Viper breakdown please help!!!!!

[Derek]

I was driving my car today in 20 degree weather. All the sudden temperature gauge was heading close to 220. I shut it off imediately, I started it back up again and discovered there is no heat coming out from the vents, Coolant level was empty in the surge tank. Hoses have no pressure. I pulled the dip stick, and found that the oil got mixed with coolant, the milky stuff. Before that my timming chain cover gasket was leaking, did I blow the head gasket??? or is it from the timming chain gasket???? Please help.

 

[trainville]

If you have a Gen I and it hasn't had the head gaskets replaced, that's quite likely as they are notorious for it. That's unfortunate but a cheaper fix than throwing a rod, etc.

Look on the bright side (if there is one)......you have the rest of winter to get it fixed right. Be thankful it didn't happen in June! Good luck and maybe some of the mechanics here can chime in and narrow the problem down.

 

[hemibeep]

Like trainville said with the GEN 1.
But, If you did indeed have coolant leak prior, it can take some time to get all of the water out of oil system. TRUST ME!. I had a block crack and even after rebuilding the motor, the small amount of coolant in oil cooler and lines still make oil "milky".
If you have blown head gasket, you should see "steam" out of exhaust.

Also, if you had a leak and coolant was low, see the posts about "burping" system, which can take several tries.

 

[Derek]

no steam coming out from tail pipe at all. Oil is definately mixed in with coolant. Do you guys think I should replaced the head gasket as well.

 

[hemibeep]

Don't know if the viper coolant system will allow you to look into resevoir tank with cap off(cold) and look for bubbles/smell exhaust in coolant.

Is this GEN 1 or Gen 2?

Also, was the water already in oil from timing cover leak?

I would do more research before I jumped to head gaskets, such as pulling 1 plug at a time to see if any look different. (steam cleaned...oily...etc).

 

[Derek]

it's a 96 GTS

 

[hemibeep]

I personally overreact.
After the first rebuild, I was very cautious.

If it were me, I would:
1. top off the coolant and "burp" system.

2.Change the oil/filter. (note:it will take at LEAST 3 oil changes to get the "milky" oil out) the heads have a lot of pockets where the oil pools up, and this milky oil takes a while to work its way out.

3. pull each spark plug at look to see if one or two were different than the rest.

4. If 1-3 don't show any changes, pressurize the coolant system to about 20lbs with pan off and plugs out and look for coolant.

Yes, I am anal and cheap and went through these steps several times on my car. It would have been a lot quicker to take it to the dealer, but not nearly as fun!

 

[99 R/T 10]

Nothing good will come from this Something has happened. If you're lucky, it is only a head gasket. I wouldn't bother with refill and oil change. Just tear down to the block, check the heads carefully, have them checked by a professional. Pressure check and see if the base is true. You can do the tear down in the car. Take the hood off for easy access. Do you have a manual?

 

[Derek]

after talking to a few local Viper guys here and on the forum. People with similar experince due the timming chain cover gasket failure.

 

[C-Note]

Whatever the problem is make sure to get that old oil out of that engine, coolant can soften the babot on the bearings. So your car sits for a while when you are fixing your leak, then when that is fixed and you fire it back up you will end up losing the bottom end of the engine.

 

[99 R/T 10]

I hope they are right, it would be a lot less of a hassle for sure. Good luck

 

[Derek]

a forum member is towing the car to his house later today and will be worked on thoday.

 

[revived_gearhead]

Do not attempt to remove the milky stuff and just refill the oil. The gasket behind the front cover definitely blew. You need to completely disassemble the motor and have it completely cleaned. The coolant probably hurt the rod bearings at the least! Replace all of the rod and main bearings and have the lifters flushed. Every internal component needs to be thoroughly cleaned to remove every trace of coolant. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but speaking from eperience. As my wife and buddies said, I enjoyed the ordeal in a sick kind of way! You will know your V-10 inside and out.

PS> Thank God for Mobile One! If we ran standard oil, the motor would be toast!

 

[SNKEBIT]

Do not attempt to remove the milky stuff and just refill the oil. The gasket behind the front cover definitely blew. You need to completely disassemble the motor and have it completely cleaned. The coolant probably hurt the rod bearings at the least! Replace all of the rod and main bearings and have the lifters flushed. Every internal component needs to be thoroughly cleaned to remove every trace of coolant. Not to be the bearer of bad news, but speaking from eperience. As my wife and buddies said, I enjoyed the ordeal in a sick kind of way! You will know your V-10 inside and out.

PS> Thank God for Mobile One! If we ran standard oil, the motor would be toast!

not to doubt anything you just said. But I've cleaned up lots of engines by doing repeated oil changes and I've NEVER had one come back. I know of three of them that are still going 50k plus. It all depends how long the coolant was run in the crankcase. 5 or 10 minutes worth isn't enough to warrant an engine rebuild.