I blew a intake gasket and got coolant into the oil also, and tried replacing gasket as a fix, but coolant also got into the lifters and ruined them. After replacing the lifters and putting it back together I heard a rod knocking, and finally pulled the motor only to find out the coolant had ruined the rod and crank bearings and scarred the crank.Bottom line.... I had to pretty much rebuild the motor. Just some food for thought. Coolant can be some bad stuff.

 

Thanks for the reply. I just made a new thread because no one was looking at this one. What were the symptoms when it started. What could you see on a simple inspection. Im trying to figure out what is wrong with my car and the only place i can work on it is in the parking lot so i cant do to much.

 

Intake gasket will NOT leak coolant on an LT1(no coolant goes through the intake/gasket)

 

It was actually a 3.8 vortex in a blazer(sorry), but the point is that coolant in oil is bad and a simple gasket change did not work. I noticed coolant disapearing but not leaking onto the ground, and the dipstick level was rising and the oil was turning white.

 

Im thinking more along the lines of a head gasket. Im thinking it is the passenger side head at the rear. Im thinking the gasket at the rear has blown letting coolant into the oil valley below the intake. What do you think about the other symptoms such as not starting and acting like it is vapor locked? Ive never thrown a main bearing so what would that sound like in the beginning?

 

Did you check it as soon as you turned it off? I tried that and it looked normal. I was thinking the water wouldnt even show up since the water would be ontop of the oil.????

 

A knocking rod will be heard from the bottom of the motor, and it will sound like a knocking(hopefully small)sound,kinda hard to explain the sound. If you get coolant into your cylinder and you go to start it, the coolant cannot compress becouse its to dense and it will stop the engine. In worst cases it can probably(just guessing)break a rod.

 

oil will be on top of water after sitting, but during/shortly after running, it will be completely mixed in, a tan/white color, milkshake consistancy

 

"It was actually a 3.8 vortex in a blazer" You mean 4.3 vortec.

 

ok if it was run too long then yes maybe the rods bent from being hydrolocked but you said nothing of the sort...so drain the damn oil, pull the whole top end off replace all the gaskets..put some new lifters in there(most go bad with coolant in them..plus they have 180K on them) and then put the thing back together and there you go...65 for head gaskets, 65 for a whole motor gasket kit comes with intake and everything...buy some summit lifters if you really need to go that cheap for like $180(dont remmber the price) and your done? your worrying about too small of a fix...atleast you didnt completely break a rod and completely demolish the whole bottom end of you motor like i did!and i know what the being broke thing is a bout..its taken me 5 months to get the 5,800 for my 383 forged LE4 build

 

Well said

 

I would love to do that but i have no garage, I have a minimum supply of tools, I have a minimum supply of money. I asked the questions previously becuase i did not want to go thru the hell of replacing the head gaskets and other gaskets if someone has already done that and ended up having to replace the bottom end a month later. I am trying to save myself alot of time and money by learning from others mistakes. Im about to drain the oil and let it sit overnight and then i guess i will have my answer. But if there is a good amount of water in the oil i guess i am looking at a rebuild. Kind of venting, tired of workin on this pos bolt on car.

 

ok then take out the 2400 loan...buy like the thousand dollar stroker kit off ebay that comes with mostly all forged internals except crank...and pay someone to put the thing together...could easily do for under 2400

 

got a link for those lifters and/or some other LT1 lifters?? Can't seem to find them on summitracing.com

 

single lifter is SUM-HT214, $7.50 each, 16 total $120


FYI, the lifters are the same ones as the gen 1 sbc roller cam motors