Oldsmobile/Buick Repair: 92 Buick Skylark - Head Gasket?, buick skylark, skylark 3

Question
Van,

Any help you could be would be much appreciated.

1. 92 Buick Skylark 3.3L MPFI 130K miles

2. ran hot while wife driving, radiator leaking, got it home and fixed radiator.

3. couple weeks later ran hot again, got it home and replaced hose that had pinhole leak.

4. all well for awhile - then started loosing water - not leaking anywhere - nothing in oil.

5. wife continued to drive it, i kept eye on water - adding some occasionally. one night coming home car suddenly lost power on interstate and stopped - did not run hot - just lost power and stopped. I got there - car would start but ran real bad, had to keep foot on accelerator. then it just stopped and would not start again - had it towed home.

6. started working on it, could not get it to start. checked water level - none, checked oil - no water in oil. started putting water in, seemed to take a lot - then i heard water dripping, was coming out exhaust pipe.

7. assumed head gasket. spun engine for awhile to clear out water from cyclinders, checked again and no water in oil. car sat for a few days before i could begin repairs.

8. drained oil, water came out first - then oil. oil was black and not mixed with the water. assumed leftover water in cyclinders drained down into engine.

9. still thinking head gasket, no compression tester available to verify. pulled plugs and all had water. removed intake manifold, found gasket blown between water jacket and #6 cyclinder. looked down into intake ports and could see where water had been in all cyclinders.

10. decided to try just the intake gasket, save some work if that was problem. replaced gasket and reassembled, added new oil. did NOT put water in yet.

11. try to start, would not. got a slight backfire a couple of times. pulled plugs and all are wet with gas. doubled checked all wiring connections, fuel line hookups, etc.  took care to mark everything when i disassembled so i dont think i have anything misconnected.

12. with plugs out, got wife to spin engine while i watched - all cyclinders seem to have compression, can see mist shoot out on compression stroke. put a plug into each wire one at a time and had wife spin engine, got spark on all.

13. still have not put water in, want to try to get it to start first. i'm thinking fuel injector stuck open. coil resistance on all right at 12 ohms. seems strange tho because it had no injector problem before it stopped.

i think my next step would be to pull the fuel rail up, turn on ignition to build up pressure, and see if any injectors are leaking.

can you think of anything else i could try?

could an injector have been damaged the night it quit? it did start when i got there, ran real bad, popped a few times (sounded like the old days backfiring thru a carburetor), then stopped.

do you think i may have a blown head gasket after all and should approach it in that aspect?

how about jumped time? what you think?

thx
Tom


Answer
Hi Tom,
Sounds like you are doing everything right so far.
I would leave the plugs out, and fill cooling system with water. Not antifreeze, but just water. If it leaks, you should find out pretty quickly.
I wouldn't mess with the fuel system yet. If there was that much water in the cylinders, there was probably enough to short the plugs, preventing firing. The injectors were probably working fine.
If you have compressed air available, while the plugs are out, and the system full of water, blow air into the plug holes, prefferably with the cylinder you are blowing into at TDC compression. If the head gasket leaks, air bubbles will appear in the radiator, and you will know where to go from there.
If no bubbles, you will be at least drying out the cylinders. Put a little rubbing alcohol into each cylinder, then blow it some more. That will dry it out a lot.

Van