:ball: I have a 1972 skylark. 350 engine code J. 4bbl carb. the current engine is a reman from marshall engines through advance auto parts. i changed the oil religiously on it. and i never saw oil stains from leaks where i parked then one month it suddenly started to heat up quickly, eventually though the thermometer would quickly drop when i hit a certain speed or gear. so i thought it was a malfunction. then one night on the highway i hear an odd noise from the engine and it the motor died. when i towed it to the mechanic he said the oil was thick and black and looked like it came from a diesel engine..... what does that mean? im college student and this car was a gift from my grandpa hes still making payments on it for me. i cant afford to buy another engine. in yalls experience what happened and how do i fix it this is my daily driver.
Almost impossible to say what happened to it going by your description of things, but judging by what you did describe, it sounds as tho you overheated it and locked up the engine, but who knows
is there any other information that i need to provide? if i did overheat and lock up the engine is that different than it siezing and if so what are the remedies?
When I do a google search for "marshall engines", quite a few hits come back, "dont buy a Marshall engine", an entry at the RipOff Report, they have a black mark at the BBB, and so on, which is understandable with the number of engines they rebuild (they have a 5% defect rate). I know that doesn't help, but it's worth considering for the future. Is that all the mechanic said? S/he didn't have anything else to say about what might have happened? Is the engine still under warrantee? EDIT: Forgot to mention - from the mechanic's description, it sounds like sludge - in the '80's there was an epidemic in Europe called the Black Death, which happened to many engines. Be that as it may, sludge is [mostly] caused by inattentive service intervals, but you mention you changed the oil religiously ... sludge will occur with a combination of things: not changing the oil, excessively high engine temps (which breaks down the oil, creating sludge) and other factors, such as lots of "stop-n-go" traffic and infrequent short trips. You mention the car's engine temp reading rise - I'll guess the engine has been overheating without you realizing it. Most of these engine rebuilders use a special bulb on the block and heads, which pops if the engine overheats - thus they can tell you that they won't warranty the engine because of overheating. You might check to see if you see one of these on the engine.
Seizing, locking up, same thing. You may have over heated it, the sound you heard from the engine may have been detonation from the cylinder heads getting very hot. The pistons may have scuffed/seized to the cylinder walls, the oil may have gotten too hot and the oil pressure dropped and you scuffed/scored a few bearings, possibly ruining the crankshaft. What Im saying is there are quite a few different scenarios that could have happened, and you wont know until the engine is taken out and taken apart. What caused it to overheat? If thats what happened, leaky radiator? bad hose somewhere? OR was it just a crappy rebuild buy a company that thinks every engine is just a small block Chevy? How long have you had the engine installed and operating?
Are you certain it is seized? What happens if you try to start it? What kind of noise does the starter make, if any? Have you tried using a wrench on the crank bolt to see if there is movement? The overheating and sludge does not sound promising, but don't go directly do doom without checking out the easy stuff. If it does turn over at all and has any chance of starting, I would suggest an oil change before starting it! My son's Chevy pickup seized at one time and would not turn over at all. I turned the engine over in reverse using the crank bolt and determined he had a broken connecting rod. Truck was not worth the repair, but it is worth checking for reverse cranking on yours too! If you have receipts for the oil changes, it couldn't hurt contacting Marshall's. Best of luck to you!
My temp guage bounced around like that one day but it wasn't defective. It turned out to be a cracked radiator hose losing water as I was driving.
i know they arent the best but i needed an engine and it fit my budget. its under warranty but only if its not due to owner neglect. and i didnt but if they think it overheated because of me or the oil they wont fix it. i dont remember seeing any bulbs...
radiator has no leaks and fluid is fine. all grommetts are snug and sealed. i had nothing leaking out from under my car. the engine has been in there for maybe a year
when the key is turned you hear the starter trying to turn but it cant. and the starter is fine. im not sure if the mechanic tried turning it by hand. he seemed pretty adamant that it was dead. i stupidly didnt keep those receipts i didnt figure id need em if i kept all the reciepts from stuff for the car id be inundated.
newest development marshall told me to take out the engine and put it on a pallet tied down to send to them. do i need to drain the engine before i send it? worst case scenario they dont cover the damage and im up **** creek. how do i proceed? im applying to nursing program and im gonna need to be able to drive from different campus areas. tried the bike and bus its too far distance to cover quickly.
