Meltdown!

[shadowpuck]

Christian - Greg in KC.....

keep us updated; let me know if there's anything I can do to help.......
so sorry to hear about that - absolutely stinks......

[tian647]

Christian - Greg in KC.....

keep us updated; let me know if there's anything I can do to help.......
so sorry to hear about that - absolutely stinks......

Thanks Greg, last Sunday is not my favorite day for sure


I've got some exploration to do under the valve cover and likely inside the oil pan to determine whether I try to bolt on new parts, or just chuck this lump and drop in a new one. I should have some opportunity this Saturday for a forensic expedition, but given how the oil filler cap smells and the expansion tank looks I am not optimistic.


Christian

[danewilson77]

Thanks Greg, last Sunday is not my favorite day for sure


I've got some exploration to do under the valve cover and likely inside the oil pan to determine whether I try to bolt on new parts, or just chuck this lump and drop in a new one. I should have some opportunity this Saturday for a forensic expedition, but given how the oil filler cap smells and the expansion tank looks I am not optimistic.


Christian

You gots white slime?

[Dek]

What a sad way to say hello to a new car. I hope you get this figured out!

[shadowpuck]

I have every confidence Christian will get to the bottom of this; one way or the other. he's been known to tinker on a car or two!

[Marcus-SanDiego]

I have every confidence Christian will get to the bottom of this; one way or the other. he's been known to tinker on a car or two!

[tian647]

Pics from the initial ZHP teardown.
Note the white goo on the neck of the reservoir

and the milky, greenish oil I drained
(the green is from the cheap-ass antifreeze sourced from Bob's Truck Stop in Nashville, IL while I waited for the rescue wagon).

The oil smelled very burnt but 7+ quarts drained out OK and the top end at least looks decent yet

although there is some charcoalized oil on the intake cam splash shield.

One thing that bothers me is all the red RTV at the back end of the valve cover gasket;
lazy-ass shade tree fix there.

Brett Anderson of Koala MotorSports mentioned some possibility of the cams seizing from overheating but I don't see any evidence this occurred, although to be honest I'm not exactly sure what I'd be looking for. I'd expect to find more baked-on oil residue around the cam journals, which fortunately isn't there.

Next step is to individually loosen and re-torque each head bolt in turn and see if the block threads hold or if they got too hot and have fatigued...I'm scared to start this step :/

My other area of concern is that while it turned over really, really easy right after the event now it cranks very hard which has me worried about the bottom end or at least the pistons and rings. I can't find much anecdotal evidence to suggest this is a common problem after overheating, so perhaps I'm just being paranoid. Thoughts?

For sure it wants a head gasket, valve cover gasket, crankcase vent valve and hoses, coolant hoses and tank, thermostat, water pump, mebbe a radiator too. I'm also debating just timeserting the block anyway, even if the head bolts do hold torque.

Anything else y'all might suggest inspecting or replacing while I'm in there?

Cheers,


Christian Els
Kansas City, MO

[danewilson77]

That red is on back side of valve cover gasket.

HTC Thunderbolt+TT

[tian647]

That red is on back side of valve cover gasket.

Er, yeah - that. Guess what I have on my mind


Christian

[tian647]

Also, another update while I'm thinking about it...I bought one of those $20 ELM 327 bluetooth ODBII dongles and plugged it into the car today.

It claims there are no current and no historic codes set, even though when the car overheated my first warning sign was the Service Engine Soon lamp illuminating.

The software that came with it is pretty awful, anybody have a recommendation for their preferred Windows/Bluetooth code reader app?


Christian