I am not at home right now, so I am relaying info that my brother has told me. He replaced my opti yesterday and adjusted the rockers properly. After doing so he said that the car started right up. However he also told me that it didnt have much throttle response and that there was some sort of coolant leak towards the top front part of the motor. He was the only person working on the car so he didnt leave it running while checking the engine. He described it as being able to see evaporating coolant or steam coming from the front of the motor (not smoke). He then took it for a quick spin and the temp started to raise very rapidly. Anyone have any ideas as to possible causes of this condition???

 

Head leak

 

That wouldnt make much sense. The head gaskets are brand new. I dont see how we could have messed those up.

 

did he bleed it ?

 

No, we did not bleed the coolant system. But would this cause a visible evaporation of coolant?

 

yes it would.. as I stated on another thread this morning, whenever you take just about any part of the cooling system you have to bleed it.. it's a really easy procedure.. first, on one of the cooling lined coming from the front of the motor, you'll see a fiiting with what will look like a brass flat head screw in it.. you start up the car, once you see the temperature gauge start flying upwards, you back that screw out and allow the steam to escape, as soon as it starts to spit out a little coolant, close it back off, then count to about 9 or 10, and open it back up once more, you should get a little more steam out and then it should start spitting coolant. If it goes straight to spitting coolant, go ahead and tighten it down, and give it a little extra twist for tightness, then go pop your head in the driver window, and you should see that temp gauge blasting back down to normal, if it hasn't all ready.. then you're all done.. One of the main reasons for this to happen is because the LT-1's have a reverse coolant flow than all the 1st gen sbc's... just follow these instructions, and all will be peachy king fine... then of course there's the go break in the rear tires from them sitting around not being used for all that time.. Have fun, be safe, and remember, STEAM IS HOT...

 

Ok, thanks for the info. That sounds like it is most likely one of my problems. The only thing I am confused about is the bad throttle response and loss of power. Sounds like symptoms of a head gasket, but we just replaced them. As I said before I dont see how we could have messed that up.

 

well, i'ld say, get the coolant thing taken care of first, then see where you're at.. did you get a pcm tune? It might be that the top end was over heating because of no coolant circulation, and then, it could just be like most pcm tunes, it takes a couple miles to get set up and in sync with the car/ Do what you know how to fix right this moment, and then drive it around and post back what it's doing if nothing changes after about 30 miles or so...

 

Yeah, I did get a mail order tune from Ion. Will bleed the lines and see where Im at. Thanks for the help.