vn overheated now not running

[E-T-H-A-N]

hey guys bought a new project car, ( got it cheap)

so it was having trouble with the cooling system, it kept over heating after about 20 mins driving, the old owner flushed the cooling system, and forgot to put the radiator cap back on, a friend took it for a drive and thrashed it for about 35 minutes untill it started to steam. he let it sit for a bit, put more coolant in it and drove it back. it still continued to keep getting hot but the old owner only lived 5 minutes up the road so kept driving it. now it kicks over but wont start.

now i think that it may have a cracked head or gasket and is filling the cylanders with coolant. only thing i can think of. any input would be appreciated! and im also making a build thread for this too incase you want to see it

[E-T-H-A-N]

oh yeah it's a S1 aswell, if that helps at all

[someguy360]

Sounds like a cracked head.....hopefully it wasn't so bad that it seized the engine.

My ex misses drove her laser for half an hour with no coolant at all and that was the end of that engine....seized it to the point where I couldn't turn it over

[E-T-H-A-N]

well it still kicks over at this point so id say its not seized but even if its not, i paid 200 for it with rego so im not complainning lol

[pjdm1980]

Sounds like a cracked head.....hopefully it wasn't so bad that it seized the engine.

Either way I'd just slap a second hand engine in if it was one of those issues. Have you done a code check?

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

I have to ask, why did your mate thrash it for half an hour if you knew it had an overheating problem? Good way to cause more damage.

If it didn't have a cracked head or blown gasket before, it almost certainly does now.

Only way to really tell is pull it apart.

[bcw61]

I have to ask, why did your mate thrash it for half an hour if you knew it had an overheating problem? Good way to cause more damage.

Exactly the same thoughts I had. Seems a rather odd way of carrying out fault finding, to say the least.

[E-T-H-A-N]

because he's a ####head ? lol.

yeah well the engines getting pulled down anyway. its getting some boost in the near future.

[Vlt_Calais]

very hard to diagnose with the amount of crap it's copped.
If you're lucky its a seized thermostat, leaking intake manifold / timing cover / water pump gasket, or ofcourse cracked head/head gasket or cracked timing cover.

Is the oil milky? if so its definetley leaking from somewhere
is water coming out of the exhaust? because thats obvious
i'd pull the plugs out and turn it over to see if coolant comes out because it does sound like there's water in there

If you're planning on keeping this engine, empty all the coolant/water out of the cylinders and sump becasue it will seize up sooner than later.

[hi_ryder]

how can it have a radiator cap if its a series 1. does it have a serries 2 radiator? cause the series 1 engines like the series 1 radiator better....

[E-T-H-A-N]

i picked the car up today, dropped the water and it runs. not well, but it runs. the next step is to pull the inlet manifold off and heads off. either way i want to pull it apart. its the head im sure of it.

yeah its a s1 with a s2 rad lol, didnt even notice that.

yeah the oil is milky.

so i should get the heads off assap and suck all the water out ?

[pjdm1980]

With whats happened to this motor your throwing good money after bad trying to repair this motor just grab a $200 low klm motor.

[E-T-H-A-N]

it hasnt really been through that much though, i found out why it was overheating, the inlet manifold was leaking something chronic, and the water jets are caked with shit pretty badly. we wont know untill i have the heads off though, im hoping to have them off tomorrow night.

[E-T-H-A-N]

i got the left hand side head off, no signs of water in the bores, no obvius signs of a leaking gasket, will get the dirvers side off tomorrow and send them away to get crack tested, i dont see the point in getting another motor when i want to cam and port, polish and deck the heads on this, so if i bought another engine i would still have to pull the heads off anyway ?

[Jxw]

get a vr v6, better more refined base to start with, better still get an ecotec, if the engine has been cooked it's a waste of time, vr heads will bolt straight onto that block with the vp/vr inlet manifold if you intend wasting time and money on the weaker s1 engine.
They refined it to the ev6 for a reason instead of going through with the late 80's design, probably cheaper to buy vr heads with factory roller rockers 2nd hand than send the crappy s1 heads off apart from they're cast iron and chances of them cracking in a stock engine are pretty slim even if they were abused......... not to mention the crap 2 piece rope rear mains seal that always leaks and requires the engine to be pulled out of the car and crank shaft removed to replace in the s1 boat anchors.

As for over heating unless the coolant pipes are rerouted correctly (more trouble and to much stuffing around to do, much easier to put the proper rad in) when putting a s2 radiator into a s1 that'll cause half the issues, in a s1 it continually cycles the water and bleeds automatically, putting a s2 rad in and just blocking off extra hoses stops that and you'll likely get air pockets in the heads and manifold as the s2 manifolds route the coolant differently and have the manual bleeder.

[E-T-H-A-N]

its costing nothing to get the heads done lol. my best mate is a machinest. i wont go eco because if i want to boost it later on its a huge head####, the buick is far better because they already run a map sensor.

the right head is fine... it was never cooked id say, although the water jackets are caked as all hell, the shitty running was coming from else where. but heads are off now, may aswell get them done now.

[Jxw]

thrashing the crap out of it for half an hour till it turns into a steam engine then ceases to run after wards, sounds like it got cooked to me, just cause it turns over and kinda runs now without water doesn't mean it's a good basis to get going again let alone build a boosted v6 like you want to with it eventually.
I must've misunderstood the meaning of

any input would be appreciated!

as not just myself have mentioned problems with that setup you have, good luck with your adventure.... hopefully it runs okay for you and you don't have to come back here asking more questions at why it doesn't run properly or continue to overheat........

[VTSSDUDE]

It's a Holden engine, it will be right.

[Jxw]

It's a Holden engine, it will be right.

lawl, the old holden red 6's were bullet proof these aren't so much :P i once seized a 202 from the sump plug working it's way loose, heard a funny dry lifter noise multiplied by 12 followed by a pretty quick stop in a 100km zone... threw it in gear when i was being towed home and dumped the clutch twice, got her spinning again, put more oil in it and away it went again, couldn't do that with a buick 3800 :P

[VTSSDUDE]

Do a compression test after putting your heads back on, if all good. I can't see why the engine wouldn't be okay. I imagine boosting the engine you will be replacing your internals on anyway.

[E-T-H-A-N]

yeah okay fair enough, i did ask for your guys input, and your right, the engine was cooked so its probly not the best starting point, and there were so many changes made to the vn serise 2 engine, and clearly for a reason. and i would of been throwing money at the hope that i got it right, wasting money if i hadnt. unlike if i had of just bought a running engine and did the swap for about the same money.i was just trying to save as much money as i could, but even i well know that when you cut corners, it doesnt work out the best. im not going through with this car anymore.

i got the right hand head off, there didnt apear to be any damage to the gasket or head. but clearly there is a problem with the engine for how it was running.