[bhill86]

Well for any that happened to have followed my oil pressure thread, my woes continue. I decided to start sending my oil for analysis out of curiosity so I did that for the first time this season. What itheu said was the following:

Your Pontiac has a coolant leak - we can see the antifreeze contamination in the high levels of potassium and sodium. The coolant is causing poor wear in the lower end - the high levels of lead, copper,
ar his may ustbe hariess sealer since th engine is elativel Iow mieage), Suggest inspecing thesent
cooling system and monitor for signs of bearing trouble, including low oil pressure/unusual noises. Keep runs short (<500 miles) to monitor.

I’ll post the whole report with the numbers below.

So I’m seeking advice. I replaced the bearings last June after having concerns I found in an oil filter. Those bearings old were worn prematurely though I don’t know why. I did have loss of coolant prior to the engine pull last year but attributed that to a loose hose and the issue stopped. I have noticed coolant level dropping in the reservoir a little this season and hoped it was either air or something else. Think I know what the “something else” is. My oil didn’t look suspect when I drained it.

I’m not sure where to go from here. I suppose at one extreme, pull the engine, find the leak (hopefully timing cover which I did have off when I replaced the bearings) check the bearings at least. I don’t have a ton of money to sink into this thing. Last year the bearing swap was prior to my first kid being born. Surprise! My wife is due with our second in July lol.

I guess what I’m asking is what can I reasonably get away with?

Somewhat unrelated, I have a 73 400 that I got with a parts lot I was going to sell. I decide to keep it and inspected the bottom end a bit this summer. Lots of sludge in the pan but the couple main and rod bearings I checked looked good. The worst I saw was a little bit of surface rust spots on the cam. This may be a stupid question but is that cam shot because of it? Would it eat itself or a HFT lifter or could it be ok? Part of me wants to see if the engine would run as-is after cleaning out the sludge. If so, I could drop that one in while I tend to my engine. My other plan was to slowly build the spare engine while leaving the current engine but child #2 combined with this coolant leak makes that seem unlikely.

[Formulas]

Cheap and easy re'torque the heads intake and front of the engine put some quality stop leak in it drive it a short time going easy on it then after 4 or 5 heat cycles change oil drive it enough after that to do another oil test and see what you got

[tom s]

Every engine I build gets a couple of the delco stop leak pellets as soon as it gets in a car.Tom

[steve25]

Do what Tom has posted but use only distilled water, no antifreeze.
Doing this will better allow the water that’s getting into the motor to boil off once the oil temp comes up, and water will do less harm then antifreeze.

I find that using the powered type sealer ( like the Gunk brand ) works faster (you do not have to wait for them to disolve) and it powder works just as well because it’s the same stuff as the GM pellet disc.

Also once you get the powder in run the car at idle with the cap off, then once you see that the thermostat has opened some. Slap the cap on and then take the car for a drive.

[grandam1979]

Pressure test the cooling system and see if it holds would be the first thing I would do.

[steve25]

Why do the above if he is already seeing Antifreeze in his oil ?
I mean it would be a different story if he was loosing coolant like he is, but not seeing antifreeze in his oil.

[jhein]

I just used this Bars Leaks stuff in my generator. It had a leak from one of the tubes in the core that corroded through. Put it in per the directions and the leak is sealed. I'm waiting on a new radiator to replace this one but I just wanted to keep the generator ready to run and also wanted to see if this actually worked,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002696FA2...t_details&th=1

FYI: The instructions say to use a different product for a "blown" head gasket. Not sure that really applies to your situation but just beware.

[bhill86]

Originally Posted by steve25

Do what Tom has posted but use only distilled water, no antifreeze.

Do you mean just during the initial time period that it takes the stop leak to work? I’m in NW Ohio so I could do that beginning in the spring.

[bhill86]

Thanks to the other for commenting also. So at this point, don’t worry about the bearing at this point, just monitor?

[steve25]

Just until, or if the sealing additive works, then going to a 50/50 can be done.

[grandam1979]

Originally Posted by steve25

Why do the above if he is already seeing Antifreeze in his oil ?
I mean it would be a different story if he was loosing coolant like he is, but not seeing antifreeze in his oil.

Because it could actually give you an idea of where it’s coming from if it’s making it to the oil it could easily make it to the ground especially if it’s a head gasket. I know he said it lost a little over the summer but he didn’t make it sound like he was adding any. Last it’s a rebuild that had issues before so it could possibly be cross-contamination using old parts from the rebuild. My2¢ sorry it wasn’t the advice you thought he should get.

