Wife may have fragged engine

[gearhead1218]

or not????

I won't get into the details but she revved it quite high on it's initial fire up a couple weeks ago.
Current symptoms, will run but won't idle. Massive WHITE smoke out right side tailpipe, good oil pressure.
Due to my frustration, I have not yet pulled the valve covers to check the valvetrain. Will do this weekend.
I just changed the water pump, t-stat, and did a flush.
What I did notice was a small crack in the intake (Edelbrock Torker) on the right front, in the water passage about mid-way between the t-stat housing and the head.
If this crack were to extend to the #2 intake port, would the coolant leak into the intake tract cause these symptoms????
Could I actually luck out here?

[jensenracing77]

yes, and i had it happen to me before. just check your oil to make sure that it did not get in the crank case. if it did you will want to take it back apart and re lube everything, especially the cam with assembly lube. if it got in the crankcase you will have to be very careful because of the possibility of a cam failure do to not being broke in yet.

[gearhead1218]

Let me clarify. It was the initial fire-up this year.

Engine has a Race Demon carb on it and since there was no choke, my hand was the fill-in choke to get it fired since it was cold that day.
After explaining to the better half to get it fired and to FEATHER the gas to keep it running, she instead floored it and held it there on the rev-limiter until my screams of horror were heard when she finally killed it.

Women...........

[jensenracing77]

i see, i was thinking a new rebuild.

[J-(Chicago)]

Originally Posted by gearhead1218

After explaining to the better half to get it fired and to FEATHER the gas to keep it running, she instead floored it and held it there on the rev-limiter until my screams of horror were heard when she finally killed it.

Women...........

Yep. I feel your pain.

[citcapp]

Ouch, that hurt to read. Hope it turns out ok

[Vinny72olds]

Tears are falling for you.

[citcapp]

If they wern't so hard to train a new wife would be in order..................Hope the other half doesn't see this

[jensenracing77]

Originally Posted by citcapp

If they wern't so hard to train a new wife would be in order..................Hope the other half doesn't see this

now that is funny

[J-(Chicago)]

Here's a good one for ya.
My girlfriend's door latch broke on her 4door 2006 ish? fraud focus.
It was the back left door. I said: "How in the hell did you break the back one? No one ever rides in this thing."
Apparently, that's where she keeps her giant hefty bag of a purse.
Anyway she was running late for work and thought I could magically "fix" it on her 5 minute rush to work.
Just a casual...OH yeah.... by the way my door might fly open today on the way to work)

I tied the door shut with the seat belt, and sent her on her way.
The next day I called her to say I'll order the part for her...... and she said "Don't bother, it fixed itself."


Hmmmm. I'm thinking:
How did it fix itself?

(While it was bouncing around tied to the seatbelt, it re-latched itself.)

She said: "I'll just put my purse on the other side and tell people not to use that door anymore."

[csstrux]

Originally Posted by J-(Chicago)

Here's a good one for ya.
My girlfriend's door latch broke on her 4door 2006 ish? fraud focus.
It was the back left door. I said: "How in the hell did you break the back one? No one ever rides in this thing."
Apparently, that's where she keeps her giant hefty bag of a purse.
Anyway she was running late for work and thought I could magically "fix" it on her 5 minute rush to work.
Just a casual...OH yeah.... by the way my door might fly open today on the way to work)

I tied the door shut with the seat belt, and sent her on her way.
The next day I called her to say I'll order the part for her...... and she said "Don't bother, it fixed itself."


Hmmmm. I'm thinking:
How did it fix itself?

(While it was bouncing around tied to the seatbelt, it re-latched itself.)

She said: "I'll just put my purse on the other side and tell people not to use that door anymore."

My wife was just as bad when we met. Did I tell you about the "cooked S10" incident in Rockford? I was too buzzed to remember I know...I'm a light weight

[gearhead1218]

Thanks for the thoughts of sympathy folks.
Now how about some thoughts on my original question.
My rev-limiter is set for 5500, so my hope is still that there is no bad damage.
I'm going to order a new Torker this weekend.

[gearheads78]

I know how you feel a couple years ago my wife had been driving "her" 98 TransAm (with a few of my parts added) around on the street. A few nights later I was at the track with it and my 6th 7300 rpm pass that night the motor came apart so bad there was pieces of piston and ring in the air cleaner box.

