I didn't document the whole process and I'm missing some of the photos because my girlfriend smashed my phone but here are some photos and videos you may be interested in.
I was told about a 1995 Camry that didn't run and needed to be moved. The owner told me they had just bought the car some months prior and it ran fine, "but it needed water added when you drive it every time".
Anyone that knows about automotive stuff knows that this is definitely not "running fine".
Anyway, he and his wife continued to drive the car in this condition, occasionally until it overheated enough to turn itself off. It just so happens the last time it "turned itself off" it didn't restart. He says he already took it to a local well known mechanic shop (that I distain because of their laziness and how they half ass jobs). The aforementioned shop told him the motor was shot, no good, replace the whole thing for a hefty sum of $3500 labor included and on top if it all he wouldn't be able to perform all of the work in his shop and would have to outsource some of it.
You and I already know the problem and know the people are fools for driving a car with a cooling problem like this knowing it overheats. You also know there is a good chance the motor is not ruined and that $3500 in repairs for a car worth less than that is not going to happen.
I got to their house and asked him to turn the car over so I could hear it crank. It spun freely. I told him the other mechanic shop just didn't want to fix his car. Turns out they never even opened the hood on it.
I told him I would tear down and rebuild the motor, but he was buying a new head that had already been machined and all new seals.
He trailered the car out and I pushed it in my car bay to work on it. I removed the hood and the radiator so I could have easy access to the motor and also to flush and soak the stop leak out of the radiator with a light acidic mix and save it. I then pulled the air box and battery and took a couple of before pictures.
Here is what she looked like at that point:
I pulled the motor and transmission out and got the motor in my stand and tore it down to nothing and cleaned it up and rebuilt the block using factory pistons and new rings and bearings sized for the car.
Here was the block mating surface before I placed the head gasket and head on:
The block got a new oil pump and water pump and all seals replaced.
I painted the valve cover wrinkle black like a Honda... *snicker*snicker*
I put the new head on with correct timing and replaced all seals and gaskets associated with the head and transferred the studs over to bolt the intake manifold and exhaust on as well as any other parts like the coolant sensor and such.
The injectors were fairly cooked:
Then I added all of the accessories back on wired as much as I could up and plumbed the vacuum lines and gave her a good cleaning.
Just after it is dropped in, coolant and vacuum lines hooked up and working on electrical.
Videos of the installation, raw uncut and very long and no sound:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32354257
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32359919
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32378423
Sorry there is no sound and I move like a sloth. The car started on the first try after the battery charged, install was done all in one day.
The car had a long list of problems, but here is my diagnosis of what I saw when going through the process of rebuilding this motor.
The car initially overheated because the radiator cap was bad. They added stop leak with the copper filler at this point and it sealed the radiator cap valve. The pressure built up again and blew the head gasket between the water jacket and combustion chamber on cylinder 3 and 4. The motor then bent some exhaust valves possibly because of the head gasket being blown or the head getting extremely hot. Upon inspection inside the valve cover I noticed the oil had not been changed regularly. The stop leak gunk was everywhere and did NOTHING GOOD for this motor. It would have taken out the water pump if the motor had not cooked the seals first. If the owner had fixed the radiator cap instead of adding stop leak the problem would not have occurred to begin with.
Thank you for your patience. I know it is a text wall and being that my hands were always oily and the only methods of documentation were crappy cell phone and webcam. The other pictures were on my phone and it was smashed by my girlfriend when she found out I was working on another girl's parent's car.
The End...
I was told about a 1995 Camry that didn't run and needed to be moved. The owner told me they had just bought the car some months prior and it ran fine, "but it needed water added when you drive it every time".
Anyone that knows about automotive stuff knows that this is definitely not "running fine".
Anyway, he and his wife continued to drive the car in this condition, occasionally until it overheated enough to turn itself off. It just so happens the last time it "turned itself off" it didn't restart. He says he already took it to a local well known mechanic shop (that I distain because of their laziness and how they half ass jobs). The aforementioned shop told him the motor was shot, no good, replace the whole thing for a hefty sum of $3500 labor included and on top if it all he wouldn't be able to perform all of the work in his shop and would have to outsource some of it.
You and I already know the problem and know the people are fools for driving a car with a cooling problem like this knowing it overheats. You also know there is a good chance the motor is not ruined and that $3500 in repairs for a car worth less than that is not going to happen.
I got to their house and asked him to turn the car over so I could hear it crank. It spun freely. I told him the other mechanic shop just didn't want to fix his car. Turns out they never even opened the hood on it.
I told him I would tear down and rebuild the motor, but he was buying a new head that had already been machined and all new seals.
He trailered the car out and I pushed it in my car bay to work on it. I removed the hood and the radiator so I could have easy access to the motor and also to flush and soak the stop leak out of the radiator with a light acidic mix and save it. I then pulled the air box and battery and took a couple of before pictures.
Here is what she looked like at that point:
I pulled the motor and transmission out and got the motor in my stand and tore it down to nothing and cleaned it up and rebuilt the block using factory pistons and new rings and bearings sized for the car.
Here was the block mating surface before I placed the head gasket and head on:
The block got a new oil pump and water pump and all seals replaced.
I painted the valve cover wrinkle black like a Honda... *snicker*snicker*
I put the new head on with correct timing and replaced all seals and gaskets associated with the head and transferred the studs over to bolt the intake manifold and exhaust on as well as any other parts like the coolant sensor and such.
The injectors were fairly cooked:
Then I added all of the accessories back on wired as much as I could up and plumbed the vacuum lines and gave her a good cleaning.
Just after it is dropped in, coolant and vacuum lines hooked up and working on electrical.
Videos of the installation, raw uncut and very long and no sound:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32354257
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32359919
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/32378423
Sorry there is no sound and I move like a sloth. The car started on the first try after the battery charged, install was done all in one day.
The car had a long list of problems, but here is my diagnosis of what I saw when going through the process of rebuilding this motor.
The car initially overheated because the radiator cap was bad. They added stop leak with the copper filler at this point and it sealed the radiator cap valve. The pressure built up again and blew the head gasket between the water jacket and combustion chamber on cylinder 3 and 4. The motor then bent some exhaust valves possibly because of the head gasket being blown or the head getting extremely hot. Upon inspection inside the valve cover I noticed the oil had not been changed regularly. The stop leak gunk was everywhere and did NOTHING GOOD for this motor. It would have taken out the water pump if the motor had not cooked the seals first. If the owner had fixed the radiator cap instead of adding stop leak the problem would not have occurred to begin with.
Thank you for your patience. I know it is a text wall and being that my hands were always oily and the only methods of documentation were crappy cell phone and webcam. The other pictures were on my phone and it was smashed by my girlfriend when she found out I was working on another girl's parent's car.
The End...