Turbo Buick Life - vol 1: Oil everywhere...

"Turbo666" (Turbo666) 01/07/2015 at 19:15 • Filed to: Buick, Turbo, Grand National, Oil, Car trouble, Muscle Car

7

28

Looked like a murder scene...

As some of you know, I own a '86 Grand National "Infamous."

Many have asked for a review/write up. I'll get to it, I have documented pretty much everything I have done. Anyway, lets get to the issue at hand.

Turbo Buicks always leak oil. They had a poorly designed rear main seal from the factory, that pretty much leaked on every car. Due to life, my car had a leaking rear main for almost the whole time I've owned it, last year, I finally had that remedied. No more oil goo on everything.

Since then, things have been looking up, fixed stuff here and there, Alky installed, car finally running well. Except for the flare in the trans which has a build lined up for the spring. So it was about time something went sideways. Time for a side note:

Turbo Buicks can actually be a very reliable car, when stock. Once you start building them, prepare to upgrade everything else, cause it is a slippery slope. Ok lets continue.

So last week It was cold, clear, and dry. A crisp 30 degrees out...you know that cold winter smell, everything smells clean and the air kind of burns your nostrils? Well that is Turbo weather, my car loves the cold. So out comes the GN, just for a nice cruse out of the city with a couple light pulls on the turbo, nothing crazy.

Long story short, I'm taking my brother to the airport following some other family in another car. Of course that is when it happens. All of a sudden the car doesn't feel right, glance in the rear view and wow, smoke screen. Steering becomes crazy floaty, I get to the side of the road instantly and smoke is everywhere coming out the hood. Get the car shut down and my brother calling the other car so he can get to the airport.

The passenger side front wheel is covered in so much oil it looks black. Pop the hood and there is oil everywhere. So we push the car off the road and discover that the oil cooler line let go. There is oil coating the underside of the car all the way to the rear end. Of course it is now getting dark and is freezing out, so I call AAA and begin the wait for a flatbed.

Few hours later after getting my dad to come over so I could sit in his truck and not freeze to death, we have the car home. The AAA driver was really cool and loved my car. He was expecting it to be some stance out honda because I told them it was low-ish. His happyness was pretty amusing, though we almost needed boards to get it on the truck. But made out fine with only a bent license plate.

So here is the carnage, It doesn't look to bad cause this is the day after and a lot of oil has ran down, but cleaning up the mess is going to take a lot longer than actually fixing the line.

Where the line let go:

So the initial spray of oil went straight onto the turbo and downpipes, thus why there was so much smoke everywhere. After that the line pointed down into the passenger side running gear and just oiled everything up, thus why I had floaty steering.

Oil soaked hood liner.

Wheel still looking slightly black.

The trail of oil. Well part of it, it was quite a bit longer, but couldn't get a picture cause the lighting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, just sharing. Shit happens, I'm not even mad.

Jedidiah > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:23

0

My dad had a turbo Regal once...

I can't say that I will ever want to own another one.

mr2gud2u > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:26

1

Either you have a pretty sweet garage setup or you some how work on your car in your living room. Which is also a sweet setup. The pic of with the hood open looks like your inside, near a couch and chairs.

Birddog > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:32

1

Good to hear it's a minor fix. I don't envy the coming cleanup though.

T5Killer > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:34

1

Reminds me when the gasket in my Cobras oil cooler let go shortly after buying the car. Its a 94-95 Cobra only part and I had to wait a week till it got in on special order. Luckily it let go down the street so I pushed the car into the garage.

I love GNs/T-types keep up the posts!

Turbo666 > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 19:34

2

haha its not for everyone, I love this car to death man. I'd have another if I could!

Turbo666 > mr2gud2u 01/07/2015 at 19:37

1

Haha, friends place, huge open bays, so he's letting me work on it there cause my garage is much smaller. They store a bunch of stuff in there, I would kill for a garage like it.

deekster_caddy > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:39

1

Damnit, I hate this so much! Why can't GM make good oil cooler hoses? My '05 Yukon XL 8.1 had leaking fittings on the oil cooler lines. I put new ones in before I sold it, but I really should have used AN fittings to make my own. Always left a few drips of oil wherever I parked until I did the hoses over. People have lost them exactly like you lost yours. I hope the next owner doesn't have issues with them (especially since the next owner is my dad who tows a 26' travel trailer with it)...

I'm a big turbo buick fan, member of what's left of the New England Buick Racing Association (yes NEBRA) and get together with a bunch of Buick gearheads from time to time. I stuck with V8s, but I love the turbo cars. It's amazing how many of them are former race cars gathering dust because of that slippery slope you mentioned...

