3v motor - what is this liquid/goo in head intake runners - PICS!

[Parker Lewis]

Hey guys, I also posted this on another forum, sorry if that is bad etiquette.

Anyway, I am not really sure what is going on here with my motor, if you have time i would really appreciate some advice. I have a 2005 3v engine, all stock. I bought it from a guy then it sat on a stand in my garage for 3 years. Today for the first time since I bought it I actually touched a wrench to it and started working on it. I removed the intake manifold and looked down into the lower intake runners inside the heads and for the cylinders that have the intake valves closed there is a TON of yellowish liquid/goo in there! A couple runners have about an inch deep of this liquid. Some of the liquid is crusted over like a film/varnish crusty layer with liquid underneath. I can break through the crust easily with a screwdriver, then the tip of the screwdriver is coated in chips of a varnish like film. Could this be coolant? How would coolant get in there, bad head gasket, or cracked water jacket? Anyway, I can see the valves that are open and there is a ring of white deposits, probably carbon?, at the outer rim of the valves. Do I need to yank these heads for clean-up? Can I shop-vac the liquid out and brush/wipe out the remaining without removing the head or am I asking for trouble down the road? Here is a couple pics. Keep in mind this thing has sat for 3 years.....can moisture and condensation build up like this? Anyway, I am probably f'd on this one! If anyone has any advice PLEASE let me know, but be gentle because I suspect this is going to be expensive. Thanks for taking time to read this.

 

[GB10]

Looks like coolant and oil mixed. Could have a blown head gasket or cracked head/block like you already said. It definitely needs to be torn apart and inspected.

 

[ChiDiddy]

Yes moisture and condensation can build up. Tear it all apart before proceeding or u are asking for trouble later. I couldn't tell u what the hell that stuff is though. Never seen it

 

[psfracer]

Since it sat for 3 years, I would pull the heads off. Who knows what else you will find.

 

[07 Grabber GT]

As stated, pull the heads and get everything checked. Appears to be coolant gunk slowly becoming more "gunk" through evaporation ... sometimes folks aren't careful when pulling a motor and dump fluids on the engine ... but why did they pull the motor?

 

[weather man]

Condensation over 3 years. Did the motor get run over the 3 years or did it sit? Should scope the cylinders for rust.

 

[05stroker]

What does the oil look like?

Another thought is it could have been driven into high water and sucked water in the intake before it came out of the previous car. I would be pulling the heads as others said to inspect further.

 

[Parker Lewis]

Hey thanks for the advice guys. Can any of you recommend a reputable mod motor shop in Texas? I am in Austin but I am willing to drive a couple hours if I need to. I'd like to have someone check it out who is familiar with 4.6L engines.

Thanks again, I appreciate your help on this.

 

[05stroker]

Are you just wanting to rebuild it stock or what?

 

[weather man]

You need to get together with this guy.

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95738

 

[05stroker]

You need to get together with this guy.

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95738

No doubt!

 

[Parker Lewis]

Hey guys, yes I only want a stock motor. This car is for daily driving. I plan for intake and LT's, and exhaust but stock cams, internals, etc.

That motor in the link above sounds sweet but too extreme for my setup.

If this thing needs rebuild to stock specs what am I looking at cost wise? Machine work, head work, assembly, new gaskets and TTY bolts, this is gonna be a grand easy, right? Unless it just needs to be disassembled and cleaned up.

 

[weather man]

Hey guys, yes I only want a stock motor. This car is for daily driving. I plan for intake and LT's, and exhaust but stock cams, internals, etc.

That motor in the link above sounds sweet but too extreme for my setup.

If this thing needs rebuild to stock specs what am I looking at cost wise? Machine work, head work, assembly, new gaskets and TTY bolts, this is gonna be a grand easy, right? Unless it just needs to be disassembled and cleaned up.

With the corrosion showing, the suspicion is that you will have a LARGE repair bill. (I hope I am wrong) If you could pull the heads yourself, would give you a better idea.

You take your stock cams, if still good, and drop them in the $3,500 dollar motor. Tune. Done. I would just run the stage 2 cams, but I like aggressive lope. They are just an aggressive street cam.

 

[Parker Lewis]

Thanks again so far for the advice guys. I guess the next thing I should do is pull the heads and really get a good idea for the condition of the valves and chambers. Maybe this is a build up of condensation over 3 years of storage? I don't know, more likely I'm thinking worse though.

Anyway, thanks to you all and I will post back as I dig deeper into this slime.

 

[jaguarking11]

JUst an FYI, Varnish is usually gasoline. Does it smell like furniture varnish at all? If it does, then the engine was soaked in gasoline.

As for costs, if just a cleanup your looking at 600-1000bux in parts alone. Depending on the condition of the cylinder walls and the machine work involved around 1500bux easy. If you need to bore out the block, then you need oversized pistons. Things start looking like that linked motor is a steal for the parts. Hell if you buy an engine from a wrecker like shroom or some other reputable wrecker, you could end up spending 1-2K on an engine there, and still not know wtf happened. The engine you have looks to me like a good core to start building a high hp engine.

Then again, you wont know until you break it apart and carefully inspect.

I forgot to say, that if your planing on storing a motor for this long, I personally would flood the whole engine with fresh motor oil. I mean flood, including intake runners. That would preserve the engine. However cleanup would be a pain in the ass once ready to put into service.

 

[recordbreaker5]

Looks like coolant and oil mixed. Could have a blown head gasket or cracked head/block like you already said. It definitely needs to be torn apart and inspected.

I agree. Makes me wonder being that there is a lot more going on in #'s 3 and 4 vs the rest of the runners.

 

[Neal@]

to me it looks like some rust (prob from the valves), calcium from water. I have rebuilt a 5.4L SOHC that had been in an car fire an drowned in water. The ports looked almost the same where water had sat on the valves

 

[Parker Lewis]

Thanks again to all of you. I borrowed a hoist from a friend so i can get the motor off the cradle and onto a stand so I can drop the oilpan and see what's going on down below. I will keep you all posted.

Anyone know of a good, stock, complete 3v engine for sale? Sounds like i'll be in the marker for one.

 

[Cal26Stang]

I'd try to get your money back from that guy, unless he told you warned you...

 

[Parker Lewis]

Nothing like following up on a thread 8+ years later! I know so many of you have been waiting patiently each day since 2013 just dying to know how this turned out...........well, I had the engine builder tear down the motor and yes there is a crack on one of the cylinder walls. Thankfully I had another 3V block to build so I'm all set. This block does look good otherwise, I would think it's a candidate to be sleeved and then built. With the coyote being the popular swap are there people still sleeving and building 3V aluminum blocks in 2021? Seems like some guys will spit on you if you discuss anything non-coyote. If no one builds these anymore I'll take this one to the scrapper to get some cash, seems a shame though to not get it back on the road. Here are a couple pics, check out the hairline crack circled in black marker.