Ecotec Filthy Rods, Old intake manifold leak.

[pr0tekk]

Pretty new to ripping engines apart,
I've been sitting on a 99' VT that had a know overheating issue. it's been parked up for about a year and I've finally gotten around to looking into it, the oil was a bit milky so first thing I got started on was intake manifold and i was spot on there, stuffed on the coolant galley so new set ready to go in. but before I reassemble I'm after opinions on if i should be ripping the heads off and giving it all a good look over and clean up when its guts looks like this, is this too filthy to reassemble in good conscious?
The intake valves look pretty clean in comparison, apart from the usual carbon layer.

 

[edals]

Been known for over heating, and the oil milky, before you go any firther, you need to check for a head gasket failure.
You should be able to turn it over just to check the compression in each cylinder with a compression guage, or, since you're almost there anyway, pull the heads. Please note you will need new head bolts.

 

[VK SL 3800]

Id question what the bores look like if the valley is that rusty, would have been fine when driven constantly but after sitting so long the bores might be too pitted to seal the rings. Pull the heads and Have a look.

 

[EYY]

Not much chance the lifters are okay. Find another engine for it.

 

[pr0tekk]

To add more to the story it did start straight away when I moved it to rip her apart, i was actually quite surprised it did. no knocking or sputtering, bit of white smoke from the tail, didn't get it warm at all though, probably on for about a minute max. Kind of why I had motivation to look into the girl,

The 'known' overheating was it was alarming hot a couple times and got parked up and passed on haha, was peak summer (40's)and an continuous handbrake alarm (first thing to do if it survives, that issue might be related to how much gunk is through the cooling system, if I was a radiator in this condition I wouldn't cool **** haha. tap water is **** here, rain water is rare, miners don't care. most local cars are 15 mins to work and back every day. I can only assume related.

Spark plugs are all equal, and not bad, brownish. is this any hope?

 

[devilly]

i would suggest to do what edals said, then you'll know if it needs to be done or your just wasting time and money,if you took the alternator off just pop it back on run the test and then you'll know for sure.

to me it looks like a lot of coolant has been getting in,and from what i have read most cases its just been the valley cover gasket.

 

[WHCapriceHBD]

I'd be taking the heads off and doing head gaskets as an absolute minimum. All the classic signs are there which say it needs head gaskets now or it will do shortly after its put back together.
BUT.
Its pretty rusted up and like EYY said, I'd be concerned about the lifter bores and cam lobes. It might wipe a lobe or wear a lifter/lifter bore which will cause low oil pressure issues and continue on from there with unresolvable problems. I'd be looking for another engine, as ecotecs are plentiful and cheap, no sense wasting time and money on a bad one.

 

[Immortality]

Bugger that, V6's are known for intake gasket issues leaking coolant into the valley and making the oil milky (when really bad) but head gaskets aren't to bad. I'd throw some intake gaskets at it, new oil, flush the coolant system and see how it goes.

Comes down to how much it owes you and what you want from it.

 

[the_boozer]

clean up the gasket surfaces and put it back together and see what happens if cash isn't the issue pull it down and rebuild it but thats opening pandora's box. As to weather you want to rebuild or find another motor that will depend on the standard of the vehicle and how much cash you want to spend

 

[motoxray]

Might be worth doing compression & leak down tests, rather than all the guesswork.
Why make extra work/expense for yourself??
It may well be just manifold gaskets, however, the aforementioned tests will be definitive.