Worth Saving - BHG Sludge

[DonS1mpson]

I thought I'd grab some opinions from the MK3 crowd if I should junk the

Did a bit more of my Head Gasket job today. Went to take off the cam covers, removed the oil feed topup pipe and saw this

And here's a shot of the shite on the cams

The motor has 141k on it, the previous owner says that she used the car a lot. No knocking yet, but with oil in that sort of state, it is not going to be long before It starts surely?

I'm in two states of mind right now. A part of me wants to just get it finished and use it as a daily while another is telling me to give up, get rid, buy another E30 BMW and buy my dream black TT AeroTop MK3 in a couple years. Seeing how I've got not attachment to the car and a rebuild is completely out of the question, the later option is seeming more tempting by the second.

So, after seeing how much Sludge has infected my oiling system, is my car worth finishing off?

 

[Jaguar_5]

Whens the last time the oil was changed, and was there a bunch of water that drained with the oil?

Definitely doesn't look good

 

[DonS1mpson]

I don't know when the oil was last changed (I got zero history with the POS). The previous owner didn't mention an oil change, all she said was that she had drove it like this for months daily without any problem (other then having to add water once in a while :nono

 

[jdub]

At least the cams are nice and clean

My bet is the bearings have already taken a hit.

What you could do is get some kerosene and use it to flush the engine...turn it over for a 3-5 minutes with the EFI fuse pulled and the spark plugs removed. Drain the crap and refill with a 5W-20 SuperTech (WalMart) oil and a SuperTech filter. Do the same thing...turn it over for a 3-5 minutes with the EFI fuse pulled and the spark plugs removed. (Make sure you have a well charged battery for all this)

Drain again and change to a SuperTech 5W-30...run this oil a 100 miles or so.

Change the oil again with something a higher quality and a Wix filter. You probably want to use something in the 40W multigrade class...Pennzoil Platinum 5W-40 Euro would be a good choice.

 

[Nomad707]

just make sure the bearings arent complete crap by now, and slap a HG on.. and use for a trade in for another supra if you can find one at a dealership.

That looks BHG'd BIGTIME though.. thats TRUE milkshake.. i haven't seen milkshake that bad in a long time.

im suprised it still even runs.. suprised it isn't also knocking up a storm.

 

[Clip]

when the previous owner added water, did she mention to which cap?

 

[Finnon]

kinell dude haha thats a propper bhg

 

[Nomad707]

AHH i just walked to the store and thought about this thread the whole way there and back.. and about how i have given up on a supra..

I think you should go through with it, fix it... you may regretting parting it out or getting rid of it.. and when your done there is a sense of accomplishment and pride that cannot be bought.. the feeling of driving something you fixed.. even if its just a HG replacement, is a good feeling.

/2cents

 

[DonS1mpson]

AHH i just walked to the store and thought about this thread the whole way there and back.. and about how i have given up on a supra..

I think you should go through with it, fix it... you may regretting parting it out or getting rid of it.. and when your done there is a sense of accomplishment and pride that cannot be bought.. the feeling of driving something you fixed.. even if its just a HG replacement, is a good feeling.

/2cents

I hear what you're saying. Even when taking this thing apart, I thought about how much more I'll appreciate this time by putting it together with my bare hands. I know for example that I'll be less willing to drive like a complete idiot in it because I'd know what I'd done to get it to a nice state, and what a PITA it would be to redo all that work

Problem is, I have no attachment to this car at all. Not the feelings that I had for my old 88, I blubbered like a baby when I sold that thing, which this thing, I'd be quite happy to see the back of it with the money it owes me in my back pocket.

If I did give up on this thing, it would wouldn't mean that I'd be through with Supras, it would just mean that I'd stay well clear of cheap POS cars like this one, and buy something that hasn't got any glaring problems, ideally a Black JZA70 Targa . I know what you're saying about driving something with pride, but the way this thing is going, I'm not going to get any driving done it in at all! haha

The problem is that it is a complete toss up as to if it will last or not. If I can get 20k miles tops out of it. But with oil like that, it is not likely, is it?

 

[Jaguar_5]

Have you drained the oil yet to see how much water is in there?

Honestly, at the age our cars are approaching - the chance that you'll find a replacement that you can just drive as is without eventually needing a rebuild, is slim

This depends on your goals of course - but If you're planning on getting rid of it to get another supra, you might just want to consider rebuilding what you have

If however you've decided your shell is not worth saving, it might not be a bad idea to get rid of it and have a better platform to start over with

Just my .02

P.S. I have a N/A 7M that has withstood quite the DD beating, i overheated it, blew the hell out of the HG, and have since done a basic HG job - using a head that Ian told me was probably not going to last (burnt valves) and have put at least 5k miles on it since then, it drives just great! Mind you I had no coolant in my oil so YMMV (I still changed the oil at the same time as the HG job of course!!)

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

Yeah the cams look like they were steam cleaned

I'd check the oil out to see how bad it is, you might get more of a idea of what to do next. You might luck out and the bearings maybe not so bad.

 

[jgcable]

chances are if it didn't knock before you took it apart it won't knock once you get it back together.

 

[jdub]

chances are if it didn't knock before you took it apart it won't knock once you get it back together.

Ummm...No.
Educate yourself by reading this:
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20486

Why do you think I posted such a detailed motor flush
Even then, the damage to the bearing may be too much. A very good flush is the motor's only chance.

 

[DonS1mpson]

A very good flush is the motor's only chance.

But hasn't the damage already been done?

 

[jdub]

Your other choice is to pull the pan and change the bearings

 

[GrimJack]

You should definitely save that BHG sludge. Put it in little vials and sell it to the Mk3 crowd as talismans.

 

[DonS1mpson]

Your other choice is to pull the pan and change the bearings

Or trailer the POS to a junkyard .

I'm asking for your professional opinion here - With the "oil" in that sort of state and the possibility that it has been ran like that daily for several months, do you think the bearings are going to last longer than 5 minutes under daily usage after a good flush like you suggested? (a rebuild simply isn't an option here).

 

[jdub]

Have you drained the oil yet?

That's the million dollar question though that you really have to answer for yourself.

The real downside is the time you would have to invest finishing the BHG job...I assume you have already bought the parts to do it. The only other expense is the oil/filters for a flush. Me? I'd probably give it a shot. If it doesn't work, it's going to the junkyard anyway.

The damage to the bearing is going to depend on how long and how hard it was run.

 

[Island_Yota]

If you want to save the motor drain the oil, pull off the filter and cut it open, see whats inside.. if you find lots of metal in the oil and filter its not worth doing. If its not bad drop the subframe, drop the oil pan and see whats in the pan itself and in the oil pump, again if you see much, dont bother.

If its not bad and you decide to save it id drain the oil, drain the coolant and flush the cooling system with water. Run it a bit with some cheap oil/filter, change it again, run it a bit, check your oil pressure to see if its at all decent, drain it. That should get rid of the milkshake for the most part, if the oil pressure is ok id still personally drop the subframe and do the rod bearings and atleast check the oilpump/flush it or buy an ebay one(about $100). Change the headgasket, drive it with some cheap oil again.. flush the coolant again, change the oil to something good and hope it holds up.

 

[Poodles]

Hell, if it hasn't knocked yet, you can get the proper sized bearings and slap them in...

It's not that expensive, just time consuming...