Most Likely a Blown Head Gasket

[tomtom123]

I'm sure many of you have been following Steven Monteith's thread recently, he found his issue to be a blown head gasket from cylinder 3 leading to the crank case. I am having the same issue and am fairly sure I too have a blown head gasket most likely in the same spot. I won't know until I get a break from college classes to go home for a few days so I can tear it apart which I really want to do after it warms up a bit. I did have a weekend to tear it down and replace the LIM gasket and supercharger gasket and coolant elbow on the manifold, but wasn't smart enough to go one step lower and check the head gasket... Bad mistake because now I have to tear it all back down again and hopefully I can reuse the gaskets I just put on, they were the metal fel-pro ones and I drove the car maybe 3 miles since I replaced the gaskets.
Now, I am interested in also building a bit more power so I was wondering what kinda somewhat cheap mods could be done while I have the car torn apart. Or should I even bother with doing any mods to it?
Most people will probably tell me to just leave the engine the way it is and just make it run until I can get a new engine, but I definitely have no way of swapping an engine or enough money to buy another engine =/
With that said, everyone likes to cam it and put better lifters/rockers in it and do headers. I can't afford SD Headers or anything so I can't really go that route. Right now the only thing different to the car is the ZZP 2.5" catt'd downpipe.
Just looking for ideas/opinions. I would love to cam it and maybe do lifters/rockers, drop to a 3.4 or 3.5 pulley and AL 104's and get a tune, but how much would it cost for lifters/rockers/cam/tune/pulley drop? I would like in in-car tune but I don't have a tuner or know how to go about all that. I would love to learn sometime though =o
I was thinking about doing the Overkill tune but I would hate to get that tune, then find out I have bad piston rings or a blown piston or something.. If my engine is shot, I would probably try to get a N/A 3800 and just topswap everything over and then get a tune, but again, don't really have the money for all that or ability to swap an engine =/
Just looking for ideas/opinions! Thanks everyone!

[REDCRAPGP]

Well I'm going to say this if your having a issue with the motor right now focus on fixing that and not modding just yet.. Throwing mods at a motor that's having issues is just asking for borrowed time. Take the time to pull the heads if needed and find your issue before you throw money on mods!

If you don't have enough cash for $200 headers I'm going to tell you right off the back that a cam setup is going to cost way more. Here's an idea:

Used or brand new cam $200-350ish.
If your going to cam it you better get some headers those are $200.
Reusable rocker bolts $20
Tune $200ish
Valve seals $15
LS retainers $20ish
Ls6 or 105 springs $60-$100ish
Timing chain $20-100 depending in wht chain you decide to go with
Timing chain damper $15ish
Timing cover gasket $15ish
Assembly lube a few bucks.
Oil.. You know how much that is
Then you'll want valve cover gasket sand grommets etc..

Yea it's not cheap so unless you can afford maintenance and to mod keep it somewhat stock. Not to mention if a bearish decides to go you better have the money set to the side to replace the motor. Think small mods don't try to go all out because it sounds like your not in the position financially to do so right now.. You can always mod a car down the road.

Basic 3.6 set up.. Headers or downpipe. Tune, intake and most important something to scan with.

[tomtom123]

SD Headers are $200? I was thinking they were like $600+?
So what mods would get me to like 250whp? And yeah, I wasn't going to cam it or anything unless the pistons and rings were all fine and the heads weren't damaged =]

[REDCRAPGP]

What rock you been under lol

http://m.ebay.com/itm/190783013604?nav=SEARCH&sbk=1

Well close enough to $200 but keep in mind you'll want better clamps, o2 extension, figure out if your going to throw on a cat or not then if you want to replace the flex or not etc etc. Do your homework there's a few things you'll want to change.

[tomtom123]

I guess I've been under the "don't bother modding, no money" rock.. lol I just thought I saw on either some site or on here someone talking about SD Headers being around $600+ =P
I'd hate to replace my Downpipe already =P but if I did go the header route, I'd probably not cat it again. Living in Michigan and all, no need really to have a cat unless I have to go to a different state for a summer job or something =/
if I was to drop down to like a 3.5 or 3.4 pulley, do I need to do more exhaust mods? I thought you could get away with a 3.5 and a downpipe and not have to worry too much about too much else unless you were still getting knock? I mean I could be wrong, I am just going by memory of what I read after I got my GTP

[sseilmnop]

Head gasket issues are rare. I'm not sure I've heard of many stock motors having a head gasket failure, lots of people have replaced them but not sure it was a problem. I would have recommend that you not change head gaskets when you did the LIM. Sure you have good vacuum hoses? Did you flex them and check for cracks? What are your issues?

