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Hi,
Just to follow up on this job. I completed it about a week ago and have put on roughly 400 miles since then.
The following leaks/issues were seen during top-end deconstruction:
1) Both head gaskets (just slight on the front, substantial on the rear)
2) Solid (not soft/squishy) valve seals on cylinder 4
3) HUGE/thick Carbon build ups on the rear cylinders (lesser on the front)
4) Bad rear-main seal (taking off the cover resulted in lots of little pieces
5) Pieces of almost saran-wrap like material on the lifter guides for cylinder 3/5 (I suspect this material is what made the engine smell bad once it was hot as it had the same smell when cold…I can’t help but smell anything anomalous)The good news was that a straightedge shown no detectable warping in the heads and the cylinder walls were pristine and no scratches/marks
The PCV system all had nice looking O-rings still and the PCV valve wasn’t that old (maybe 10K). The PCV valve could have been defective accounting for the excess oil pooling on the lower manifold.
The following jobs were completed (some not related, but problems found in the meantime
1) Cleaned and polished carbon buildup for heads and cylinders
2) reseated valve-stems
3) New head, exhaust valve cover gaskets (re-used my metal intake gaskets as they were in excellent condition and no oil leaks were seen here)
4) aluminum coolant elbows added
5) new rear main gasket and oil seal
6) new flexplate (old one was warped…possibly from oil leaking onto the hot plate?)
7) new driveaxle seal and updated car to DexVI (It now shifts like a knife through butter!)
9) New hub assembly (it fell apart on me! That explains the ABS light coming on now)
10) New intake manifold and PCV valves/plenums (likely not necessary, but the stories of failing intakes have scared me even though I believe this was fixed for the 2004 model year)So far all has been good and the engine feels more solid again.
I now hear new noises/concerns that I vaguely recall hearing before, but couldn’t distinguish over the squealing of the warped flexplate. I will post these in another thread though.
I guess I will follow up with this question: Could bad valve stem seals/head gaskets lead to oil on the upper manifold? I wouldn’t think so based on the way the air flows into the cylinders, but am not sure.
Hi,
Just to follow up on this job. I completed it about a week ago and have put on roughly 400 miles since then.
The following leaks/issues were seen during top-end deconstruction:
1) Both head gaskets (just slight on the front, substantial on the rear)
2) Solid (not soft/squishy) valve seals on cylinder 4
3) HUGE/thick Carbon build ups on the rear cylinders (lesser on the front)
4) Bad rear-main seal (taking off the cover resulted in lots of little pieces
5) Pieces of almost saran-wrap like material on the lifter guides for cylinder 3/5 (I suspect this material is what made the engine smell bad once it was hot as it had the same smell when cold…I can’t help but smell anything anomalous)The good news was that a straightedge shown no detectable warping in the heads and the cylinder walls were pristine and no scratches/marks
The PCV system all had nice looking O-rings still and the PCV valve wasn’t that old (maybe 10K). The PCV valve could have been defective accounting for the excess oil pooling on the lower manifold.
The following jobs were completed (some not related, but problems found in the meantime
1) Cleaned and polished carbon buildup for heads and cylinders
2) reseated valve-stems
3) New head, exhaust valve cover gaskets (re-used my metal intake gaskets as they were in excellent condition and no oil leaks were seen here)
4) aluminum coolant elbows added
5) new rear main gasket and oil seal
6) new flexplate (old one was warped…possibly from oil leaking onto the hot plate?)
7) new driveaxle seal and updated car to DexVI (It now shifts like a knife through butter!)
9) New hub assembly (it fell apart on me! That explains the ABS light coming on now)
10) New intake manifold and PCV valves/plenums (likely not necessary, but the stories of failing intakes have scared me even though I believe this was fixed for the 2004 model year)So far all has been good and the engine feels more solid again.
I now hear new noises/concerns that I vaguely recall hearing before, but couldn’t distinguish over the squealing of the warped flexplate. I will post these in another thread though.
