Oil/ coolant

[bjmullins]

I have a 1980 928. Recently I experienced very bad things. IT began to overheat, something that has happened from time to time, but it always would cool down, well it didn't this night and all the sudden the oil pressure began to fall. I stopped the car and opened the hood, there was a great deal of steam and what appeared to be oil coming out of a slight crack in the radiator plastic end tank. The next day I removed the radiator, I was hoping that it was the oil cooler, but my car doesn't have one. I drained the radiator and it was all coolant, no oil. However the oil was about 4 quarts low and on the OUTSIDE of the engine, basically the lower half and adjacent parts (alternator) were covered in oil. I drained the oil and detected no water in the oil. I decided to do a compression check. I could not run the engine so I had to do it cold. Basically it seemed ok 6 of the readings were about 120 psi and 2 (the number 2 and 6 cylinders) were about 110 psi. I guess this is basically good?? Anyway I figure that what happened was the water pump failed, the car over heated and the oil got so hot it got out of the engine somehow (the oil pump o-ring? the oil pressure sender?) However my concern is that the block or a head is cracked? How likely is it that oil could be leaking within the block or head into the water jacket? Can the head gasket fail between one of these two channels and leave the seal around the cylinder intact? If the oil overheats a great degree, what is the most likely place it could leak? Would there be any value to trying to pressurize the coolant system and look for water? Also after setting for a couple of days I opened the oil drain and there still seemed to be no water in the oil. And FINALLY on the top of the heads and cam covers there is a very light colored stain, sort of yellowish-brownish-gold, it is a little sticky and I don't know if it was there before or not, could it be a clue?? In the next couple of days I will remove and replace the water pump and basically once it is replaced and nothing obviously wrong appears anywhere else I will run it to see what might happen, good or bad idea??

[Wayne 962]

Gosh, when I hear about a car overheating, the first thing I turn to is the thermostat. Did you check to make sure that it's opening? It could be causing most of your problems. When the car is overheated, and bails out like it did, you can experience all sorts of side-problems. However, I think that the first problem that you mentioned was the most important - that the car was overheating. Fix that problem, and you should be able to nick the rest...

-Wayne

[Britwrench]

This is big problem time. First of all get the compression and leakdown tested and pressure test the cooling system.
I'm pretty sure you will find somethings showing up there.

If it's run real hot and now leaks, you will probably find the best thing to do is call 928 International and get a replacement engine. We have never had much luck with seriously overheated 928 (and 944 ) engines.