Any Top Notch Buick Mechanics Here?

[GRUMPA]

My daughter got a 92 Buick Skylark used with just under 87k miles on it about 4mo ago. When she was coming back from town she blew a head gasket and had to have the car towed into the shop. Well they did something called a block test and it failed (whatever that is). Anyway she had the heads re-done and all work done by another mechanic and they had the car for 2mo. Well she got a call and was told it's ready and she was just a bit on the bubbly side, well it gets here (with her driving) and she's got this uptight look about her.

I found out that the car came with it's own tap-its, almost sounds like valve clatter and in a way doesn't. She told me that after spending $1400 for repairs the mechanic informed her that no matter what they did they couldn't get rid of the tap-its. I guess I could call it Rip-Off and sons garage, I feel like I was just asked to grab my ankles.

I go and have a talk with the mechanic and I was informed that when the head gasket went that it took the bearings with it, that and/or connecting rod bearings.

Back in the day I was a pretty decent shade tree mechanic (pre-complicated) and could do just about anything but automatic transmissions. I have yet to even take off the valve covers and check for proper adjustment on the valves and so on. Weird thing is, is either my hearing is not what it used to be or the sound almost sounds like it's coming from the main intake right where it gets bolted/screwed to the manifold. If I put my hand on it it's as if I can feel the tap-it, either that or it's my imagination. But if it is the bearings I'm not looking forward to removing this thing. And the temp gage is now reading at 220deg but I checked with my laser temp gage and it reads 190deg. Mechanic said that another previous mechanic didn't put all the water pump bolts in so it could have over-heated from that, and when he did that you have to jack up the engine and he crushed the oil pan, so that's another thing on my please step-daddy list.

SOoo, am I on the right track with this, or am I off base?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/16276504d441257d18.jpg

[tomme boy]

You sure it is not the timing chain? Some of these motors use a tensioner in the t-chain housing. When it gets worn, it rattles like crazy. The tappets are the lifters. Not sure if you can adjust them on this one or not. Find the oil pressure sending unit an hook up a mechanical gauge to see what the oil PSI is. That will tell a lot.

[tomme boy]

About the only way it would have took out the bearings is if she drove a long ways on the motor with antifreeze in the oil. Do you know if that was the case?

[GRUMPA]

About the only way it would have took out the bearings is if she drove a long ways on the motor with antifreeze in the oil. Do you know if that was the case?

As far as I know, when she just got out of town the car stalled on her. The car when it died, started smoking, whether it was steam or actual smoke I have no clue, she is the furthest thing from a machinic as I am from a bio-chemical engineer. I haven't really looked into the matter, but it was mentioned none of her idiot lights work, so I'll see about that some other time.

The timing chain sounds like a possibility and I'll check into that tomorrow. Today I have to go to town and that pretty much wipes out half a day. Why they have to shoe-horn engines in a car these days is beyond me, if it's the timing chain I might have 6" of working room.

[WILCO]

I'd file a complaint with the BBB, sue in small claims court for damages, sell the car as is and tell the kid to buy a better car.

[bobthenailer]

Belive it or not that engine not bad to work on compaired to the 2.8 /3.1 engine

[firefly1957]

My wife's car blew a head gasket in 2008 and the GM dealer told her the same about the noise 70,000 miles later with 205K on it it is still running fine!

Most hydrolic lifters have no adjustment now but am not sure about your engine Last car I saw with them was the Pontiac V-8's. I would worry about the over heating as that will warp the head very fast and is probably what caused problem in the first place.

[Jailer]

Sure it's not an exhaust manifold leak? A small leak (or several) can make what sounds like a clicking noise.

[geargnasher]

Tough to tell without hearing it. Crushed oil pan can make a nasty hollow knock, loose torque converter bolts can make a heck of a racket, deteriorated harmonic balancer elastomer can sound like crankshaft bearing knock, too, but what you're talking about sounds like valvetrain or exhaust leak like Jailer said. The "tappets" are not adjustable on those, the rockers bolt down solidly and depend on pushrod length/head thickness plus oil pressure inside the hydraulic lifters to take up the slack. Take off the oil cap while it's running and listen inside the opening with a rubber hose or piece of 3/4" PVC pipe. Also use the pipe or hose to "snorkel" around the exhaust manifolds and exhaust crossover pipe, you'll be able to isolate the noise that way by holding the pipe to your ear.

Another place I've seen them "click" with exhaust leaks is the EGR valve, should be on the firewall side of the throttle body underneath the fuel lines and have three solenoids together in a group. Sometimes the base cracks or one of the solenoids or the base gasket blows out causing a sharp clicking noise. If you find an exhaust leak with the snorkel, verify it by feeling for it with your hand on a cold engine start, and take it back to the guy that did the heads for a "recheck".

Those engines don't have a timing chain tensioner, just two sprockets and a chain like all the older cam-in-block GM engines did. They don't usually ever make noise on the 3.8L, but the cam sensor magnet can fall out of the plastic camshaft sprocket and cause an instant shutdown.

Gear

[GRUMPA]

I finally got around to snorkeling the engine, forgot how well that little trick worked. I ran the end of the snorkel all around the engine, took off the oil cap and inserted the snorkel in there and that side of it was rather silent.

I checked all the little do-dads on top of the engine and all seemed rather silent. I think it's the 1-3-5 side (closest to the firewall) and that's when they snorkel starts to really work. I'm beginning to think that maybe the mechanic was right about the journals/ bearings being bad, when I run the snorkel along the exhaust manifold the noise increases but I have rather limited room to get my hand and the end of the snorkel in there and get to far down there. I crawled underneath of it and reached my hand up under the exhaust manifold and I don't feel anything like leaks.

I've been checking it cold, when it warms up which seems to take about 5min the noise starts to quiet down to the point of it not being noticed, it's still there but just not as loud. I haven't taken off the valve cover yet, that'll be tomorrow.

[Jailer]

I've been checking it cold, when it warms up which seems to take about 5min the noise starts to quiet down to the point of it not being noticed, it's still there but just not as loud. I haven't taken off the valve cover yet, that'll be tomorrow.

That right there is a sure sign of an exhaust leak. It almost sounds like a cracked or warped exhaust manifold.

[geargnasher]

What Jailer said.

Gear

[Lloyd Smale]

My guess is fuel injectors. they will click and its even more prevelent in the older gm cars. It doesnt hurt a thing.

[bobthenailer]

those injecters do tick and it is normal , as far as the noise going away when run for awhile it sounds like a lifter or a ex leak when cold

[SMCCORD]

I'm with Jailer. Sounds like an exhaust leak. Those manifold and crossover pipes were prone to warping/cracking on the rear. It maybe something as simple as an exhaust flange that wasn't seated good. I have had to get the engines hot and then loosen and retighten the bolts to correct some leaks. At first I thought it might have been a loose rocker arm , or worse, pushrod in the wrong place. Some of those GM engines have a long/short pushrod setup and can cause a heck of a mess if put back wrong.

[GRUMPA]

I'm hoping that the problem(s) are as simple as the exhaust but with my luck I'm sure it isn't but we'll see. It's been years since I've had to do any sort of major surgery on an engine but my gut tells me it's bad lifters, who knows if the mechanic put them back in there original places, and from what I've read if you replace the lifters you should be replacing the cam.

[GRUMPA]

I went out this morning and made up a sound file if anybodies interested in hearing what this thing sounds like. I was amazed at how "pronounced" the clatter was in the video I made that I extracted the sound from. I can't host it here all they seem to except are picture/image files, but for the better at it than me people just send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you, it's 13sec long and just over 320kb. Just e-mail me from the my profile page.