1993

Bought a 1992 sc with dual overhead cam, the guy i got it from said it was leaking coolant really bad somewhere around the water pump, i pull it home and figure i would fill up the radiator and get it running and pinpoint the leak, well, i filled and filled and filled the radiator, just kept taking more and more, hmmm, i look under the car and its not leaking anywhere, i then pulled the dipstick and there was the coolant, it was all running into the oil pan! so im thinking its either the head or headgasket, so i was seriously thinking about going to the salvage yard tomorrow and just getting a known good head to put on it, BUT, then i got to thinking, could the deck of the block be warped? wondering what you guys think, would it be pretty safe to swap the head or is it common for the block to warp on the mating surface?
thanks

Ssicarman

Could be waped head, block would be hard to do but possible. Head cracked, maybe. Head gasket, bigger chance than warped block. Cracked block/cylinder, maybe.

Only real way to tell is to start taking it apart.

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Anony00GT

Yep, what he said. Could be anything.

If I were you, I'd go to a junkyard and find a whole good motor, then just swap it over instead of playing games with the head/head gasket.

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2000 Mustang GT
1994 Chevy Caprice LT1 Police Package
1995 Pontiac Bonneville <--- Hers
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1993

wouldnt it be easier to just replace the head gasket if thats all thats wrong rather than swapping the whole motor? whats easier?

Ssicarman

Finding out for sure what the problem actually is.

If you are reluctant to replace the engine but willing to replace a potentially bad head gasket tear the engine down. Find out for sure what the problem is.

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1993

The reason im thinking its the headgasket is this, the person i bought it from said it was leaking on the outside of the motor, not internally, so he parked it for a year up until i bought it, then i tried to fill up the radiator to find the leak and thats when the coolant went inside the oil pan, so im thinking the gasket went totally bad to where it would leak inside from sitting for a year..whats easier, just swapping out the whole engine, or replacing the headgasket with the motor still in the car?? Keep in mind, this is a manual shift car so the trans would have to come out with the motor...

Ssicarman

With out knowing for what is causing the leak of coolant into the oil pan replacing the engine is easier. You just replace the engine. Kaboom.

If it is only the head gasket it would be easier to do that but you don't know that it is just the head gasket. Also if the engine has been run any significant amount of time with water or coolant in the oil the bearings in the engine stand a very good chance of being bad. Thusly a tear down to find the problem and any damage that has occured as a result of the coolant in the oil becomes a good idea. So if the tear down is not in the cards then just replace the engine.

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