I've been maintaining my Aunt's 84 Cutlass Calais since 1996. She actually had a shop exchange the engine in1992 with a rebuilt short block. I never knew for sure until just recently, but I think from the numbers, that the block is an 83, (25506397) and the heads are 86-87, (25518445). Unfortunately when the lower radiator hose sprung a leak and boiled over, a few weeks ago, she just kept on driving, another 3-5 (city) miles. I went and added water, followed her home the last 2 miles, and changed the LRH the next day. She didn't drive anywhere that week, until the following Sunday. She made her usual 17 mile roundabout (stop n go through city streets) trip to see my mom and they drove to several stores locally. It was when she left that evening (5:45 and 102) That she called to say her car was making an "awful sound" and was "hard to start" (water filled cylinder?) to pull in the garage. She blew left side head gasket at #5 cyl. Also "warmed" the motor pretty good. Towed it to my house. I had the heads redone and put it all back together, along with all new gaskets, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, and belts... But I'm not out of the woods yet. I'm thinking the rings may be gone. I'm not sure though, I didn't run it/drive for more than about 10 minutes the night I finished and then one short test drive (2 miles) that next morning at an avg. of 35 mph. One other thing. I replaced the lifters (which didn't have much of a crown but were I believe "Okay") with lifters meant for a 350 Chevy. A friend assured me that these new unused lifters, he wanted to give me, were compatible. This thing smoked pretty good on the short test drive, but not really when idling (rich). Another issue during all this is that the oil sending unit is going to need replacing. I had 0 oil pressure reading at first start, but found the lower hose pushing against the oil pressure sensor's wire. The gauge then showed 30-40psi at 1500 rpm. There is now also "tapping" sound coming from the #5 cylinder which "settled down after idling the first couple minutes each of the three times I've started it.
So, I have an intermittent oil sending unit, the wrong lifters, a tapping sound at/or below #5 cylinder,... and a pretty good amount of what I think looked more like white, than blue smoke, bellowing in the rear view, the one time I test drove 8-10 minutes/2 miles.
I know I need to replace the oil press. unit. I'm going to have to pull the intake and install correct lifters. The reality of it all, is that I don't have the time or the money, (unfortunately neither does my Aunt) to have all this done at a professional repair shop. that's why I took a shot at the top end of this motor hoping... Obviously I'm not a professional mechanic. If I have to pull the motor for a full rebuild It's going to be a long difficult endeavor. Right now I'm looking for advice as to what (other) things I should do and in what order? If it has to be done- I have access to a hoist. However, I really don't want to pull heads 3 times. I won't be able to devote a large amount of time these next few weeks. I will replace the oil sending unit after work this week. Wondering if should drop the oil pan and take a look see as well? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Johnny (JD)