Anyway I know she must have done something to it since I has not able to abuse a 10sec street car all night as usual and not have to come home on a trailer.

[Allan R]

Originally Posted by gearhead1218

or not????
......Current symptoms, will run but won't idle. Massive WHITE smoke out right side tailpipe, good oil pressure.
Due to my frustration, I have not yet pulled the valve covers to check the valvetrain. Will do this weekend.
I just changed the water pump, t-stat, and did a flush.
What I did notice was a small crack in the intake (Edelbrock Torker) on the right front, in the water passage about mid-way between the t-stat housing and the head.
If this crack were to extend to the #2 intake port, would the coolant leak into the intake tract cause these symptoms????
Could I actually luck out here?

White smoke? sounds like you've good a really good possibility of coolant leak. Crack in the intake manifold? That's bad news in any language. How bad a crack? Is this a 350 or a 455? Changing the water pump and tstat shouldn't have anything to do with causing this problem. If your intake is really cracked, it could be causing the idle problem too.

Hate to think she blew the head gasket, but the possibililtys there. I would never recommend doing that on a cold engine.

[gearhead1218]

Originally Posted by Allan R

White smoke? sounds like you've good a really good possibility of coolant leak. Crack in the intake manifold? That's bad news in any language. How bad a crack? Is this a 350 or a 455? Changing the water pump and tstat shouldn't have anything to do with causing this problem. If your intake is really cracked, it could be causing the idle problem too.

Hate to think she blew the head gasket, but the possibililtys there. I would never recommend doing that on a cold engine.

This is a 455.

[gearhead1218]

So, are my eyes playing games with me or what?????
It looks as though there MIGHT be enough room to pull the intake without disturbing the distributor.
That would be the nuts. I've never pulled the distributor on an Olds and then put it back in. I've only done it once on a Ford.

[J-(Chicago)]

You don't have to remove the distributor.

[smcurro]

Originally Posted by gearhead1218

...since there was no choke, my hand was the fill-in choke to get it fired...

good thing it didn't backfire through the carb...one time my buddy was revving an engine with his face over the carb...long story short it took him quite a while to grow his eyebrows back after the hospital visit...

[citcapp]

Yes, you could be leaking coolent into the combustion chamber. Is is smoke or steam. Is there water dripping out of the exhaust pipe and does the coolent level go down when the engine is running. Also does the coolent look like it is boiling when the radiator cap is off. In other words more details on occours when the engine is running helps to determine the problem

[gearhead1218]

I've got a new intake, and all the other trinkets to go with it, on order. Should recieve it by the end of the week. I'll do the swap this weekend and check the other items suggested here.
Thank you all, and I'll keep you posted.
I've talked to Bill Trovato as well, and if the damage is more serious, he will be my builder of choice.

[gearhead1218]

OR NOT it is !!!!!

I got the new intake on and it's running good now.

But now I've got a leak in my fuel tank at the filler neck . I knew I should have replaced that tank when I had it out over the winter. I think for now I'm just going to say SCREW IT and not fill it too full for now.

Thanks to all who gave their input and thoughts on this.

[ent72olds]

I think you owe your wife an apology!

[Yellowstatue]

The problem with those flat tanks, is every time you accelerate the fuel moves rearward... something to do with equal and opposite reaction...or as Luke would say...'The Force is with you'

[gearhead1218]

Originally Posted by ent72olds

I think you owe your wife an apology!

Part of me wants to say it, but really, I never got mad at her. She knows she wasn't supposed to floor it and knows she was wrong for doing it.
The benefit was that she didn't blow it up. Although I'm thinking maybe now she's jinxed the car on me.

I'll tell you what though, I have less problems with my Mercury Cougar and it's made by the Fix-Or-Repair-Daily Company

[gearhead1218]

Originally Posted by Yellowstatue

The problem with those flat tanks, is every time you accelerate the fuel moves rearward... something to do with equal and opposite reaction...or as Luke would say...'The Force is with you'

I know, I know.
I do need to get it fixed, and will be ordering a new tank for it. But I just will keep the fuel level at around half tank so I can enjoy it a little bit.