Well I just picked up my Venture today. It is all done. This is what they told me.
They did a pressure test and no leaks outside where noted. Further inspection proved that there was a coolant leak on the exhaust side of the heads. This allowed exhaust to get into the coolant and causing it to get the brownish color and deposits in it.
They took the heads off. How I don't know but when I went over to the dealer the day they did the tear down the van was sitting outside the shop with the engine still in it, power steering sitting off to the side, exhaust manifolds sitting off to the back and the other removed from the front. You could see the pistons and block nothing in the way at all. Don't know where the intake was at. It wasn't in the car or in the engine compartment. So I guess they took it apart in the van. Or like you said took the engine out pulled the heads and put it back in. That I really dought but if you say it can't be done in the car then that is what they must have done. It didn't look that way to me at all. It looked like they just pulled the heads and that was it. I do know that they did it in a day from the time I dropped it off that morning to find out what was wrong with it, that afternoon it was torn apart and the heads sent to the machine shop. I didn't watch how they did it, but would like to have. I'm no pro but can do my own work if I wanted to. rebuilt my 396 in my 65 Impala. So It would have been interesting to see how they did the work and got back to those back head bolts.
Now the machine shop inspected them and found them warped. My understanding is they machined them back flat to specs. So they installed the machined heads with the new gaskets and put it all back together. They changed the oil and filter and test drove it. Hey since they milled the heads does that mean my compression went up and now I have a race car???
yea I can see it now NOS shift kit all in a venture, smoking the local camaro's and mustangs.
It drove great on the way home, all 30 miles. Now to get the burning off smell to go away. The coolant is nice and pink, oil is good, drove well, ran great, no pinging ran just like it did before I took it in. It has a one year 12k mile warranty on the work they did.
jscott,
1. "Did running a good synthetic oil help by reducing the contimination of Dexcool?"
In my opinion, YES YES YES. I feel it protected the engine far better than a regular oil would have. Also Terry explained to me that the only thing that saved my engine is the fact that I was runing synthetic and it just happened to be AMSOIL 10w30.
2." What are the likely long term effects of this?"
From what I can tell, leaking coolant inside an engine can cause some serious sludge. It also really breaks down the oil and so your not getting the protection like you should and can cause excessive wear and possible cam and or bearing failure in time.
3. "Did you have any "gel" buildup inside the valve cover/PCV area? I am curious what my numbers might be like?"
I didn't have any build up. I didn't let it get that far. I was having Oil analysis's done from the begining with it being a new vehicle. The first analysis didn't turn out well and the second one was even worse. Terry confirmed the coolant in the oil and I noticed the dark discolored coolant in the overflow tank and took it to the dealer for inspection. This is when they found what they did. The vehicle has 27k on it and since the intake leak is a known problem I started UOA's to try and catch it before the warranty went out and I was lucky that I did. It is odd that the heads were warped though. It never over heated on us at all and ran fine from day one. So the heads must have been bad from the factory, or the dexcool at at the head gasket and the leak at the exhaust valve caused them to warp. I don't feel the dealer is telling me a story either. They don't want to do more work than needed. Heck they could have just pulled the intake, said it was the problem and installed it again. They didn't have to do the heads or even send them off for inspection. But they did and did it right and I'm happy for that at least.
So that is the what happened. Now to run this oil for 1k and change it and then run another regular Penzoil for 3k and take another sample. Think that is a good idea? I'm up for suggestions. I know now that they did all that maintenance that I will get high numbers due to the new gaskets and sealants.
I'm busy with the kids tonight so I didn't have a chance to review this so please excuse any mistakes.
I don't think that this oil is any better with just half the miles on it from the first oil. What do you guys think? Give it to me straight. I'm doing these analysis mainly to get an idea of when the antifreeze is going to hit my engine since it is a known problem with the 3.4L.