What car do you have and how many miles? I'm also not familiar with the thread you mentioned.

Speed daddy are cheap and everyone recommends them but they require a lot more work.

[tomtom123]

Head gasket issues are rare. I'm not sure I've heard of many stock motors having a head gasket failure, lots of people have replaced them but not sure it was a problem. I would have recommend that you not change head gaskets when you did the LIM. Sure you have good vacuum hoses? Did you flex them and check for cracks? What are your issues?

What car do you have and how many miles? I'm also not familiar with the thread you mentioned.

Speed daddy are cheap and everyone recommends them but they require a lot more work.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/threa...-Blown-gaskets
1999 Grand Prix GTP roughly 194,000 miles
If you go to like page 3 I think it is, he posted up some pics of his block. You can see the 3 pistons and the head gasket going from cylinder 3 up to the crank case was gone. That's what we think is up with my car. A lot of the problems he describes in the rest of his post is what I'm experiencing. Lots of crank case pressure, pushing up the oil dipstick. I replaced the PCV Valve, the vacuum hoses are fine. I've checked them a few times, even carb sprayed them and had no jump in RPM's or anything. Also, oil in the cylinders. Before I replaced the supercharger gasket and LIM gasket I was having oil in all 6 cylinders, but mainly in the front 3 cylinders. Cylinder 3 was the one giving me the most misfires which I assume was from the liquid in the cylinder. I replaced the spark plugs to get the car home so I could start tearing it apart thinking I just had bad gaskets so I replaced the LIM and supercharger gaskets and put it back together and had the same issues so the car has been parked for the past 2 weeks without being touched because I've been out of town at college.

[REDCRAPGP]

Oh the $600 SD... Long story short basically there's a thread going on about Wbody headers being reworked SDs and then selling them for $600ish.

Some guys can drop down to a 3.5 with just a downpipe, tune, intake.. But others can't. Most important thing is knock you want to have 0! So start with a 3.6 once you get a tune and see where your at. Leave the downpipe for now since you already have it. The Cataylic converter thing really only applies to the state that the vehicle is registered to.

[tomtom123]

Oh the $600 SD... Long story short basically there's a thread going on about Wbody headers being reworked SDs and then selling them for $600ish.

Some guys can drop down to a 3.5 with just a downpipe, tune, intake.. But others can't. Most important thing is knock you want to have 0! So start with a 3.6 once you get a tune and see where your at. Leave the downpipe for now since you already have it. The Cataylic converter thing really only applies to the state that the vehicle is registered to.

I don't have like an aeroforce gauge or anything, but using the Torque app, not sure how you feel about that knowing some guys don't trust the Torque app farther than they can throw their phone =P but I was reading 0 knock about 95% of the time, then every once in a while I would see a quick spike up to like 5.8° ish for like less than a second. That was with just the downpipe replacement. So I'm thinking I really aren't getting too much knock, but before I dropped a pulley size I would definitely make sure I still have 0°

[REDCRAPGP]

I don't mind the torque app for minor modding until you really start getting serious then I would recommend something more reputable like the AF but I understand money is always a factor so you should be fine with it modding it like you plan on it.

[tomtom123]

So you feel I should be okay with a 3.5 and a tune? As long as I still aren't getting any knock after I get it all fixed and everything?

[sseilmnop]

Pushing up dip stick is either head gasket or leaking boost pressure from a LIM gasket or super gasket.


If you unhook the boost bypass valve and zip tie it open. Take it for a ride, if it pushes up the dipstick it's not supercharger. It's probable the head gasket.

The PCV will not push up a dip stick.

[sseilmnop]

You can also take supercharger belt off and let pulley spin. Take it for a ride and see if it pushes dipstick up.

I've seen intercooler installs push dipsticks up because of a leak.

[tomtom123]

Well, from what you've said, ssei, my only option really left is head gasket. Since, I've already replaced the supercharger gasket and LIM gasket.

[sseilmnop]

Well, from what you've said, ssei, my only option really left is head gasket. Since, I've already replaced the supercharger gasket and LIM gasket.

Verify you LIM and supercharger gasket are good by taking belt off and going for a spin. If it pushes dipstick up it's not LIM or gasket.

[tomtom123]

Alright. I suppose that might be easier to redo those than to tear it down to the block =P
When I go home next I'll do that test.

[sseilmnop]

the hole at 7 o'clock from bypass has caused headaches for many people.

[tomtom123]

the hole just down and left of the bypass opening?

[sseilmnop]

Update photo

[tomtom123]

What issue do people run into with it?