radiator fluid in engin ;-(

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lmaitland	radiator fluid in engin ;-(	Lead	[-]
Posts: 3 (01/20/2008 05:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Bad news, just had to have my car towed. Looks like there is radiator fluid in the engine. Yuk. It is sitting at the shop to be looked at tomorrow. I really wish I took a mechanics course. Talked to a couple of people and it sounds like a head gasket is gone. I understand that this means rebuilding my engine. Does this sound right? If the car is only worth less than $5000 if it had a good engine. What would it be worth with no engine? I'm looking at my options. There is someone in my neighbour hood is interested in buying her. I might just take him up on on it. Laurie
sdw		#1	[-]
Posts: 473 (01/20/2008 06:25 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Not that big a deal. WHat is the condition of the car? pulling the engine and doing new bearings is not that difficult, right Kevin? I would be interested in what the shop is going to quote you. If you have a garage to work in it won't be that difficult. Sean "Now the proud owner of a daily driver" Weijand Budget Blue '89 XR7
5LCougar		#2	[-]
Posts: 2356 (01/20/2008 07:55 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	1st thing first, Drain the cooling system, 2nd thing, drain the engine oil 3rd thing, replace oil filter 4th thing, add new oil and filter 5th thing run engine for a few minutes with the Rad drain OPEN, heck remove lower rad hose if you want 6th thing drain engine oil... Do that and odds are you will not NEED a engine rebuild... depending on milage and general condition of engine (how it was treated) to do the head Gaskets is a day job by a competent mechanic, and if the rest of the engine is good then it'll be good for awhile more. at 200,000kms/120,000 miles is when bearings REALLY should be of a on the fore front of concern, and the harder the car was driving or the care of the engine (oil changes) the sooner that should be a concern.. and the total bill SHOULD be below $800-1000 (new O2 sensors are a must, and might aswhile do a `tune up' at this point ) if you have someone to do it.. if they look at it in shock and confusion, then you may have issues, but these cars aren't THAT hard to work on.. "Turning seems to be a lost form." "you shouldn't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"
laurie		#3	[-]
Posts: 2 (01/22/2008 04:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Okay, they did more tests. It is the head gasket. They are opening her up to see if the cylinder has been damaged. thanks for giving me a ball park price. That will help a lot. Laurie
Brad94SC		#4	[-]
Posts: 1430 (01/25/2008 02:12 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	the total cost of my engine rebuild was $2700 for all new internals, plus some extra work on the heads. so far so good, that was three years ago and its still running fine. (except for that pesky boost leak) Brad Fedoruk - 1994 Thunderbird SC 5-Speed President of the SuperCoupe Club of Western Canada
Black Cat 90		#5	[-]
Posts: 1 (01/26/2008 06:42 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I just did mine too. Full sport tune up in there as well- $1540.
homedepot		#6	[-]
Posts: 51 (02/26/2008 02:29 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Man you guys are paying a hell of a lot of money for a rebuild on engines. With my work schedule, i just do mine at home and it takes me, with head porting/polishing/planing of the engine, and a necessary valve job, as well as boring out the cylinders just a tiny bit to get better compression. Good luck. -M OH STOP STARING ! YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT ! OFFICIAL AMBASSADOR TO THE S C C o W C ! FLYING HIGH ! -MK
5LCougar		#7	[-]
Posts: 2378 (02/26/2008 06:18 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Ahh but not everyone can do the work themselves.. Heck even thou i've been working as a Mechanic/Auto Assembler for over 12 years now.. I still ain't shure about doing a Short block.. I'll bolt the heads on, set up the valve train and the like.. but the bottom end still scares me a little :P Mind you if i built the engine i want, it'll be like $6-8,000 in parts only, Never mind Machine work and assembly... and a simple rebuild, done by a shop for my 5.0L is like $2000 give/take.. (my 289 cost me like $1600 like 12+ years ago, and only has like 700miles on since ) "Turning seems to be a lost form." "you shouldn't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"
twistin		#8	[-]
Posts: 18 (02/26/2008 07:00 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Allways install Ford head gaskets (as per notification) as they are updated to repair the weak stock gaskets.Aftermarket gaskets are not updated and can fail again. Ford tech available for repairs with T-birds Grant 778 228 7399
vtgecgrs		#9	[-]
Posts: 1136 (02/26/2008 07:28 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The MLS type gaskets are better than the stock type gaskets if you are planning to increase boost. In all my years of owning these cars (since 92) I have never had a headgasket failure. Most of the cars I picked up with the failure were usually poorly maintained examples. Changing radiator fluid is key as it becomes acidic overtime. I would never use the stock style gaskets on the sc unless it is a bone stock rebuild. and do not but a remanufactured engine as they use cheap pistons. I was shown some with cracks when I was visiting DD in Ohio. John
homedepot		#10	[-]
Posts: 54 (02/26/2008 08:36 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	12 years as a mechanic and you still cant put the engine back together?! :O whoa. . . you have all the tools right? not here to make fun of you OH STOP STARING ! YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT ! OFFICIAL AMBASSADOR TO THE S C C o W C ! FLYING HIGH ! -MK
