Never work on a j body!

Topic: Never work on a j body! (Read 1822 times) previous topic - next topic

Never work on a j body!

December 24, 2004, 10:55:41 AM

The worst thing ever! so far anyways...My moms water pump went in her sunfire the other day and Ill be in the garadge still working on it on christmas..maybe Ill get out of going to some family functions

she told me this light in her car has been going on and off for awhile and it started to overheat and grind on her way to work. When we checked her car the coolant was empty so we added some and turned the car on..ALL of the coolant poored out the bottom! When we checked the oil it was full of coolant! I asked how long she drove like that and she said that she though the light was a gas light or something and that she went to the gas station and then to work. :wtf:
I signed up on J-body.org and they were pretty helpful but a little late to tell me that you dont have to take off the timing cover and chan on the 2.3l

the book said that there were water pump cover bolts inside the timing chan cover and there wasent! Now we have to put the chan back on. :disappoin
Well the water pump was broken in half and the bearings/seals were gone and pooring coolant in the engine, and 2 of the fan blades were broken off inside the pump. what a poor design!!!!! I wonder how long it had coolant in the oil before it started making noise... :dunno:

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #1 – December 24, 2004, 11:25:40 AM

holly !!! good luck.
sounds like you have your hands full and a good excuse to stay away from the family tree functions :grinno:

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #2 – December 24, 2004, 11:56:20 AM

Mostly the BFs family functions!

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #3 – December 24, 2004, 05:24:18 PM

yeah my freinds 89 cavileir his power steering pump seized and we had to drop the engine. your luck its a 4 banger. his is a 3.1 v-6

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #4 – December 24, 2004, 06:03:03 PM

I HATE chevy 3.1's. The wife had one. It would not die, I'll give it that, but it was a grumpy SOB though. Started running really hot one day (would get very close to the high mark on the temp gauge and even off) and could never get rid of the problem. Cylinders pressure tested good. Water pump good. Electric fan and switch for fan both good. Radiator good. Thermostat good. I can only guess that a water passage was slightly clogged somewhere in the block. Traded her in that way dealer didn't care. Gave me 1000 bux on a 9 yr old car with bad paint a slipping tranny and a motor that ran hot with 120K on the clock.

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #5 – December 26, 2004, 10:00:38 AM

I might have it put together by now but autozone gave me the wrong thermostat and was closed by the time I got back there! + on top of the 10-12 inches of snow we got the other day, it added another 2 inches today.....sooo I have to shovel the driveway.. again then push my cougar out in the snow.. again and the cougars brakes must be stuck cuz its a bitch to push around!

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #6 – December 26, 2004, 04:34:09 PM

You got bitten by the Quad 4 plague

I know all about those silly things, having worked at a GM dealership. Doesn't matter, though, because even if you had the 2.2 you'd be puttingt a head gasket in it right now instead of a water pump, and if you had the 3100/3400 V6 you'd be doing an intake gasket. At $40k miles your low-level GM (J, L, N body) WILL cost you $600, no matter which engine you have

Re: Never work on a j body!

Reply #7 – December 27, 2004, 05:24:07 PM

I was up till almost 5:00am last night finishing up, shoveling snow for the 2nd time that day and getting cleaned up to go home the roads were slipery so we had to drive 20mph home just to find out that we left the keys to the house back at my moms! (we can start the truck then take the keys out) Dave had already shut the truck off when he realized that the keys were not in the truck so he had to break into the house at 4:00 in the morning!
Then this morning when we went to start the car up, the timing chan was making noise and I gave the car a little gas and it stalled....By now I could cry. Neather of us have ever done any major work to anything but our fords and some older vehicles. Will you come fix my timing chain for me Thunder Chicken? ...for free
I guess there is a lesson to be learned here, if the timing chain seems to loose,,it probly is and you should probly replace it. So the water pump is fixed but now The timing chain is ****ed!

Is there anything I should know about putting the timing chain on before I do it again and why it skipped time when I reved the engine? The timing chain was fine as far as I know but when we took the timing cover off (like the book said) the chain kind of fell off when he touched it? Also if you worked at a dealership Thunder Chicken is it normal for the water pump to be broken completely in half and fall out in 2 pieces? could that be a reason the timing chain got messed up or how eles would that happen?

Help please.. thanks