floridaZ
New member
First, a little background on the Vette. It's an 84 with the CFI that I've built up with new heads, a 383, chip, exhaust, cams, and all that fun stuff. The engine was originally rebuilt at 158,XXX miles. Then the tranny shop dropped a few bolts in the intake when they rebuilt the tranny, so I bought the stroker kit and had the block machined (the valves were shot, the head and pistons scarred, and the cylinder walls scored on two cylinders). I forget the mileage when that happened, but it was after the initial break in. Since then I have broken in the new engine properly and the car is sitting as I type this with 171,242.1 miles.
Okay, well about a month ago I had a problem with the Vette. The thermostat stuck and the car overheated. Unfortunately, I got to find out that the stock gauge maxes out at 299 degrees. Anyway, once I found a place safe to pull over, let it cool down, and got it home, it seemed to drive fine.
The thermostat still would stick so I pulled it, flushed out the system, and put in a new one. Car ran fine and drove fine as long as the thermostat would open, which it would not always do. Then last week, I was going to pull it out and take it for a drive since I hadn't drove the thing except for once to make sure that the engine ran okay, and my father tried to drive it to work once (and didn't get far). So I let the engine heat up, and opened the garage door. The Z was in the way so I shut the car off so I could go get the Z's keys and move it. But when I shut off the engine, it dieseled for about a second. So that scared me off from driving it, so I let it sit until today (technically yesterday).
So I pull it out of the garage today, determined to find out what was causing the car's issues. That's when I get under it and notice that there is coolant dripping on the ground. So I start crawling around and see that it is dripping from the crank/pulley. I thought that it was the water pump seeing as it is right above it, but when I jacked the car up and started looking around, I couldn't find any evidence of coolant leaking from there. So I put the car back down, and run it for a bit. I then pull off come of the accessory pulleys to better be able to see the water pump. No dice, no sign of leakage. So I pull the Vette into the garage again and pull the intake off, so I could see the valley. I didn't find any evidence of a valve gasket blown, or any evidence of leakage in the valley.
So my father has looked it over, and thinks that I have either a cracked head, or a cracked block. There isn't any coolant burning off of the manifolds, so it's definitely coming from the front of the engine. And the radiator and hoses appear to be perfect, so I doubt that coolant is coming from them. I just can't see where the coolant dripping off of the crank pulley is coming from...
So I guess my question is... any ideas? I'm hoping that it isn't a cracked block. The heads are aftermarket so if one of those were cracked I wouldn't care, but I have quite a bit of money in the block itself. And the Z is getting a new driveline and carpet soon, so I don't want to pull the Vette's engine unless I am certain that the block is cracked, or needs some other maintenance/repair that requires pulling the engine. So does anybody have any ideas of what else it could be, and any suggestions on how to check it?
Okay, well about a month ago I had a problem with the Vette. The thermostat stuck and the car overheated. Unfortunately, I got to find out that the stock gauge maxes out at 299 degrees. Anyway, once I found a place safe to pull over, let it cool down, and got it home, it seemed to drive fine.
The thermostat still would stick so I pulled it, flushed out the system, and put in a new one. Car ran fine and drove fine as long as the thermostat would open, which it would not always do. Then last week, I was going to pull it out and take it for a drive since I hadn't drove the thing except for once to make sure that the engine ran okay, and my father tried to drive it to work once (and didn't get far). So I let the engine heat up, and opened the garage door. The Z was in the way so I shut the car off so I could go get the Z's keys and move it. But when I shut off the engine, it dieseled for about a second. So that scared me off from driving it, so I let it sit until today (technically yesterday).
So I pull it out of the garage today, determined to find out what was causing the car's issues. That's when I get under it and notice that there is coolant dripping on the ground. So I start crawling around and see that it is dripping from the crank/pulley. I thought that it was the water pump seeing as it is right above it, but when I jacked the car up and started looking around, I couldn't find any evidence of coolant leaking from there. So I put the car back down, and run it for a bit. I then pull off come of the accessory pulleys to better be able to see the water pump. No dice, no sign of leakage. So I pull the Vette into the garage again and pull the intake off, so I could see the valley. I didn't find any evidence of a valve gasket blown, or any evidence of leakage in the valley.
So my father has looked it over, and thinks that I have either a cracked head, or a cracked block. There isn't any coolant burning off of the manifolds, so it's definitely coming from the front of the engine. And the radiator and hoses appear to be perfect, so I doubt that coolant is coming from them. I just can't see where the coolant dripping off of the crank pulley is coming from...
So I guess my question is... any ideas? I'm hoping that it isn't a cracked block. The heads are aftermarket so if one of those were cracked I wouldn't care, but I have quite a bit of money in the block itself. And the Z is getting a new driveline and carpet soon, so I don't want to pull the Vette's engine unless I am certain that the block is cracked, or needs some other maintenance/repair that requires pulling the engine. So does anybody have any ideas of what else it could be, and any suggestions on how to check it?