[Sirrotica]

After years in the automotive repair field I would recommend this Bars Leaks product.





It is the original formula, made to stop leaks in boiler systems. I have seen it work in all kinds of cooling system leaks, and it is a permanant repair. Once it seals the leak it will not start leaking again. I've used it in diesel engines that are seeping through the head gaskets, and once it sealed the leak I drove the car another 75,000 miles over 4-5 years and never had any problem losing coolant again. Works with any and all anti freeze formulas, no need to drain the system before, or after treating the leak. It works in under 30 minutes, with the car just idling.

Tom is correct about the pellets, when I worked in GM dealerships, every car got 2 pellets when they were prepped for delivery. Cost versus problems made the preventative maintenance well worth the money spent. Bars Leaks sells their pellets to most major auto manufacturers, and are added to new car cooling systems to seal any minute leaks, heading off warranty claims.

[bhill86]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I’ll give one of the stop-leak products a try and send for another analysis. On a fun side note, I was pleasantly surprised with the replies here not having thought about stop-leak and assuming I’d have to pull my engine yet again. I sent my father a link to this thread to read the replies not realizing I let the cat out of the bag with kid #2 lol. My wife and I were planning to reveal that to my parents at Christmas. Oops!

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

Originally Posted by bhill86

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I’ll give one of the stop-leak products a try and send for another analysis. On a fun side note, I was pleasantly surprised with the replies here not having thought about stop-leak and assuming I’d have to pull my engine yet again. I sent my father a link to this thread to read the replies not realizing I let the cat out of the bag with kid #2 lol. My wife and I were planning to reveal that to my parents at Christmas. Oops!

Good call. I know it seems taboo and almost frowned upon to use a stop leak product, but sometimes it's better than the alternative of once again having the car off the road.

For all you know, the coolant leak can just be clearance issues due to the motor being a fresher rebuild, which GM accounted for from the factory by filling the cooling system with the stop leak tablets. Hell, it can even be from somebody who recently serviced the car such as a valley pan gasket or intake gasket swap accidentally letting some coolant drip into the lifter valley.

Good suspicion on the timing cover gasket. Not a common leak point, despite the fact that it's a weakness in Pontiac engine design. I hate that the timing cover gasket seals oil and coolant; it's almost like a second head gasket. But that's an easy fix if the stop leak doesn't work. Doubt it is the head gasket, I would think that coolant leak would be at a slightly higher pressure and you'd be able to find frank amounts of it in your oil upon inspection by now. Other than those two, there are no other areas of the engine where oil and coolant have a potential to mix other than a crack in the block or head.

Those fluids would travel both ways at the leak point - is there any oil in your coolant? Would be very easy to see if you take off the radiator cap or look in the recovery bottle.

And congrats on the bun in the oven! Funny that you revealed it to your old man in that way... he'd almost think it was intentional.

[bhill86]

He knew better lol. His phone call to me was “I just read that thread you sent me. I bet you didn’t intend on revealing you were having another baby”. Ahhhh no. I didn’t lol. Ah well. Only a few weeks earlier than planned.

By the way, nuk, to answer your question, no I haven’t noticed any oil in the coolant.

[bhill86]

Got some stop leak installed per the instructions before the holiday which leads to a question. I have less than 100 miles on this oil that’s in there. Probably far less actually. That said, with the stop leak circulated, should I change the oil that’s in there now or can I wait until the spring? The car won’t be driven between now and then.

[steve25]

So you put stop leak in but have not run the engine?

[bhill86]

No, I ran it per the instructions.

[steve25]

Well was the oil you ran it on the oil that showed signs of coolant in it, if so then you want to drain it out .

[bhill86]

No, I did an oil change in November which was sent for analysis. That’s what showed the coolant. The “new” oil as of November had less than 100 miles on it when I put in the stop leak. So I just didn’t know if I should still change this oil to fresh again or if it would be fine to leave it over the winter. Theoretically it could have a little coolant in it but I wouldn’t imagine much since it’s been less than 100 miles.

I know it’s easy enough to just drain and refill so this probably sounds like a dumb question but I have the car put away for the winter and in an unheated garage so if I can avoid it I’d like to but if I have to I can.