5LCougar		#11	[-]
Posts: 2382 (02/26/2008 09:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I've done it, just don't like doing it.. ALOT of mechanics are like that.. so don't judge ones ability because they can't or don't want to do something Also i BUILD cars for a living, not REBUILD/RESTORE cars.. so almost everything i get is brand new, even engines and such And my '89 just has stock replacement Head gaskets in it.. and Torque-to-yield head bolts But then again i was redoing it to be my winter beater/Daily driver "Turning seems to be a lost form." "you shouldn't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"
vtgecgrs		#12	[-]
Posts: 1137 (02/26/2008 10:20 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I am quite sure Kevin is capable of assembling the engine but I did not see any machining equipment in his shop which is the critical part of any engine rebuild. If you do not have access to a machine shop to perform the proper machining and only hone one cylinder and then move to the next one manually I do not consider that to be a proper rebuild. I've seen alot of back yard jobs over the years, they never last and honestly the machining is one of the most critical factors in reliability.I always ask to have the engine balanced. Matching components is also important and if you are looking for reliability your best bet is to look for somebody that is familiar with the engine you need to have built. I selected Dave Dalke to build my engine based on those factors. My engine did not even need a rebuild but this way I know the componets will work well together and have a proven record for longevity even when pushed. The engine I dropped into my car for the shoot out last year was a ford reman engine with less approx 20k on the clock and it either has a cracked piston or has a bad ring as a minimum. It runs well but I have oil coming out of the dipstick tube under moderate boost. Mind you I was running 25% overdrive on the engine during the shoot out and we noticed the engine was having trouble above 4200rpm during the tune. I have about 200kms on the engine and consider it a good candidate for a rebuild down the road as a spare engine or for another car. Assembling and rebuilding an engine are two different things. John
5LCougar		#13	[-]
Posts: 2384 (02/26/2008 11:12 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	OH how i would LOVE to have Machining Equipment at work, A Milling Machine and Lathe would do me wonders... the things i can make for my cars Solid mounts for the rear subframe and the like... Also i do not believe Mike was fully knocking my Abilities.. Least i hope so.. Hence why i responded in a slightly light hearted way (or so i think i did) "Turning seems to be a lost form." "you shouldn't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"
homedepot		#14	[-]
Posts: 55 (02/27/2008 05:42 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	i was not judging your abilities at all, i was only asking and making a light comment and suggestion as to, why even with this expertise you wont rebuild the motor. Probably cause of scheduling conflicts, and time, hey. . . . maybe we can all get together and bring tools and help you out? OH STOP STARING ! YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT ! OFFICIAL AMBASSADOR TO THE S C C o W C ! FLYING HIGH ! -MK
5LCougar		#15	[-]
Posts: 2385 (02/27/2008 06:36 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yah time is the issue with me, and since i've only really rebuilt 2 engines for outside of work, a 289 and a 318/340? , the 289 was mine, but i had a shop do the bottom end/rotating assembly only, since i didn't have the Tools to do all that. the 318/340 was a freinds engine and he had everything done, but needed assembly and have yet done anymore other then 2 Air cooled 4 cylinders in my early years of working with the company i work for (Machine work was out sourced, Read above post(s) ) Like i said, i can do it, just don't want too, be it lack of time or Urge after working on cars for nearly 40-46 hours a week to work on ones own car kinda drops.. Also Living like 30+ minutes (on a good none rush hour day) away from where i can work on my own cars, suck since i can't `tinker' on them after work for like an hour a day if i felt.. Also People cry about doing Heater cores on these cars.. I find them EXTREMELY easy.. Least on a 5.0L and 4.6L cars only ONCE had i had a Hand (Thanks again Sean) and that was on the 3rd heater core job i did.. The 5spd swap on my '91 was so simple it wasn't even funny, and people once again cried (at the time i did it, now they don't really) about how `hard' it is to install the clutch pedal.. And i have my car setup up completely like a stock SC 5spd (wiring and everything.. EEC knows what's going on and everything) and the like.. even installing a SC engine is easy for me From engine and Trannyless car to a running/driving car in like 6-7 hours (including bolting the tranny to the engine before installing) Yah many may be able to do it quicker, but still impressive if you ask me At work.. you should see what i can do.. A few have seen the more `special' cars i've Built.. even took on to Bills house once to say Hi, another to a Meet/cruise (didn't do the cruise, had other places to go to show off that car ) And i have another 2 Cars coming up that'll will stretch my abilities Also it'll be cool if Brad or Bill or even Donna? can remove these Message to a new Header don't say you can't do it Either "Turning seems to be a lost form." "you shouldn't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly"

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radiator fluid in engin ;-(

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