I have been reading this forum for quite a while and posting a lot less due to a level of my knowledge.
After bunch of reading IH8MUD and testing I am running out of ideas, so I think it is right time to ask for some help. All the suggestions are welcome.
I have sigificant coolant loss in my 91 LC, 144K. When I write siginificant I mean 2 quarts every 200 miles ~ 1 week of driving.
Hmmm... where to start
Symptoms as described above. Found few tiny leaks on the coolant hoses' connections, installed new clamps and no more leaks. Yes, there is one more, tiny one on the heater hose that is attached to the water pump, installed new clamp, but it is still getting wet (would not called it a leak). I don't think that it would explain loosing large amounts of coolant.
Done the pressure test as described in the FSM, warmed up the engine, pumped to 17PSI, waited 10 minutes - no leaks, no pressure drop. Turned on the heating valve, same thing, no pressure drop (so it is not the heater core).
There are no leaks on my driveway also after sitting overnight.
There is some sludge buildup under my valve cover, similar to this one:
According to many posts that I have read it could be:
A. Oil cooler. Bypassed it (also heater cores), cleaned the valve cover, changed the oil - no difference - still loosing coolant and sludge is building up very fast. Oil itself is normal, no milkshake.
B. Short distance driving, but LC was driving me to and back from work recently ~20 miles trip one way.
C. Cracked head. Bought the block tester from Napa and nope. Fluid stayed blue (unless I have done something wrong).
Done the compression test:
Dry 1-180 (???), 2-6 150
Wet 1-195 2-6 165 if my memory is good.
So it looks like head gasket is good. Cylinder no.1 little bit to high
, not sure why, carbon build up? Valves were setup recently (done this for the 5th or 6th time) so they should be OK.
I should add couple more things. Plugs, cap, rotor, wires, PCV valve and a grommet were replaced recently.
Car when started cold produces nice amount of steam out of an exhaust (small cloud if outside temperature is below 40F), not sure if I can smell the coolant though. Steam is starting to coming out of an exhaust after ~20 seconds from the startup.
There is small amount of clean water dripping from the exhaust at that time also (drop, every few seconds). When outside temperature is above 60s there is very small amount of steam.
Steam will keep running out of the tail pipe for a long time when car is left idling from the startup, will disappear after short drive (3-5minutes). If I turn off the hot motor for few minutes (less than 5) steam is back. Engine was not cooled down, just turned off for couple minutes, so there should be no steam - right
I should add that my LC passed the emissions week ago with flying colors, much better than couple years ago. I assume that this is because of the fixing the timing (PO advanced it few deg), replacing plugs, wires etc.
I know it was long, sorry. I tried to describe everything the best I can.
I was thinking about
my 3FE across the country this summer, but with these issues it cannot be done. I still have 2 months to the trip, so the car can be fixed. I don't mind working on this car, however I don't want to spend my time and the money digging that deep into my car if it is not absolutely necessary.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Stuntman.
After bunch of reading IH8MUD and testing I am running out of ideas, so I think it is right time to ask for some help. All the suggestions are welcome.
I have sigificant coolant loss in my 91 LC, 144K. When I write siginificant I mean 2 quarts every 200 miles ~ 1 week of driving.
Hmmm... where to start
Symptoms as described above. Found few tiny leaks on the coolant hoses' connections, installed new clamps and no more leaks. Yes, there is one more, tiny one on the heater hose that is attached to the water pump, installed new clamp, but it is still getting wet (would not called it a leak). I don't think that it would explain loosing large amounts of coolant.
Done the pressure test as described in the FSM, warmed up the engine, pumped to 17PSI, waited 10 minutes - no leaks, no pressure drop. Turned on the heating valve, same thing, no pressure drop (so it is not the heater core).
There are no leaks on my driveway also after sitting overnight.
There is some sludge buildup under my valve cover, similar to this one:
According to many posts that I have read it could be:
A. Oil cooler. Bypassed it (also heater cores), cleaned the valve cover, changed the oil - no difference - still loosing coolant and sludge is building up very fast. Oil itself is normal, no milkshake.
B. Short distance driving, but LC was driving me to and back from work recently ~20 miles trip one way.
C. Cracked head. Bought the block tester from Napa and nope. Fluid stayed blue (unless I have done something wrong).
Done the compression test:
Dry 1-180 (???), 2-6 150
Wet 1-195 2-6 165 if my memory is good.
So it looks like head gasket is good. Cylinder no.1 little bit to high
, not sure why, carbon build up? Valves were setup recently (done this for the 5th or 6th time) so they should be OK. I should add couple more things. Plugs, cap, rotor, wires, PCV valve and a grommet were replaced recently.
Car when started cold produces nice amount of steam out of an exhaust (small cloud if outside temperature is below 40F), not sure if I can smell the coolant though. Steam is starting to coming out of an exhaust after ~20 seconds from the startup.
There is small amount of clean water dripping from the exhaust at that time also (drop, every few seconds). When outside temperature is above 60s there is very small amount of steam.
Steam will keep running out of the tail pipe for a long time when car is left idling from the startup, will disappear after short drive (3-5minutes). If I turn off the hot motor for few minutes (less than 5) steam is back. Engine was not cooled down, just turned off for couple minutes, so there should be no steam - right
I should add that my LC passed the emissions week ago with flying colors, much better than couple years ago. I assume that this is because of the fixing the timing (PO advanced it few deg), replacing plugs, wires etc.
I know it was long, sorry. I tried to describe everything the best I can.
I was thinking about
my 3FE across the country this summer, but with these issues it cannot be done. I still have 2 months to the trip, so the car can be fixed. I don't mind working on this car, however I don't want to spend my time and the money digging that deep into my car if it is not absolutely necessary.Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Stuntman.
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