eanhl2004

I have a 97 z28 convertible. It's in bad need of some LOVE....need to find a trustworthy reliable mechanic in Lansing Michigan...

Okay so I noticed a small oil leak earlier this summer, thought it was the oil filter or oil level sensor again...it's not...seems to be the head gasket...leaks about 15-30 drops a week I think if I drive it only though...engine oil level is being watched...just haven't had time or found a good person to check my car over... but today I made two fast accelerating left turns which resulted in very odd thud noises from under the center/bottom of the car... I was able to repeat this with a straight-away hard acceleration. I jacked the car up and looked for any missing or loose brackets on the exhaust system and found nothing...only thing is about a 3/4" play in the tail-pipe on the drivers side but I think this is normal mount as it doesn't appear to have any way to tighten..it's a slot with 3/4" of play in it? I checked the spare tire mount and trunk contents...nothing? Oil is dark but not filmy or anything from a blown head gasket?

Any ideas?

Injuneer

Broken tranny mount?

97FormulaWS-6

Are you sure it's the head gasket as well? Where's it leaking from exactly? These motors are known to leak from the back of the intake manifold badly.

Also, that clunk sounds like the rear tranny mount.

eanhl2004

I just checked the tranny mount on the crossmember and it still has it's V shape and the rubber still looks new. I did have some tranny work in like 2002, they probably put a new mount on at that time...I see no visual evidence of cracks/defects!

Are there other mounts on the Tranny I may have missed?

Also checked the drive shaft? Long round pole out of the tranny? (lol) for any play and nothing?

eanhl2004

The oil leak is actually kind of all over? On the driver's side I can see it clearly from the front bumper corner. There is no oil above the head gasket and it's coming down near the serpentine belt and running along the bottom of the car. I also checked the passenger side and it appears oil is coming from over there as well although the visibility is minimal over there.

Head Gasket?


Passenger Side HG? not sure?

Injuneer

You have to try and lift the tranny off the mount, to see if its cracked. You can't just look at it. And it doesn't have a "V" shape, its a simple, more or less rectangular block.

Courtesy of Shoebox:

http://shbox.com/1/trans_mount.jpg

There is only one transmission mount, under the tailshaft housing, on top of the cross-member. The entire engine/trans assembly is supported by two engine mounts in the front, and one transmission mount in the back.

You also need to check the torque arm bushing. If that's rotted away, it allows the torque arm to contact the bushing housing. That is the rubber bushing at the end of the torque arm, in a clamshell housing bolted to the driver's side of the tranny tailshaft housing.

eanhl2004

Lmao, I am newb/oil change mechanic I'll have to try and lift it then! hopefully that's it because it's easy to fix from what I've seen/read... but it actually does have a V shape it's just the view in shoebox's pic's shows it from the side of the V not the front. I looked the part up before my prior post and thought the very same thing you did, however once I got under the car I could see a V from the side! I was kinda hoping for the obvious V COLLAPSE but that wasn't there.

I probably won't get back under the car today though! I'll try to check the torque arm bushings as well next time i'm under it..maybe tomorrow!

97FormulaWS-6

I'm still thinking Intake Manifold... right in the front corner and it's running down the seam of the head & block. The Intake's are known for blowing gaskets out the front and rear of them because it's just an RTV seal there, no gasket. The PCV system gets clogged up a little and lets the pressure inside the block get a little higher than it's supposed to then it "pops" the weak-spot in the intake gasket... the corners where the block/head/intake meet.

RUDEDOG

I have seen the v shaped mounts. Very cheap and weak. Get a poly mount and you won't have that problem anymore. You have to clean everything to see where the leak is originating or you could just shotgun the timing cover seals and intake gasket.

eanhl2004

I am looking at this Prothane Mount
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PT...sion|Automatic

for some reason Summit says V6 but Prothane.com says V6 & V8!?

Today I backed out of the driveway in reverse and then put it in Drive and accelerated while still turning to get straight... not even a hard acceleration and 'thud' I'm not even getting back under this thing. I'm just going to buy a new mount and then change it! I'm pretty sure it's the tranny mount...I also wonder if this could be why I have been getting some slight hesitation/surge since last summer! Could it be the mount...I think the major problem on acceleration I had last year had some thuds/noise but it never repeated until this year!

Is shotgun a cleaner spray? I'll pick some up and clean away and keep an eye on it.

As to the Prothane mounts, are these correct? It's an automatic z28. Are there better mounts? I'd rather spend more now then again later if these aren't the best mounts!

THANKS!!!