95 Impala SS Barn Find Project
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Ya know I read that and it didnt register.
Like you said and unlike the other poster, More than likely not a head gasket.
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Thanks for your replies.
First and foremost, the car is NOT driving bad, and by that I mean the engine “seems” fine regarding power, smoothness at idle, and does not have white smoke (burning coolant through the engine) from the exhaust. The car was very well maintained and taken car of the majority of its life as evidenced by the 20 years of dealer service records from the original owner.
What I find VERY interesting is the original damage pic I posted years ago when I first bought the car showing the damaged lower radiator support and the seized passenger side electric fan. Dollars to donuts this is NOT a blown head gasket but oil leaking into the coolant via damage or aged/corroded part in the radiator.
I will see if I can safely bypass the oil cooler to radiator line and observe if the frothy goop reappears. However I have to note that my sons driving pattern over the last 5 months (new england winter) has been very short local trips with a lot of warm up/idling. Since this is the original radiator with the previously mentioned damage, I don’t mind replacing it, giving the cooling system a flush, and oil change.
Luckily his job is less than 2 miles away and the car drives OK and doesn’t exhibit signs of serious duress. This car has never been beaten on, and has been babied most of its life until the previous owners off road adventure that damaged the rear fenders (and assumed radiator support/fan damage).
Will post back in a week or so after we get the repairs done.
First and foremost, the car is NOT driving bad, and by that I mean the engine “seems” fine regarding power, smoothness at idle, and does not have white smoke (burning coolant through the engine) from the exhaust. The car was very well maintained and taken car of the majority of its life as evidenced by the 20 years of dealer service records from the original owner.
What I find VERY interesting is the original damage pic I posted years ago when I first bought the car showing the damaged lower radiator support and the seized passenger side electric fan. Dollars to donuts this is NOT a blown head gasket but oil leaking into the coolant via damage or aged/corroded part in the radiator.
I will see if I can safely bypass the oil cooler to radiator line and observe if the frothy goop reappears. However I have to note that my sons driving pattern over the last 5 months (new england winter) has been very short local trips with a lot of warm up/idling. Since this is the original radiator with the previously mentioned damage, I don’t mind replacing it, giving the cooling system a flush, and oil change.
Luckily his job is less than 2 miles away and the car drives OK and doesn’t exhibit signs of serious duress. This car has never been beaten on, and has been babied most of its life until the previous owners off road adventure that damaged the rear fenders (and assumed radiator support/fan damage).
Will post back in a week or so after we get the repairs done.
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You already changed the oil right? I dont care if he drives the thing 4 feet to work. The bearings and pistons are not getting the lube they need if that milkshake is still in the crankcase.
You will be costing yourself a rebuild, and a lot of new parts if you continue to drive it in that state.
And a single oil change is not going to remedy that, you will need to change the oil several times in rapid succession to flush that crap out. I suggest buying cheap oil and using that as a flush mechanism. Filters too.
Coolant is loaded with abrasives, silicates and others, that will quickly deteriorate the engines useable life.
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You will be costing yourself a rebuild, and a lot of new parts if you continue to drive it in that state.
And a single oil change is not going to remedy that, you will need to change the oil several times in rapid succession to flush that crap out. I suggest buying cheap oil and using that as a flush mechanism. Filters too.
Coolant is loaded with abrasives, silicates and others, that will quickly deteriorate the engines useable life.
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Didn’t see the rest of your reply on my iPad. Totally agree when you see crap like this in your engine that it’s serious and not be taken lightly. I will be happy to run a couple of jugs of Walmart Supertech oil through the engine AFTER replacing the radiator and flushing the cooling system. My son absolutely loves this car and I want to make sure we do everything to ensure he gets to enjoy his ride as long as possible.
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Coolant filter works well too. I suggest it anyway because these cars were notorious for dirty cooling systems because of the coolant debacle of the 90s and 2000s.
On mine, I just bypassed the throttle body part of the steam pipe return and ran it straight to a coolant filter setup I built. Finally got the coolant crystal clear after a couple of filters. Plus you eliminate the stupid air heating that the throttle body heater was supposed to help with in the winter. Car ran about 5% better after taking that part of the system out. Plus, made it easier to work on.
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On mine, I just bypassed the throttle body part of the steam pipe return and ran it straight to a coolant filter setup I built. Finally got the coolant crystal clear after a couple of filters. Plus you eliminate the stupid air heating that the throttle body heater was supposed to help with in the winter. Car ran about 5% better after taking that part of the system out. Plus, made it easier to work on.
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Did you verify the condition of the PCV valve?
