94 Buick RoadMaster Estate Wagon LT 1 issues

I’m back...now don’t every one run, I’m not contagious.

New water pump and Opti. Supposed to be good stuff.

I continued to explore solutions and come up with several.
Install piece of brake line in WP weep hole and JB Weld in place hook pierce of rubber hose to direct Leakage from OPTI. Im
Sitting here in my boat and it’s 5 deg outside light snow. Not that I don’t have anything else to do.
The second thing is to put a thin layer of silicone sealer around the cap joint.

I don’t have these parts in my hands so I’m going on other’s descriptions. The experts are here so is this the things to do?

I’m going out to my son’s shop this weekend to look at this mess. Fortunately he does have some experience with these things and is pretty good at repairing things to work right and for a long time.

He was going to take pictures tonight so I may have something to for show and tell soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bentwings

… New water pump and Opti. Supposed to be good stuff.

I continued to explore solutions and come up with several.
Install piece of brake line in WP weep hole and JB Weld in place hook pierce of rubber hose to direct Leakage from OPTI.
Sitting here in my boat and it’s 5 deg outside light snow. Not that I don’t have anything else to do.
The second thing is to put a thin layer of silicone sealer around the cap joint.

I don’t have these parts in my hands so I’m going on other’s descriptions. The experts are here so is this the things to do?

I’m going out to my son’s shop this weekend to look at this mess. Fortunately he does have some experience with these things and is pretty good at repairing things to work right and for a long time.

He was going to take pictures tonight so I may have something to for show and tell soon.

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For the H2Opump, many from the ImpalaSS Forum would install a zerk fitting into the weep hole with a rubber hose to do the same thing.

As for the Opti-Spark, there are several things that can be done. Since the ISSF got 'upgraded' with xenforo, their search function doesn't work well, but I found these with duckduckgo:
https://www.impalassforum.com/thread...spark.1260065/
https://www.impalassforum.com/thread...hield.1240578/
https://www.impalassforum.com/thread...better.256775/
https://www.impalassforum.com/thread...oices.1312794/
https://www.impalassforum.com/thread...hread.1303385/

A strip of scotch tape joining the Opti- to the -Spark works pretty well, it's what I'm doing. Some ISSF guys use a very thin bead of sealer, hopefully it'll come apart when it needs to.
One guy even went so far as to paint over it with some kind of blue coating that easily peels off.

Don't forget about protecting the electrical harness on top of the engine, as well as the connector that goes directly to the top of the Opti-Spark.

Just got the new Opti and water pump. I just talked to my son and he was already thinking about the weep hole he will come up with something. He also is going with the sealer in the cap. It’s not hard to get off if need be.On one of the threads above they noted some kind of shield to deflect most road water. We loook at that too.
he aside the temp sensor wire was pinched at sometime so he got a bew one. Apparently easy to damage. It’s possible this may have caused this whole problem or at least contributed to it as this leads to the ECM. I never heard the electric fan running but I don’t think it comes on until a much higher temp. I think the temp thing might be a temp switch rather than a sender . I used the switch type to drive a relay to run the electric fan on my Willys. It worked great. Also a sender to run the temp gage.looks thick that’s how this works. We’ll see they are going to look at my early scans to see if this was working. So I’ll add this to the complaint list. My butt is getting sore from y’ll kicking me. I don’t think I would have missed all this stuff even as a green hotn. It’s all basic stuff.
Well we are getting closer I think.ill run oth Sat or Sun to see how things are going.

If the H2Opump is prevented from peeing on the Opti-Spark, then the best road water shield you can make would likely be the painted on coating cited in
https://www.impalassforum.com/thread...better.256775/
which might even protect the Opti-Spark from literally driving partially submerged through a ludicrously deep puddle.
The 2nd best road water shield would be along the lines of a skid plate designed to shield the Opti-Spark from road spray.
Either way, don't forget to protect the connectors from seepage!

Yes, the wiring for the H2Opump temp sensor is notoriously thin & brittle, all too easily damaged. I think it works with variable resistance depending on temp. Anyway, it sends a signal to the pcm.
If disconnected, or wiring is bad, the coolant temp will read as -40°C, which will keep the pcm in open loop and enrich the fueling deep into porcine.
OEM LT1 fans turn on @ 225°F & 232°F for sedans and wagons, @ 226°F & 235°F for F-coupes, and @ 227°F & 235°F for Y-coupes, all of which are too hot for me - 203°F & 212°F is far better and safer.
You really don't need to reengineer this, just make sure that the sensor works & reads properly even when you wiggle the wiring.

