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T-bird is my nemesis

2K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  nall_one 
#1 ·
90 tbird 3.8
Spent tthe last couple of weeks of spare time replacing front end parts
in this car(rotors,pads,upper arm w/ball joint drivers side,hubs)
Tuned up with cap rotor plugs.
Changed driver side hub twice because, the first" Dynapak" hub started growling and making noise after a week of driving while turning. Replaced with a North American made SKF Hub.
Took it for a test drive for 10min's and it turned fine with no noise. As I was returning home the car started to sputter.
Limped it home and into the garage. Shut it off and said to my wife, "am I under a black cloud"
Lifted hood, the coolant overflow bottle was full, upper and lower rad. hoses weren't hot, periiodic burrbling in the overflow tank, but nothing leaking from underneath.
Checked the dipstick for coolant and milkshake consistinecy but both negative. After about 15 min's tried starting it but just got a click. The starter is10 months old,
I'm at my wits end and am becoming discouraged in my efforts to rehabilitate this vehicle.
Seized water pump, stuck thermostat, or the dreaded head gasket major failure or something else. What do you guys think, cut bait and run or keep sinking time and money into this car.

145,000 kilometers, 20+ years old

any and all replys appreciated.
 
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#8 ·
Bad news

After sleeping on it and reviewing your posts,I decided to remove plugs on drivers side to relieve compression .
Tried turning crank with breaker bar.Needed a pipe extension to get it moving.
turned over with starter for couple of secs and it seized again.
I think my worst fears are realized.
Yesterday,While test driving to check out front steering parts(which performed excellently)
My thermostat remained closed as it heated up,causing the coolant trapped in the engine to become rather hot and making engine run horribly.Head gaskets let go and coolant leaked into cylinders.When I shut her down it caused the motor to become somewhat hydrolocked.
Thus non start(click situation).
I won't be changing a thermostat now as Ive got a bigger problem than that.

Any and all replies and comments appreciated
 
#10 ·
umm hate to say it but probably time for that old soldier to go to the scrapyard, and time to grab a volvo s70 t5 or d5. if you do pull the plugs you may clear the cylinders of coolant but could have bent connecting rod/s...at that point its really not worth it.
 
#11 ·
bleh, mill the heads, slap some gaskets on their, and put her back together. my old 90 i got for my highschool car had a blown head for like 4 months, the guy drove her around the whole time missfiring and sludging the oil. we swapped those gaskets, scooped out the white cake icing and ran some syn oil for a few changes, still going without a knock 20k later :) if it wernt for the headgaskets, those motors would be rock solid little buggers
 
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