the all too common intake gasket failure!

[lilanqel94]

well in september i tried to drain my coolant from the drain plug to stop a really tiny leak around the thermostat housing but couldn't get the nuts loose so i gave up. well the drain plug broke without me knowing and it leak ALL my coolant out and stalled in traffic once ( i thought the worst, engine lock up!). but after letting it cool it turned over with no problem til i found a tow truck. i got it fixed the same day and had water in it temporarily. well since that day the only problem i had was unusually high oil pressure. i flushed the water before the temps in chicago got below freezing and about a week later my coolant started leaking around the egr tube. i kept driving it for 2 days (had no choice, work) just making sure it wasn't mixing with the oil. it wasn't until the 3rd day that it started mixing, i only noticed it by opening the oil cap and revving the engine which is when i stopped driving it. i caught it in time. only damage was to the upper intake gasket. well i called my mechanic and after replacing the gasket he realized that he forgot to put the breather tube back for the pcv valve. car is still sitting because of that and because we're having trouble putting the fuel rail back on without leaking. already have enough fuel injector o-rings on stand-by. but before we noticed that the breather tube wasn't in place, i tried to start the car to check for gas leaks and we saw a puddle of oil under the car. would that oil leak be caused by the missing breather tube? we will be working on it tomorrow and of course will be changing the oil.

TL;DR: what would cause high oil pressure after engine overheating? i have no loss of power or weird noises or knocks from car. would missing tube for pcv valve cause the out-of-the-blue oil leak when attempting to start car after upper intake gasket replacement? does anyone know an easier way of reinstalling the fuel rail? any help will be greatly appreciated!

[96 SSEi]

hi, your high oil press. may be unrelated to the rest - is it pegged at max? what do you consider high?

you say oil leak, find out where its coming from and its probably misaligned valve cover gaskets but that wont cause a puddle very fast

this is a solid engine: its hard to kill unless you try so I wouldn't get worried about damage if you didn't drive until fixed

[AJT2004]

You may have damaged the engine when it overheated, do a compression check to rule out other potential problems. Did you also replace the lower intake manifold gasket? From what I read you should consider a new mechanic, his or her's skills seem questionable.
Good Luck

[lilanqel94]

hi, your high oil press. may be unrelated to the rest - is it pegged at max? what do you consider high?

you say oil leak, find out where its coming from and its probably misaligned valve cover gaskets but that wont cause a puddle very fast

this is a solid engine: its hard to kill unless you try so I wouldn't get worried about damage if you didn't drive until fixed

before the car overheated, the oil pressure was at 40 cold and between 30-60 when warm and driving. after it overheated it stays steady between 50 and 90 regardless of temps and driving, but never goes over 90. oh i forgot to mention that when the car overheated the oil pressure also hit the redline, but i think the sending unit just got messed up when the car got too hot. and i'm only worried about the oil leak because it wasn't before we replaced the gasket, which is why i think it has something to do with that breather tube for the pcv valve.

[lilanqel94]

You may have damaged the engine when it overheated, do a compression check to rule out other potential problems. Did you also replace the lower intake manifold gasket? From what I read you should consider a new mechanic, his or her's skills seem questionable.
Good Luck

no, did not replace the lower intake gasket. and this mechanic has repaired a few things on this car but since my car has been sitting for 3 weeks now and still no fix needless to say i've already called another one. i would never let an unskilled or inexperienced person work on my car so no worries there.

[96 SSEi]

hi, if the oil pressure never goes to red, I would not worry about it. It may be the sender like you say or higher viscosity oil may raise pressure a bit Find the leak and repair and then you can turn your eye to the sender.........where do you live? maybe one of the grease monkeys here can help you...lol

[96 SSEi]

does anyone know an easier way of reinstalling the fuel rail? any help will be greatly appreciated!

what seems to be the rail install issue - its pretty straight forward

[lilanqel94]

does anyone know an easier way of reinstalling the fuel rail? any help will be greatly appreciated!

what seems to be the rail install issue - its pretty straight forward

gas keeps leaking thru the injector o-rings from the fuel rail. i just looked at them again tho, the ones that are leaking look like they are too far in so the rail isn't really getting a tight seal. UGH if i had reliable tools i would attempt to fix it myself!

[lilanqel94]

hi, if the oil pressure never goes to red, I would not worry about it. It may be the sender like you say or higher viscosity oil may raise pressure a bit Find the leak and repair and then you can turn your eye to the sender.........where do you live? maybe one of the grease monkeys here can help you...lol

i live on the northside of chicago. and i was only worried about the oil pressure because it raised up AFTER the day it got too hot and ever since.

[96 SSEi]

UGH if i had reliable tools i would attempt to fix it myself!

with the money you would pay a tech, you could buy what you need and are good for many repairs. yeah, you should replace the injector rings to make easier

[JohnR]

I put little to no faith in electronic oil pressure gauges. If you want a truly accurate reading you need a good quality mechanical gauge or a very pricey 270* sweep aftermarket.

[1oldman]

I've read in several places a number of years ago that excessive oil pressure could possibly damage the bearings, main, rod and cam. I've only seen pics of the damage. - BC

[StraTact]

hi, if the oil pressure never goes to red, I would not worry about it. It may be the sender like you say or higher viscosity oil may raise pressure a bit Find the leak and repair and then you can turn your eye to the sender.........where do you live? maybe one of the grease monkeys here can help you...lol

Yes I think you're right about not worrying if the oil pressure suddenly goes to red, or even zero. But if you don't have access to a mechanical oil pressure gauge, and if you believe outside postings that say if the oil pressure sender/switch is broken, then it would show maximum oil pressure, not zero, and furthermore if it reads zero, then there's really no oil pressure and indicates an engine or other problem. To isolate the cause of the problem, some outside postings said to check for metal flakes or chips in the used oil, or if shining a flashlight into the oil shows reflections from tiny metal particles, and if so, there must be something major wrong with the engine. But that's not true for just seeing tiny sparkles because one oil expert said that oil filters will let the tiniest metal particles through anyways. However, other outside postings said that if no large metal flakes are seen, and you believe you have zero oil pressure, then it could be blockage in the oil pan screen or a worn or broken oil pump.

So, believing the above outside postings that I found, and not having a mechanical oil pressure gauge, and my dash gauge was reading zero, and I only had sparkles (not chips or flakes) in my used oil, so I removed my oil level sensor, oil pan, and oil pickup tube and screen, but found no signs of blockage or any problems. I figured that I'd have to bite the bullet and remove my timing cover and check my oil pump next. Arrghhh, that's a bitch of a job that I don't want to do in 30 degree NH weather in January!

Lo and behold, while searching youtube videos for the easiest way to do this nasty job, I found the following youtube video that proves a having a zero oil pressure reading on my dash could simply be caused by a faulty oil pressure sender/switch, and all the outside postings were wrong that said the reading would be at a maximum if it failed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfWxoabT3l4

The nice thing about this video is that it's the same exact motor that's in my 97 Bonneville!

This calls for a few beers! Cheers! And, because I possibly found the right solution to my zero oil pressure problem, I don't even mind the exta cost of buying an oil pan gasket, oil pick up tube gasket, thread sealer, and RTV, and extra time to put my oil pan & screen back together again!

So, it pays to check all postings, especially the ones here at pontiacbonnevilleclub.com and youtube videos to avoid unnecessary work and expense.

[SSEBonne4evr]

96 has metal lowers, ken-co style egr pipe and metal elbow, should be good to go now.