So I got an awesome 1984 z28 silver bullet, it had only 65k miles on it, last registration was in 89. T-tops, gold and black interrior. Sat in new mexico since 89.... so obviously alll the rubber was burnt pretty bad. Even the tires are at 9 tread depth, but has serious dry rot.


so my issue is this. My fan won't work, unless I have the heater on. I took it to a shop, paid 400, they said I had one of the three thermostats a wrong one, a duplicate and a pig tail was frayed. Then they said my computer (cpm) was faulty... (-40 temp reading).

he said he fixed it, and to ignore my temp gauge becase it always spikes when I turn the key.

so I picked my car up, took it on the highway for 4 miles doing 65, not 75 our speed limit, and just as I got off the off ramp my baby started decelerating on its own slowly, and I was at 375, the top of the orange. The it shut off. I opened my hood and had black smoke out of my air thing, and from my driver side under side engine. I tried to start it and it acted like I had a bad battery.... you know that sound. A tow truck tried to jump me and it started but you need to hold the gas down.... and it sounded horrible... the dude told me to cut it it sounded like I dropped a rod(?). Wtf is going On? Any ideas bros?

p.s. it also had that smell, that oil smell. The smell that brings dread.... it wasn' leaking, well a little, but not like I blew it... Idk.

 

There is a lot of work and verification to getting a car running that has been sitting for 20+ years. It sounds like you overheated the engine until the piston seized in the motor, This can cause all kinds of damage to the internal of the engine. God know what part of your coolant system failed because none of it was designed to last 30 years of sitting. Engineers only designed these cars to last 8-10 years total.

I was a GM master tech in the 80's. If I was trying to bring a 30 year stored car back on the road I would expect to spend about 40 hour worth of work and about $500 in parts plus tires, I would most likely disable the computer system because to get that dependable would cost more then the car is worth. I would not trust the brakes over 5 miles per hour and that is if the park brakes worked.

The flash point of regular oil (when it smokes) is around 420 degs. From my personal experience any engine that got that hot is not even worth taking a part. Its scrap. It would cost you more to correctly repair that engine then what a new GM 350 target master engine would cost to buy and that will come with 3 year/36,000 miles warranty from GM.

 

Thanks. That' what I thought. I paid this mechanic 1400 to do the front brakes (the drum rears were at 80%), flush my coolant system, change all 3 thermostats all new pig tails, new air filter, and some other stuff. He said my fan worked just ignore my gauge. I' so pissed, because if I ran my heater my fan worked.

It's a limited edition, you know with stainless steel behind the t tops, with the bow tie edge in on both sides.

wonder what I should do if he told me he fixed my fan but it wasn' fixed. My engine temp gauge was at the top of the orange when this happened.

 

The oil smoking is the true tell, engines don't come back from that. Factory gages are crap. $1400 should have been enough for him to heat cycle the car several times or straight wire the fan if needed.... Here the thing tho a car with a functioning coolant system should not overhear on the highway. After about 25 Miles per hour the fan becomes useless because the stock fan only move air to about 20 mph. A car going 65 mph has 4 times the cooling as one parked with the fan on.

Sounds like the wiring was a mess because the fan should not come on with heat, I should come on with defrost if its a AC car (weather its working or not) or with AC. Think about it, when you want heat in the car why would the car try to cool the coolant.

 

So you were right brother. I had a locked cylinder. My engines screwed. He said some how I lost 3 quarts of oil. I doubt that. I did an oil change in February, I do have leaks, but basicly quarter size. I think it over heated, but he said no it was the oil level. Either way I need a new engine now. Do you know any good engine dealers was thinking a 350 or 383 stroker. In it to win it now...thanks for the help

 

I would not be surprised at all if the rear main ripped out of it. That could drain 3 quarts of fluid in minutes. The only cooling the pistons get is from oil. So running out of oil will cause the pistons to swell oversize faster then a blown radiator.

Its all about budget and what is allowed in your area. Believe it or not you 1984 had a pretty complicated computer controlled carburetor setup on it from the factory for emissions. Someplaces will not let you get rid of it. Where I live the only thing they really check for is if the Cat was removed and no check engine lite on pre-2000 cars.

Also keep in mind transmission are designed to support the engine they where mated to from the factory. Yours would not last long behind a basic target master 350 GM sells. A 383 could blow the trans and the rear if you ever got traction. 84 4 speed automatic can be problematic and saw a lot of warranty repair even with the under powered 305. GM did not really get the 700R4 figured out until 87.