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A buddy of mine has a cadillac with the northstar V-8 in it with 102,000 miles.
Within the last 2K miles or 60 days it has started to "use" radiator fluid. It's not leaking underneath the car and so far it has shown some weird symptoms.
It does NOT smoke white
It does NOT have any oil bubbles in the radiator fluid
it does NOT have milky motor oil
it DOES have a slight miss upon acceleration
about a gallon a week dissapears from the radiator....
naturally we think blown headgasket,warped head or cracked head. What else should we check for? he does not really have any extra income that can go to fixing this car if it is headgaskets....so we are hoping its something small.
Spark plugs were replaced along with wires 40K miles ago. Oil gets chaged every 4K miles and has never been milky.
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Im no Einstein...but I might be a Rocket Scientist !
It's probably got a blown head gasket. The early models were notorious for the headbolt threads pulling out of the block. The proper repair is a valvejob and timeserts for the block. Not a huge job, the motor has to come out from the bottom. Timesert kits are about $500.00....depending on the thread you need, I may know where there's a deal on one....
FS
__________________
'01 X 7.3 to tow my racecar...
AIS w/ sleeve
S.S. HX(removed for now)
4" MBRP
FPR shim
TransGo shift kit
Hellwig rear bar
Landyot's Radius Rods
DP Tuner-80E, Hi Idle, 60 tow
EGT, Trans temp, boost gauges
'99 E350 Snake Oil Wagon, 200+K, doesn't burn oil, lives on the bump stops & has a hard life. Runs like new.
'91 Spec Miata
All vehicles full of BG Synthetic Fluids
It is a gasket, but as stated above why did it do this????? It is not smoking white because the cat's run hot enough to keep it vapor out the exhaust. If you put your hand over the exhaust it might come back very moist?
Taking the engine out is a bear, but once out it should be a straight forward job. If it is his daily driver it has to be fixed or traded. If not park it and start working.
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1996 F-250 extended cab long box five speed. Home made Tymar, 203 Stat, 60 gal in bed fuel cell, 315/75's, no muffler, ebpv welded open 3" to 3" DP, Babies. 290K, still chugging, and still smoking when cold.
UPDATED 8/1/08 Replace so far. 1 LUK flywheel+clutch, 2 thermostats, 2 set of brakes, 1 set of calipers, 5 CPS, 3 sets of tires, 2 Transfer pumps, 1 Injector modual, 1 Computer, 2 Alt, 2 sets of batteries, 1 Water pump, 6 Belts, 1 PS hose, 2 Sets ball joints, 2 set u-joints, 2 carrier bearing, 2 Speed sensors, 1 oil pres sender, 1 temp sender, 4 sets of e-break cables, 1 front fuel tank, 2 rear fuel tanks, 2 set of glow plugs, 6 Glow plug relays, Oil galley o-rings, Turbo pedistal o-rings, EBPV o-rings, 3 sets of Injector O-rings, 1 Vac-pump, 1 new carpet.Total $$$ in repairs v/s miles driven = 3.0 cents per mile. Add fuel to that it jumps to 14.8 cents per mile over the life of the truck.
... If you put your hand over the exhaust it might come back very moist? ...
That's entirely meaningless. Every gallon of gasoline burned emerges out the tailpipe as a gallon of water.
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Douglas Campbell [drcampbell ot engineer dat kahm]
November 5, 2008: The fat lady sang. Back to actually working for a living.
1986 Isuzu P'up, 177,673.8 miles. Hella headlights, (highly recommended) DOT C-2 back end. (also recommended) R-12 air conditioner converted to R-406a. 4.1:1 rear axle converted to 3.4:1.
9/22/2007, age 21: Still running well when reluctantly sent away for reincarnation, due to body & frame rust.
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1996 F-250 extended cab long box five speed. Home made Tymar, 203 Stat, 60 gal in bed fuel cell, 315/75's, no muffler, ebpv welded open 3" to 3" DP, Babies. 290K, still chugging, and still smoking when cold.
UPDATED 8/1/08 Replace so far. 1 LUK flywheel+clutch, 2 thermostats, 2 set of brakes, 1 set of calipers, 5 CPS, 3 sets of tires, 2 Transfer pumps, 1 Injector modual, 1 Computer, 2 Alt, 2 sets of batteries, 1 Water pump, 6 Belts, 1 PS hose, 2 Sets ball joints, 2 set u-joints, 2 carrier bearing, 2 Speed sensors, 1 oil pres sender, 1 temp sender, 4 sets of e-break cables, 1 front fuel tank, 2 rear fuel tanks, 2 set of glow plugs, 6 Glow plug relays, Oil galley o-rings, Turbo pedistal o-rings, EBPV o-rings, 3 sets of Injector O-rings, 1 Vac-pump, 1 new carpet.Total $$$ in repairs v/s miles driven = 3.0 cents per mile. Add fuel to that it jumps to 14.8 cents per mile over the life of the truck.
A buddy of mine has a cadillac with the northstar V-8 in it with 102,000 miles.
Within the last 2K miles or 60 days it has started to "use" radiator fluid. It's not leaking underneath the car and so far it has shown some weird symptoms.
It does NOT smoke white
It does NOT have any oil bubbles in the radiator fluid
it does NOT have milky motor oil
it DOES have a slight miss upon acceleration
about a gallon a week dissapears from the radiator....
naturally we think blown headgasket,warped head or cracked head. What else should we check for? he does not really have any extra income that can go to fixing this car if it is headgaskets....so we are hoping its something small.
Spark plugs were replaced along with wires 40K miles ago. Oil gets chaged every 4K miles and has never been milky.
Have you pressurized the cooling system ?..
with the plugs out ,you may be able to "hear" the problem
__________________
Rick.....
97 F 350 ...Lucky 13 "Most stuff's just stuck & needs hittin with a hammer"....
Supporter/End user of ShiftSolutions THE CURE E4/4R Trans Control. Helping Cancer patients and families
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The one I did heads on only got hot when you pushed it, but when I pulled the heads, the threads on several bolts both sides were pulled out. It happens because the aluminum block was threaded without any inserts and it fatigues after many heat/cool cycles.
The whole subframe comes out the bottom pretty quickly if you have access to a lift, Mitchell on Demand's instructions are pretty good. Don't think you could get the car high enough without using a lift.
Good luck!
FS
__________________
'01 X 7.3 to tow my racecar...
AIS w/ sleeve
S.S. HX(removed for now)
4" MBRP
FPR shim
TransGo shift kit
Hellwig rear bar
Landyot's Radius Rods
DP Tuner-80E, Hi Idle, 60 tow
EGT, Trans temp, boost gauges
'99 E350 Snake Oil Wagon, 200+K, doesn't burn oil, lives on the bump stops & has a hard life. Runs like new.
'91 Spec Miata
All vehicles full of BG Synthetic Fluids
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