Overheating

Tiny
CHRISTINE1983
  • MEMBER
  • 1989 CHEVROLET BISCAYNE
  • 3 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 996,699 MILES
I have a newly acquired 1989 Caprice wagon and it is overheating. The prior owner put cold fluid into a hot engine without cranking it. I have coolant leaking from the engine part and not the radiator or hoses that I can tell. Is my engine done? If so what is the best way to go about fixing it price wise?
Thursday, June 21st, 2018 AT 7:17 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
STEVE W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 15,454 POSTS
Adding cold liquid to an overheated empty engine is a really good way to crack the block or heads and ruin the engine. It sounds like the engine you have is cooked.
Price wise depends on what the rest of the cars condition is and what you intend to use it for. An 1989 wagon was usually equipped with the Oldsmobile 307 as the base engine. Not a bad engine but not a real easy one to upgrade. If it was mine and in really good shape body wise I would probably get a re-manufactured engine. That gets you a zero mile engine with a warranty. You could hunt for a used engine but most will have a lot of miles and need to be rebuilt which puts you in about the same range as the re-manufactured.
Is the body very good? How about all the rest?
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Thursday, June 21st, 2018 AT 11:55 PM

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