Engine Trouble - Please HELP!

[Righty123]

Hoping to get some advice from the crowd here about my situation:

Make/Model: Buick Century
Year: 2003
Mileage: 143K

Issue: Bought car used (third owner - no crashes or major engine work) with oil / filter changed in July 2016. Engine was intermittently heating (twice redlined for 1 minute but would quickly cool back to normal this past mid week.) Drove car 68miles on HWY and on way back later in the week and heard a knock and began feeling recoil in engine with CEL turned on - was able to drive home approximately 50 miles.

CEL checked with P0302 code (cylinder 2 misfire.) Had spark plug checked and coils and seemed to be fine. Wet compression test on that cylinder showed 66psi that rose to 105ish. No leak down test performed. Other cylinders with 125+ PSI. Car was diagnosed to have worn rings and I put in engine RESTORE with improvement in recoil during idle. Car overall drives smooth with expected loss of acceleration time.

I don't have the $$ as a I work for free to help veterans at my local hospital and barely saved to have this car to get to & from work (approximately 15 miles each way.)

Any recommendations from the crowd on what I can do to keep the car running for another 7 months or so (mainly for commuting.) The CEL continues to blink and was wondering what kind of damage I could expect to the catalytic converter? Do you guys think I could keep doing oil changes with Lucas Oil Stabilizer & Engine RESTORE every 30000 miles to prevent the engine from going down? Should I disconnect my fuel injector to prevent further blow-by? Do you guys think I can ride the car out for the 7 or so months I am looking to get out of it?

Thank you in advance! [:/][:/][:/]

 

[spasm3]

I would check that the radiator fan is operating, since you had some overheating. Unless the ignition wires look like they are new, i would replace them , or at least cylinder 2. Don't use the lucas junk, cold weather is coming and that stuff only majorly thickens the oil, not good for cold weather startup.

You say recoil, do you mean engine shake or vibration, or do you have a mechanical knocking? Is the knocking consistent or only at times, if so when does it occur?

 

[crazyoildude]

If spark is ok Check the rocker arms on that cylinder by taking off the valve cover sometimes these rocker studs break off and its a super easy fix it takes about an hour. DO Not drive this car or even run it with the check engine light blinking because you will need a new cat and it will turn bright red and possibly start a fire.
These are generally good engines and last a long time. Also check to see if your coolant is full and the fan is turning on like spasm3 said. It could also be the thermostat and if it is get an a/c delco at the stealer.. Dont forget that system needs to be bled.

 

[mk378]

If it's not the rocker problem and you really have a dead cylinder and want to run the car anyway, disconnect the fuel injector for that cylinder. That will keep unburned gas from going into the cat converter and melting it down. While that is going on, don't bother changing the oil. Save your money for a used engine or another car.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Go to thicker oil than normal. GA is warm-ish, so you can get away with using a 20w-50 which will seal the rings best.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: Righty123
The CEL continues to blink and was wondering what kind of damage I could expect to the catalytic converter?


Did you drive the whole 50 miles with the CEL flashing ?

 

[Nick1994]

You should have done some research on these cars before buying one. They are not known to be great cars.

My mom had a 2003 Buick rendezvous with the same engine as yours and it had overheating problems as well. The thermostat was original and last year stuck closed and overheated the engine and blew the head gasket. You could have a sticking thermostat. As set above check to make sure that the radiator fans are working.

It could also have a blown head gasket. Intake manifold gaskets are also extremely known to go bad on these engines.

The problem with a lot of these mechanic in a can additives is they clog up the radiator and cause other problems.

Good luck with your car!

 

[daves87rs]

Nope...doesn't sound like it has more than a few weeks left...

I would expect that at some point the engine is going to let go...being overheated. Already watched a co worker years ago kill the same car (but a 2001).

Short of an complete engine rebuild-expect to replace it soon.....

 

[Lubener]

Intake manifold gasket could be leaking coolant into cylinder 2 possibly wiping out the rings.