That looks like a lot of condensation from the short trips in the winter.
Pull the rocker cover and clean it an see what returns.
That looks like a lot of condensation from the short trips in the winter.
Pull the rocker cover and clean it an see what returns.
All of the emissions stuff was replaced 2 summers ago AND you are right, lots of short trips in the winter AND my son warms up his ride for a good 5-10 minutes always to make sure the engine oil is up to temp. Thanks so much to all who replied, i'm making another post showing the latest discovery.
Latest update for all following this thread. Ordered replacement radiator, and was getting ready to drain the coolant and remove the old one, and do the reinstall later this week when my son has time off from work. So I jack up the car after taking off 'home plate' and the air intake, and go hunting for the drain valve. While under the car (now on jack stands) I locate the drain valve and then my eyes land on the lower oil cooler line fitting. The line from Full Metal Jacket from Sgt Hartman rings in my head "WHAT IS THIS MICKEY MOUSE SH*T?!"
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So when the previous owner went offroading, and seized the passenger side fan by denting in the lower radiator support apparently the drivers side oil cooler line was sheared/snapped and then mickey moused with RUBBER hose on a pressured fitting. Damn this pisses me off I didn't notice it sooner. I have the ACDELCO replacement hose arriving this week from RockAuto to replace when we take care of the radiator.
So when the previous owner went offroading, and seized the passenger side fan by denting in the lower radiator support apparently the drivers side oil cooler line was sheared/snapped and then mickey moused with RUBBER hose on a pressured fitting. Damn this pisses me off I didn't notice it sooner. I have the ACDELCO replacement hose arriving this week from RockAuto to replace when we take care of the radiator.
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For it to be a proper repair would entail a proper end fitting from the hard line. So barb, flared, pushloc, something for the hose to bite onto. Plus that bend is wayyy too tight for a rubber hose. Especially a hose that probably isnt designed for a bend that small. I'm not even sure they really make it for that application. Plus I can almost guarantee that is not oil and gas rated hose, so eventually it will fail, sooner than a proper rated hose.
That was a hodgepodge job if I have ever seen one. Okay for a short term fix to get you out of a spot, but that is not permanent by any means. And it really wasnt even done correctly so far as I can tell..
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Even given the short trip/cold weather problem, extended idling is hard on a cold engine/transmission. Better to start out with warm oil and warm coolant (which can also reduce the time the AT circulates cold fluid).
On various cars I've used combinations of frost plug heaters and a silicone heating pad for the oil pan, both plugged in maybe 45 minutes before cranking. Huge improvement--very easy cranking with the oil pan heater, and rapid cabin heat with the block heater.
For my Fleetwood, a block heater is gathering dust on the shelf (laziness), but the oil pan pad works great. I stuck it to a super-clean surface 9 years ago, RTV'd the edges to seal them, and it's still in place. It's possible to add a small one to the transmission pan but it doesn't get very cold here, and almost all my short trips are 5 miles one-way.
Given how short your son's trip is, the combo of all three could make a really nice difference in winter.
Kat's is the big maker of such stuff: Kat's
Update, the replacement radiator and oil hose is working 99% perfect, not a trace of milk shake in the cap anymore. However the hose didn’t come with a new O ring gasket and I didn’t have one and needed to finish the job, so of course it‘s now spotting my driveway. No biggie, will have a new O ring next time we change the oil and pop it in there.
Next up it to try and solve the fans always running in failsafe mode, pretty sure this is the reason for the constant CE light on. One thing at a time.
Next up it to try and solve the fans always running in failsafe mode, pretty sure this is the reason for the constant CE light on. One thing at a time.
Assuming this happens with the AC turned off (makes initial diagnosis easier), the first place to start is the ECT sensor or pigtail:
The PCM will run both fans AND turn on the check engine light when it gets bad or no info from the engine coolant temperature sensor on the water pump. You can test the resistance between the ECT sensor terminals on a cold engine with a multimeter referring to the table here: 4th Gen LT1 F-body Tech Articles
At an ambient temp of 68 deg F, the resistance should be 3520 ohms, and 2796 at 77 deg F. If resistance is much lower at air temperature (it goes down to less than 200 ohms at boiling temperature), then the sensor is bad and your PCM thinks the car is overheating. If ECT sensor is original, it's not trustworthy anyway, and is easy and cheap to replace. Or, the pigtail connector might be damaged, but that's also an easy fix.
The forum thread below isn't your situation, but it's kinda cool to learn about: always-on fans and no check engine light at all, which could have been a burned-out bulb (no kidding), but was a damaged wire in a PCM connector: Both fans ON? Driving me crazy !!!
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