Serious Engine Problems/Questions '93 90CS
#1
11-18-2008, 02:33 AM
Serious Engine Problems/Questions '93 90CS
Took '93 CS90 to shop almost a year ago with bad head gasket. Unable to drive due to illness, so shop was fine with working on it between "real" jobs. Shop belongs to father of good friend, so we are pretty sure they aren't trying to cheat us - we just wonder if they got in over their heads on a car that they weren't familiar enough with.
They removed heads, and sent them out for resurfacing and valve grind. They came back unassembled, so friend's shop had to bring in a specialist to reassemble and set them up. They also had to buy a special tool to get the cams set in the correct position for reassembly. They replaced plugs and knock sensors and today got the engine back together and started.
They claim that it ran, poorly for a few minutes, then began to make terrible noises from the bottom end. On draining the oil, they claim that it was full of sludge, and assume that the lack of proper lubrication caused something to seize or break.
During the time we were pinning down the head gasket problem, we had the coolant tested, and found hydrocarbons in the coolant. In checking the oil, on many occasions, we found no indication of moisture in the oil. It only had a few hundred miles on it, and appeared light and clear. We were told that the heads shouldn't be removed before draining the oil, to avoid contamination. Is this correct?
They claim that they turned the engine over manually before starting to be sure that the cams were set right, and that everything was moving smoothly.
We wonder if there is something in the way the engine top end was reassembled that could have caused something in the bottom end to break after the engine had tried to run for a few minutes. Does the oil pump run off the timing belt? If the crank and cams aren't in exactly the correct position, could parts be fighting each other and break a rod, or spin a bearing?
We are grasping at straws here, looking for some reason for a car which was driven to the shop last fall, disassembled, left to sit for months, to implode moments after being repaired and restarted. The car has about 130K and until the head gasket problem ran like a top. Oil changes were regular and frequent, so the bottom end should have been fine for many more miles.
Timing belt, thermostat and water pump were replaced just a few months before head gasket went bad.
Any thoughts and/or ideas are welcome.
They removed heads, and sent them out for resurfacing and valve grind. They came back unassembled, so friend's shop had to bring in a specialist to reassemble and set them up. They also had to buy a special tool to get the cams set in the correct position for reassembly. They replaced plugs and knock sensors and today got the engine back together and started.
They claim that it ran, poorly for a few minutes, then began to make terrible noises from the bottom end. On draining the oil, they claim that it was full of sludge, and assume that the lack of proper lubrication caused something to seize or break.
During the time we were pinning down the head gasket problem, we had the coolant tested, and found hydrocarbons in the coolant. In checking the oil, on many occasions, we found no indication of moisture in the oil. It only had a few hundred miles on it, and appeared light and clear. We were told that the heads shouldn't be removed before draining the oil, to avoid contamination. Is this correct?
They claim that they turned the engine over manually before starting to be sure that the cams were set right, and that everything was moving smoothly.
We wonder if there is something in the way the engine top end was reassembled that could have caused something in the bottom end to break after the engine had tried to run for a few minutes. Does the oil pump run off the timing belt? If the crank and cams aren't in exactly the correct position, could parts be fighting each other and break a rod, or spin a bearing?
We are grasping at straws here, looking for some reason for a car which was driven to the shop last fall, disassembled, left to sit for months, to implode moments after being repaired and restarted. The car has about 130K and until the head gasket problem ran like a top. Oil changes were regular and frequent, so the bottom end should have been fine for many more miles.
Timing belt, thermostat and water pump were replaced just a few months before head gasket went bad.
Any thoughts and/or ideas are welcome.
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