I read somewhere that this is a switch rather than variable resistancedevice. In other words it turns on at a given temp. The tolerance noted is for manufacturing tolerance. It’s does go to the ECM and does control the turn on for the electric fan. The one on my existing WP is frozen in for good so a new one is ready for install with the pig tail.

there’s no temp switch on an lt1

there are two temp sensors

one on the front goes to the ecm

one in the cyl head goes to the gauge

the ecm controls the fan(s) with parameters

We’ll look into some kind of splash shields. I made some for my rl Camino that have been tail light savers. These cars are notorious for having the tail light wires ripped out in the sno/salt belt up here. So far I have not had a single tail light issue in all the slop and snow we have had. I would not normally drive the el Camino in the winter but I have no choice until the Buick is finished.

The butt kicking just won’t stop. My son sent some pictures but I’m having trouble saving them. The one with the corroded contacts especially went missing. They were bright greenish white, like clumps on each rotor contact


Here is a picture of the new vs the one taken off. Does this look like about 5-6k miles driving. Mostly town and country very little winter snow.? The new one comes with a pigtail harness.

The water pump looks about the same condition. Obvious leak and much oily grim.

Hopefully this solves the problem. You can pull the cap off the distributor and look for signs of contamination. It may seem a waste of time, but after all the false starts and dead ends I would want the reassurance that the culprit apparent is actually guilty as charged.

Looks like it was never replaced. 2-cycle-john strikes again.

What a scurvy shyster bastard. Not to mention the teflon seal in the timing cover was not replaced. I think this guy insults the rest of the human race by daring to walk upright shamelessly. Never trust a fat mechanic, I say. He needs to go on a date with 300lb Savage Lucy, with teeth like baseballs, a lumberjack's body, and eyes like jellied fire.....but enough about my ex. (some facts have been exaggerated to protect the guilty)

Believe me I have a list and photos to back it up. I’ll post more photos as I sort them out. Latest looks like only 4 plug wires were replaced and I requested all 8.
I kinda hate to list second hand stuff but I simply can not be at the shop while this is going on. Based on countless notes about sealing the Opti I specifically asked that this be done....not. My son said the o ring was rock hard. I’m guessing a junk yard unit was installed. That’s what it looks like. I’ve only driven the car 6k miles since got it and maybe less than 1k since this all started. How could this kind of grime build up on a new old stock part? Water plump goes out in well under 1k miles? There must be a dozen common fixes for the weep hole. It doesn’t take brilliance to see this is a problem when you have the dist in your hand and AF Is dripping out of it.

Y’all are right I got taken to the cleaners. I feel like a complete idiot. I never shouldhave let it drag on like this.
I’ll post more as we go. New plugs and wires, new idler and tensioner are on the way. These are just preventative things one is rough so both are being replaced. I’m stretcging but I’d bet the EGR valve was not replaced either.

Don't replace without testing it, that is how you got in this mess to begin with.

I well understand what you are saying. The idlers are both shaky so it’s being done now to prevent having to do it at a bad time. The plug wires were original and very stiff. There will be a record of resistance values to add to my notes. There is no core charge on the water pump or Opti . I’m already 6 months out of time and I just don’t want any more problems. Especially ones that can be fixed right now. There just aren’t any places that will service my fleet. The one hotrod shop I would trust is closed. I know one other one that I’ve visited several times would do work but they are usually backed up a month of so. It could be and has been, get a more reliable car or truck. My mind set just will not allow spend in ding a lot ona new car. They still need occasional service too. And of course my boat gets pointed at. I happen to live on my boat so it’s like living right in your garage or shop. I can an do fix and service it as needed.

i don’t know about the EGR. once the car is up and running w will check it.

I was referring to the EGR valve, which classifies as a subcritical component, and should not be a high priority unless the gasket has a vacuum leak around it. Everything else on your list needs replacing as you say.

Guys, I found a picture someone took of Bentwings. Here's what he looked like on christmas...

Attachment 14962
He was muttering something about burning a bag of coal on a doorstep, I think.