Well, my bad luck streak with the car this season is still not over....tonite on the way back home from a cruize-in, the engine suddenly just died, as in just about locked up, and tons of white smoke billowed out...cars behind me were almost going off the road to avoid it! I pulled off to the side, and noticed oil and water coming out of the bottom of the timing cover...pulled the dipstick, and the oil level was right up to the top of the stick, with all water below it...While I awaited the flatbed, I thought about where I will start tomorrow...draining the water of course will be first, then pull the plugs and turn it over---if it even turns over!! Im hoping it was just an intake gasket...it may be a head gasket...or it may be much worse, only pulling it apart will tell.
My wife decided to come up to the cruize with her car to hang around, and it was a good thing she did...she was following me home, so at least I didnt get stranded...and I wasnt too far from home either...could have been much worse. I finally got to use my AAA card! (didnt want to do it this way though) To top off the night, when the flatbed got there, two chicks jump out!! That was pretty cool!!!! graemlins/thumbsup.gif Driver was kinda hot too...

OK, I feel better now, Im gonna get some sleep and see what's up in the morning. Maybe things will turn around after this, cause it cant get much worse than this season has been! John

John,hope it something easy,cheap,and stupid.

WOW, those pistons must be shiny :eek:

:( Hope its not broke.

And just think if you wern't married you could've gotten those chick's number! ;)

Hope everything turns out alright. I don't know what I'd think if I found water in my engine. It didn't have a greenish tint to it did it?

johnny o- i feel your pain....same thing happened to my new project firebird a couple of days ago. mine was thankfully just the intake gasket leaking.... hope you didn't break anything
-Jay

Thanks guys, yeah, I hope it's just an intake gasket...I'll drain it in about an hour and pull the carb and intake, and I hope I see the problem in that area...I know intakes are prone to flooding the engine with water when they go...but it could be a head gasket too..I hope not. Jay, when yours went, did it blow out and stop the engine right away, or was it a slower leak?? Im hoping I find the same as you. I'll update later today. John

Exactly the same thing happend to me. What happend was that the pistonskirt on #4 piston broke (Hyperpistons) and the slug tilted in the bore causing the block to crack..
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johnny o- i wouldn't say it was a slow leak but it didn't stop the engine right away. good luck
-Jay

OK, its bad....really bad.... I turned it over with a 1/2" rachet and water shot out of 4 or 5 cylinders, then I couldnt turn it any more...and when I took off the intake, I heard something (metal) sliding around...I looked inside, and at the bottom of the plenum was what was left of an intake valve! About 2/3 of it, I dont know where the rest is. It's all chewed up and bent, and snapped off very near the bottom of the stem. I have never seen one come back up into the intake like that. There has to be some major damage, I havnt pulled the heads yet. But I figure it's not gonna be pretty no matter what. So, that's it so far. Looks like I'll be looking for another block.

graemlins/sad.gif

John, Oh No...I am so sorry to hear that. The luck has got to turn around.. :(

DAMN! Wish I had a spare motor ready John, I'd drive it down to you. That sucks.

John, thats a real bummer. graemlins/sad.gif

I had the same thing happen about 17-18 years ago, the exhaust valve broke off from the stem. Took out the piston, punched a hole in the head, cracked the rod and crank and put a crack in the wall of #1 cylinder. graemlins/angry.gif

New crank and rod, found another head and was able to sleeve the block, been using it ever since with no problems. Hopefully you will be able to at the least, save the block.

Had that happen on a 69 Chevy van I had when I owned my service shop. I just got on the highway and shifted from 2nd to 3rd when a huge plume of white smoke came from the exhaust. When I pulled the head off, I found that a valve broke off, went through the piston AND punched a hole in the cylinder wall. That was the end of that 250. Found a good used 250, had the head done, swapped engines and ran that van another 65,000 miles until I closed shop!

Im not getting too upset about it, it's done now...I just have to fix it and drive...Im just PO'd that it happened now, during cruize season. I havn't pulled the heads yet, probably wont get to that for a couple days...the thing Im most worried about is my new roller cam....I hope it's not damaged. It's been in there about 2 weeks. I have another set of heads, rect. port...and I actually have another 454 block, but it needs boring...I have flat top pistons on the rods in a milk crate in the corner of the garage...I could actually get something together pretty cheaply. But I dont know if it will be what I want. I'll sit down soon with pen and paper and see where I stand with what I have. Thanks again guys. Oh, I went to a show today and had a good time even without the car...Im carrying the broken valve in my pocket like a souvenier..I think I'll make a necklace out of it. I may be able to make several more before Im done!!! :D

more then likely the cause was valve to piston clearance problems.
always check V-P clearance with checker springs in the mock up assembly.

After you pull it apart email me a picture of the block, it might be able to be sleeved.

Brian, why do you say that?? I did check it with dial indicator and light springs...no problem with clearance. I had the engine reved much higher a few times before this without a problem. This happened while just going about 50 MPH on the way home... Wouldnt it be more of a problem at higher R's??

i guess we'll have to wait until you investigate more though.

thats my guess since you werent accelerating when it decided to quit.

I'll email you tomorrow, i'm tired out, i was at the summer nationals all day. very cool event.

Johnny,
I hate when that happens :mad:
I have preached this to all my customers ... the only way to check valve to piston clearance is with clay. Period !!! The dial indicator will tell you how much vertical clearance there is, but will NOT tell you how close the valve comes to the edge of the valve relief in the piston. I have done a couple of "post mortems" on engines like yours where the guys swear they had plenty of clearance, but once the head is off, you could see where almost every valve was barely touching at the edge of the valve relief. With the piston moving around just a bit at tdc, thats all it takes.
Hope the damage is limited to the block. Might be able to sleeve it and be ok, but you wont know till its apart.

Hey! You didn't tell me about the chicks in the flatbed! Guess your wife was standing right there today though.

You have to put up a pic of that valve head... pretty amazing.

Man, 2 chicks in a tow truck, did you tell the wife everything was ok and she could go home now? graemlins/waving.gif buy honey, I'll be home shortly graemlins/thumbsup.gif
You guys in New York rule!!! graemlins/beers.gif

John G.