor, and possibly boring it out. For some reason sho nut performance doesn't offer 3.3L pistons for pre-1993 cars, only 3.2. Anyone know why that is?

Also, will I be ok to run pump gas with 10:1 compression?

Lastly, if overheating caused a head gasket to fail, what would be a good route to take as far as correcting any overheating problem?

Thanks for all input. -Joe

 

[93rev2sev]

I predict there is rust on that car.

indeed.

Just have a look at the bottom of the car behind the drivers fron wheel...Here's your point of reference...a rust free example...

 

[hawkeye18]

Overheating generally only happens for a few reasons; t-stat failed closed (rare), water pump failed, or all the coolant leaked out. It is hard to overheat these engines. Is the plastic strip mounted to the front crossmember of the subframe missing? That can contribute to (but not likely cause) overheating.