I realize I may have painted Marshall as a "bad guy", but they do have a reputation for one of the best percentages of reliability for rebuilds. What I pointed out were some anomalies for them. The fact they suggest you ship them the engine says a lot - many rebuilders would say otherwise. I understand your plight being a college student and in need of wheels. I would NOT drain the oil and replace it, because they may say you're trying to hide something - these people will know it when they tear into the engine. If you decide to, crate the engine and ship via truck freight. You might get yourself a new engine. We know they will look to see that it was not a fault of their rebuild, but it's worth a try. What's your other option? Opening the engine yourself to determine the problem and fixing it yourself. Or allow some local shop to do it for you. The quandary is this: if you ship the engine to Marshall and they decide that they are not at fault, you either have to pay them to fix it and then the shipping charges, or have them ship it back (at your expense again) and then take care of it yourself. My question again - is it still under warrantee?
I have indirect knowledge with these mass-production rebuilders. My brother had a rebuilt engine installed by a popular mass-prod rebuilder in Houston (Thunderbolt Engines and Transmissions). The engine went south - turned out it was a blown head gasket. He returned it to them - they inspected the bulbs and found them in a state showing engine overheating ... the verdict? They said because the engine overheated, it caused the blown head gasket. But this is a two-way street. A blown head gasket can cause an engine to overheat (this happened to me a few weeks ago). So you're sort of stuck at the mercy of these folks. Maybe you can plead the "starving college student" angle - explain that you've been meticulous with maintenance and that it's important you need the vehicle ... and that you would never neglect it because you know you need it for your studies. Sometimes working the emotional angle can work wonders. Just some thoughts.
ill try to explain it to them. but the last lady that i talked to gave me the shaft over the phone. yes its under warranty like i said but only if their manufacture of it caused the malfunction
Where are you located? Maybe a local Buick guy can lend a hand? http://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=155552
i live in austin texas. specifically south austin im 15 min from downtown. according to that map nearest members are near dallas houston and lubbock all of those cities are at least 3.5 hrs hwy time from my city. does anyone know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy that can help me out in austin?
There is one thing I noticed here that hasn't been addressed, unless I missed it. You said you changed oil religiously so I am wondering how many miles you have put on this new engine? If it crapped out when it was fairly new I would suspect a problem with the engine, but if you have put 5,000 miles on it, well, you get the picture. Also, a temperature gauge rising and dropping quickly could indicate it was low on coolant. In order to have an accurate constant reading the coolant has to be touching the sending unit, which means full, otherwise all you have is hot air on it which will give you an entirely different reading, so if it is fluctuating I would suspect that the coolant is pumping but not always in contact with the sender, which means low. I'm not choosing sides here, it could very well have been a malfunction of the engine, but understand that once the engine left the Marshall facility it now up to you to do your part. How long had the gauge been doing this? Just before the engine let go or had it been going on for awhile?
I think thats what I would do, have a local Buick guy take a look at it for you, if it turns out that it was a fault of yours that the engine pooped out, then its a waste of your money to pull and try shipping an almost 500 lb chunk of iron, thats IF it gets there without any damage. I'd bite the bullet and pull that engine, take it too a reputable machine shop that KNOWS Buick engines, have 'em go thru it, and find out what its going to take to fix it THE RIGHT WAY, and go from there. Another VERY IMPORTANT thing, check the rest of your cooling system!!
Very good point. This has happened to me on one of my cars. This is also a reason why folks drill a small hole (1/16") in the thermostat's housing - to allow any air bubble to purge, and allow the thermostat to open as designed.