I guess I will follow up with this question: Could bad valve stem seals/head gaskets lead to oil on the upper manifold? I wouldn’t think so based on the way the air flows into the cylinders, but am not sure.
Thanks for the information! Now I know why CA is so picky on only dealer cats. While my inner-hippie is glad I spent the $650 for my GM Official cat…my wallet still doesn’t feel any better.
Thanks for the information! Now I know why CA is so picky on only dealer cats. While my inner-hippie is glad I spent the $650 for my GM Official cat…my wallet still doesn’t feel any better.
Hi Marco,
Essentially you’re looking for loose/shaky/wobbly parts related to the suspension. Here is Eric’s video where he goes through the steps he uses to try to isolate a suspension noise.
One thing to keep an eye out for is cracked/worn boots as this can get dirt in the joints. I won’t say the brakes aren’t the problem, I’ve just never encountered knocking directly from the brakes. I have, however, had issues with suspension that were only noticed during braking (I guess due to the forward stress of the car?)
Good luck
Hi Marco,
Essentially you’re looking for loose/shaky/wobbly parts related to the suspension. Here is Eric’s video where he goes through the steps he uses to try to isolate a suspension noise.
One thing to keep an eye out for is cracked/worn boots as this can get dirt in the joints. I won’t say the brakes aren’t the problem, I’ve just never encountered knocking directly from the brakes. I have, however, had issues with suspension that were only noticed during braking (I guess due to the forward stress of the car?)
Good luck
Update: Finally had a few hours to begin removing the wires/fuel rail/intake. I feel this is too much oil on the manifold and am suspecting a leak from somewhere. I am going to replace the intake manifold gaskets and PCV assembly. What else should I be looking at?
Update: Finally had a few hours to begin removing the wires/fuel rail/intake. I feel this is too much oil on the manifold and am suspecting a leak from somewhere. I am going to replace the intake manifold gaskets and PCV assembly. What else should I be looking at?
Can you raise the vehicle and shake/hit the tire/suspension components to rule out CV, steering linkage, anti-sway bar, etc.
How do your brakes feel when pressing them? Are the spongy or solid? Are your brakes ABS? Maybe the actuator is going bad if equipped. More information is needed
Can you raise the vehicle and shake/hit the tire/suspension components to rule out CV, steering linkage, anti-sway bar, etc.
How do your brakes feel when pressing them? Are the spongy or solid? Are your brakes ABS? Maybe the actuator is going bad if equipped. More information is needed
Not sure on the type of fuel pump; on my moms Chrysler 300M, it had excellent fuel pressure, but would quickly lose the pressure when off. The leak was a bad return on the pump, nothing in the engine side. But like you said, you smell fuel as well; I didn’t.
Not sure on the type of fuel pump; on my moms Chrysler 300M, it had excellent fuel pressure, but would quickly lose the pressure when off. The leak was a bad return on the pump, nothing in the engine side. But like you said, you smell fuel as well; I didn’t.
Scanned through your videos! Fantastic. I will definitely use this as a guide when I get the nerve to rebuild my 4T65E. It had been rebuilt once, but has started slipping again.
Favorited!
Scanned through your videos! Fantastic. I will definitely use this as a guide when I get the nerve to rebuild my 4T65E. It had been rebuilt once, but has started slipping again.
Favorited!
I agree with the above about worn out rubber. My wifes Impala had dried out bushings and was loaded with rust (thanks Indiana). I found it cheaper and easier to replace the entire A-arm as it already had a ball joint, and pressed in bushings (I purchased most of my stuff from AdvanceAuto and RockAuto.com; I’m not advertising for them, just mentioning they have a lot of parts online that others don’t seem to carry)
For our 91 Suburban, I did press in the front bushings for the leaf-springs, but for the rear I used polyurethane bushings. I plan on using polyurethane for everything now as they were a huge time saver and the ride was just as comfortable (it is a suburban though).
In my experience, once some of the suspension starts failing, the rest isn’t usually far behind. Unless this is going to be a beater car it may be easier to replace all the front (then the back).