Turbo666 > Birddog 01/07/2015 at 19:40

0

Yeah, I don't think there was any other damage so the fix should be easy enough, but not looking forward to the clean up.

No Prius Needed > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:40

0

Turbo666 > T5Killer 01/07/2015 at 19:42

1

Yeah, its never fun getting special parts, thankfully there are stronger re-pos and several places caring them, so they are supposed to be on their way now.

And thanks! I plan on making post more frequently, lots of plans for the car this year.

Jedidiah > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:43

0

I truthfully think we had a lemon.

It leaked from everywhere imaginable; the rear main and timing cover being major problems.

It never really ran right either; it was very sensitive to weather even compared to the carbed big blocks that I'm used to.

A bad head gasket was the final straw.

mr2gud2u > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:43

1

No doubt! Would be nice for a mod day. Drink some beer, watch the game, and wrench on your rig. Doesn't get much better.

T5Killer > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:46

0

Yeah what is a "wish I had known" moment I could have deleted the oil cooler quickly with a bolt and rerouting the stock hoses while I waited for the parts LOL. (95 GTs didn't have the cooler but had the same coolant hoses)

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 19:51

0

Nice car!

Turbo666 > deekster_caddy 01/07/2015 at 19:59

1

Yeah the teeth on the crimp where pretty small :/ And no worries here though, my baby is staying a street car and she is a driver, no trailer queen here.

Turbo666 > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 20:03

0

Yeah, there are definitely a few of them out there that are lemons. The problem also is a decent amount were abused and put away wet, then a few years and owners later everything starts to fail. Sorry you guys got a lemon :/ though this far from the first issue I have ran into, but thats for another lot longer post haha.

Jedidiah > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 20:06

0

It was a car that you really wanted to like, but couldn't.

My dad has maintained a rather unfortunate hatred for buicks ever since the Regal and his 93 Roadmaster.

Turbo666 > mr2gud2u 01/07/2015 at 20:08

1

You can definitely do that at his place, hoping someday I'll have a garage like that. But for now its nice that he lets me use it in time of need.

Turbo666 > Jedidiah 01/07/2015 at 20:09

0

:( what year Turbo Regal and do you remember the trim? Limited/T-type?

Jedidiah > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 20:20

0

It was a base 1987 T-Type

He partially traded it for a 93 Roadmaster when it was new

JGrabowMSt > Turbo666 01/07/2015 at 21:02

1

Can't wait to see this back on the road. My Magnum is going to be leaving the shop by Friday (been in for about 3 months after a valve seat dropped) and I really can't wait. I can't be mad about that either (actual motor defect, so it wasn't related to it having 147k miles).

It's time to just improve things, and you'll be fine (provided you're yanking things apart to fix).

It'll be back, and it'll be better. Just sucks to be this weather when it happens.

Turbo666 > T5Killer 01/08/2015 at 11:57

1

Yeah kind of the same for me, if the line had been leaking I could had handled it. But it just had total failure all at once.

Turbo666 > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 01/08/2015 at 11:57

0

Thanks! She is a handful, but worth it.

Turbo666 > Jedidiah 01/08/2015 at 11:59

0

Hmmm, well must of been a lemon as you said, was he the original owner?

Turbo666 > JGrabowMSt 01/08/2015 at 12:04

1

Yeah exactly. Everything that has gone out on the car, I've either fixed it with better parts or actually upgraded. As always it led me to some other things I have to do, but hopefully I can get everything back together in a timely manner and back on track for the rest of my plans for the car this year.

Glad to hear you are getting your Magnum back, you gotta be really excited after 3 months!

Jedidiah > Turbo666 01/08/2015 at 16:36

0

No; an older woman owned it before him and the dealership bought it back after she busted the radiator and damaged the front clip.

My dad got it cheap and put a new radiator and core support in it and drove it for only a couple of thousand miles before he gave up on it and bought a 93 roadmaster. He was the youngest person to ever buy a buick from that dealership.

That roadmaster was also a pos. The suspension was basically the same as a 2nd gen f-body or colonade a-body and was severely underbuilt for a vehicle of that size. It wore out shocks faster than you could believe and leaked like a seive as well. He sold it at 30,000 miles when it stranded him for the second time.

He's never looked a Buick ever since.

Turbo666 > Jedidiah 01/08/2015 at 17:05

0

Understandably so, that is some rotten luck :/

FiST of FuRRY > Turbo666 01/09/2015 at 00:28

0

Anything Turbo Buick related just makes the internet better! Thank you.

My '87 Cutlass Ciera has the 3.8 SFI. Even without the turbo, it mooooves quite well.

Does "Infamous" still have the factory nylon timing gear? I swapped mine out as soon as I bought the car a few years back. Even though my Ciera has only 60k miles, nylon degrades over time and didnt want to chance it.