alpinewhite

I'm sorry if this has been discussed before but I can't find my same symptoms on the "water pump" threads so here I go.

Subject is a 1983 944 NA 130k miles

Sat for 18 years. We replaced a bunch of parts. A few months ago, we got her running. She's been running fine for about 4 months now. Part of what we replaced were the timing and balance shaft belts, and all rollers. 1.5 months ago, she ran hot so we had her towed home. We took her apart to replace the water pump. At that same time, we replaced the crank seal and balance shaft seals (to fix the oil leak). We used an updated water pump with belt guide, bigger roller, new thermostat, gasket, and 2.5mm spacer.

Today, we finally completed the mods and started her. Ran fine idling. We ran her until the fans came on and upper radiator hose got hot (thermostat opened). My son took her for a spin. 100 yards after leaving the house, he went up a hill in 2nd gear. 100 feet later, he said smoke/steam came out of the tailpipe and the car was bogging. He pulled over and shut her down. I went to get him and drove the car home myself. It felt like the timing belt was off a tooth. I pulled out the timing light and saw that it's all ok. Upon arriving home, we noticed some white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. Had to shut her down as it might've bothered the neighbors 50 feet away.

I'm guessing and hoping that there was just crap inside the motor from it running hot 1.5 months ago and that it needs to be purged. I told my son to run her tomorrow for about 15 minutes or so to see if crap gets purged out.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

odonnell

Possible head gasket leak from the overheating. Hope the head isn't warped

Van

Agree - head gasket from the initial overheating.

Chances are the head's not (too) warped to just put on a fresh gasket and be done with it. Just think, you're going to be an expert at timing belts soon!

Dougs951S

agree, blown head gasket. This would be a good time to have new valve guides and seals installed and have the head decked .010".

alpinewhite

Update: We fired her up today. All looked good idling for 5 minutes or so. I checked the oil. HOLY CRAP!!! I saw milk shake. Level is about 2 quarts above full.

Gonna do a compression check now to see what it is. I'm not hopeful. I'll keep you guys posted. Thanks again.

Dougs951S

Overheating can damage the oil cooler seals too. They are easy to do an inexpensive, I'd go ahead and do them especially if the car had sat for a long time. Good chance every seal is deteriorated. Also, I'd personally change the rod bearings too. 130k miles is about when you're due to replace them anyway, and glycol in the oil will poison the bearing and kill them. They're easy to do, and it only costs ~150 dollars for the bearing set, 8 new rod nuts, some plastigauge, an oil pickup tube seal, and an oil pan gasket.

alpinewhite

If compression test turns out good, there is hope that it's only the oil cooler then. Is this correct?

Dougs951S

No, that is not the case. HG's can fail in all kinds of spectacular ways, including leaking coolant into the oil while maintaining fire ring integrity (IE: good compression). Don't take this the wrong way but honestly if I bought a car that sat for 18 years, I would expect to replace EVERYTHING on it. Do the oil cooler seals, the HG, and anything else you can touch.

To reiterate: At a minimum, you should be doing the head gasket, oil cooler seals, and rod bearings. I take it you are somewhat new to these cars. I've been wrenching on them a long time, take my advice.


One final word on the rod bearings: Its a pretty serious matter. I have pictures of my old block with a hole in it big enough for me to put my fist into. Cause was ultimately a spun rod bearing that I didn't catch before it grenaded. Literally nothing survived except for that head. Read: New block, new pistons, new rods, new oil pump, new oil pan, new oil cooler, ect ect.. you get the idea. Total cost was over 2k dollars in parts to rebuild.

How does the car look visually? I hope you didn't pay more than ~1k dollars for it...

alpinewhite

It looks decent. I bought it in 1987 with 83k miles on it. It was my daily driver until 1990. Then, it just sat in my garage beginning 1996 for 18 years because it was impractical to use when my kids were growing up. Things started breaking down because of non-use (starter, clutch hydraulics, fuel pump, RPM sensor). Now that my son is old-enough to drive, he wanted to get her running again. That's why we started slowly working on her a few years ago.

We've replaced the following:
- battery
- fuel pump/filter
- starter
- fuel pump relay
- RPM sensors
- flushed fuel injectors
- timing and balance shaft belts
- front seals
- water pump
- front rollers, idlers, tensioners
- radiator hoses
- thermostat
- headlight switch
- power window switches
- engine temp sender
- 4 tires

Anyway, I'm ordering the oil cooler seal kit (http://www.lindseyracing.com/LR/Pors...07-147-99.html) to hopefully fix the oil/water mixing issue. After that, we'll look into the rod bearings.

Thanks.

mel_t_vin

After sitting for 18 years, recommend replacing the in-tank fuel strainer at your earliest convenience.

mel_t_vin

Until you see photos of the car, this is irrelevant commentary. Sitting for 18 years, the interior is probably in better shape than most.

How do you know this car does not have:
- M990 script seats...$1000+
- M395 forged rims...$1500+
- M409 sport seats...$2000+
- M410 script sport seats...$2500+

Tiger03447

I guess that you and I are on the same page. My '83 sat in an open New Hampshire backyard for at least 10 years. I pulled the head and later the rest of the engine. The HG was cracker crumbs. The car is down to a basic shell now and almost ready to receive the new (rebuilt) Torque tube, the rear end, the gas tank, and the engine, and both suspensions . It was not a totally complete car, so many new parts had to be sourced for it. Still plugging along after 3+years...and many, many dollars later...

Van

No - you said there was coolant in the exhaust. That's a head gasket.

alpinewhite

Here are a few shots. Paint is orig Alpine White. Interior is orig and no rips.

alpinewhite

I'm not sure if it's smoke or steam. Pretty sure it was smoke because it wasn't continuous and it smelled.