Here is a quick pic I got. They have it in a room with not much light.

 

Looks like there may be some "milk shake" there in the lifter valley.

 

Yep lol. It showed no signs of an issue though except the fact it was losing coolant.

 

Oh yeah, best part... This one bites me in the a$$!!! So I'm going to need a new/rebuilt/used motor? We sold one, what, 2 weeks ago? Grrrr It had the lifters and gaskets replaced in it a year before we sold it.

 

I am really confused. Milkshake oil should have been painfully obvious before the motor was torn down. Are you saying these guys could not find a coolant leak and did not drain the oil to check it? Seriously? If they knew the motor had coolant in the oil they sure did not tell you the worst case.

Broken head bolts are not super uncommon and coolant in the oil in a common side effect. Broken head bolts are more common on motors that have been over heated or driven while the coolant system cannot hold pressure. Then can “just break” but that is pretty rare in a high miles motor. They will break because of a manufactures defect (a fold in the cold forming process) but these normally fail under warranty with less than 10K on the motor.

If you drove the car with coolant in the oil the whole motor needs rebuilt. When you put coolant under that much pressure it becomes a pretty nasty acid, this acid will strip the babbitt off all the bearings in the motor. There are a few guys on this site that have done complete rebuilds on 3.4s. It can get very pricey. On a higher miles motor you can have 2K just in machine shop work. Maybe you should look into a remanufactured engine. Remans are almost always cheaper then rebuilds and they come with a warranty. Used is an option but remember you are buying an engine that is 18 years old that just was in a bad accident.

Back in the day when I did warranty repair for GM we repaired everything. If the engine had 5 stretched connecting rods we replaced 5 connecting rods and 5 bearings. The main exception to this was coolant in the oil. GM learned a long time ago it is not worth fix a motor that has run with coolant in the oil. Coolant in the oil meant the customer got a nice new crate engine.

 

We have no idea how many miles are on the motor. Car has 154K but this isn't the motor that came in it.

The only thing I recall them telling me is that the car had too much oil in it. They let some out at the oil filter. It looked like a fresh change which really it was. They got it at normal level and cranked it and let it run a few minutes and then the level went back up. There was no signs of it mixing. As far as driving it this way, I really haven't. It's been parked or in the shop the majority of the 2 years I've had it.

 

If the car was not run with coolant in the oil what makes them think there is an issue with the bottom of the motor? The motor should be fine. Replace what needs replaced and put her back together.

Nothing about this make sense. They are telling the motor is shot because there is coolant in the oil but there was no sign of coolant in the oil before they torn it down? I have seen a lot of motors trashed by coolant and I NEVER had to pull the intake to figure it out. Now you have the labor from tearing the motor apart inside the car and your going to have to pull the motor anyway. That is going to be 4-5 hours of labor to figure out something they should have been able to see on the dip stick. Like I said this makes no sense.


Edit:
I just thought of something. Is pretty common for motors that are not driven a lot to build condensation in the top of the valve covers and the base of the intake. It looks a lot like the coolant milkshake. If that dripped off the intake when they removed it you could see what is in the picture. As this would just be a little water mixed with the oil it would not hurt the motor. I have seen younger mechanic mix up condensation with coolant in the oil. The big different is water will not stay in the oil once the car is hot. If they would pull the oil filter right now and the oil looked good or even like dirty oil there is no reason to think the motor is damaged other then what they can see. If it is the milkshake color the motor is shot.

Condensation would not have shown on the dipstick either, coolant would.

 

Nothing shown on the dipstick at all. So if it's condensation, what was causing the oil level to rise after they let some off at the filter?

My husband is suggesting a new motor all together which surprises me. Now if I go with a new one, where do I start looking for one?

 

Well the car was run with coolant like that at least on the trip from my house to there lol. He did mention something about the bearings. Maybe they could be damaged but wont know until it's pulled? This guy is 55 to 60 years old so I'd think he has "some" experience with this.

 

But like Gorn was saying, if the mechanic suspected the bearings got trashed, why is he wasting his time (and presumably charging you) to tear apart the upper end of the engine, when he intends to yank the engine to inspect the bearings?