 

[NHGUY]

The 3.1 became the 3.4 and it all started as the 2.8 way back in 1979.The X cars (Citation,etc) used them first and seemed to show up in every FWD GM model.Even RWD Camaro/Firebird and S10/Astro trucks.Never known as a long lasting engine they had oiling problems early on and gasketing issues later.Good thing the USPS LLVs used 2.5 Iron Dukes and 2.2 Cavalier engines and not 2.8/3.1s...the mail might never get delivered...

 

[PolarisX]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
The 3.1 became the 3.4 and it all started as the 2.8 way back in 1979.The X cars (Citation,etc) used them first and seemed to show up in every FWD GM model.Even RWD Camaro/Firebird and S10/Astro trucks.Never known as a long lasting engine they had oiling problems early on and gasketing issues later.Good thing the USPS LLVs used 2.5 Iron Dukes and 2.2 Cavalier engines and not 2.8/3.1s...the mail might never get delivered...


Even more forward they became the VVT enabled 3500 and 3900 engines 60º engines.

I like my 3500 overall, but it took them a long time to get it right, and I still had to replace a head gasket very early on.

 

[krismoriah72]

Intake Gasket time.

Do a coolant pressure test.

 

[Righty123]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I truly appreciate it. The car overheated for less than 30 seconds those two times and went back to normal temps very quickly thereafter. I checked the coolant the following day and saw it was very low and am thinking that was what caused the redlining. After adding more coolant the car has never risen in temperature above normal. Additionally, I do not see any coolant leaking while the engine is on or found on the floor after the car has been parked overnight. The engine seems to have a mechanical knock that is consistent, but has gotten softer after engine RESTORE was placed. Additionally, I hear a sound when I hit the gas pedal, but quiets when I left off the acceleration.
Few questions:
1) Can a loose rocker arm cause a blinking CEL and cause a cylinder to low much of the compression? I have driven the car on/off for around 75 miles thus far to get to work since I have no other real means of transportation.
2) How much longer would the car expect to potentially work if I unplugged the fuel injector to that cylinder?

Currently, the car continues to drive smooth only with a gentle recoil when on idle. I am going to take the car to get a leak down today and will report back.

 

[Righty123]

Also, I see some bubbling of fluid that looks / smells l
ike water coming from the circled area.

 

[zzyzzx]

Fixing that coolant leak should be easy enough to do it leaking from the circled area is all you have to do. But that engine looks exactly like the one in my 1999 Alero, which is infamous for LIM gasket failures. At your mileage it's way overdue, but I am not 100% sure about the cutoff year. IIRC 2003 is when they fixed the problem in production, so I think your car can go either way. I redid the LIM gasket myself. I had never done anything like it before and took my time and spent a LOT of time just cleaning everything I removed from the car. It took me 3 weekends and 2 nights per week during the 2 weeks in-between the weekends. The last weekend (weekend #3) I spent the first day putting it all back together (which was actually pretty easy) and on the second day just refilling the fluids (had to wait for RTV to cure).

 

[ls1mike]

Looks like coolant on your intake. Look near the clamp by gray wire clip, looks like a green puddle to me.

If so you need to do your intake gaskets, it will cause misfires,
air to get in the system and what looks like overheating temperature spikes.

 

[kc8adu]

if it was still full on coolant its a head gasket.
leaking combustion into the water jacket.
thats the low cyl you are seeing.tear it down now and fix it or get a replacement engine.
with the knock its probably too late.get replacement engine and preemptively replace lim gaskets.

 

[Nick1994]

Topping off with coolant isn't going to get you anywhere.

It's not just speculation about those Intake Manifold Gaskets. They really are a ticking time bomb, they usually seem to go around 100k miles.

BTW, my mom's Buick with bad intake manifold gaskets and a blown head gasket never leaked a drop outside of the engine. Hers happened to go out the exhaust and was lucky.