I bought the car 45 days ago. I have only put 40 mile son the car. All 40 miles have been nerve wrecking!! After I went to DMV to get the collector car stickers it wanted to over heat.... I knew the car had a bad radiator. Fixed. Changed water pump. Replaced crappy flex fan for a MONSTER electric. Replaced alternator with a 100A. Replace thermostat. etc...... In the driveway I had this car running AT thermostat. as soon as I got the car in forward motion is started to overheat. Mind you that it never overheated, but came close. I talked to the guys on the Pontiac Forums. They said that if I expelled all other possibilities, then it is the head gasket(S). http://s689.photobucket.com/albums/...2 Pontiac Catalina/pistons after head gasket/ They were both bad.... I can't complain, cause I like to fix them, but like I ranted before I haven't enjoyed the car yet..... More to come. Dave
Did you check for coolant in the oil, or oil in the coolant? I usually change the oil right away when I buy a car, so if there was any in there (at the time of purchase) you'd know about it.
Well I still am waiting on the new head gasket kit to arrive so not yet. As soon as the car got home, I changed the oil . Let it idle for an hour and changed it again. Removed 1 quart added some engine flush. Ran it for a few weeks and just changed the oil last week. So in the 40 miles that I havew driven the car I have changed the oil 3 times. The weird part was NO water in oil. What I thought was sludge in the coolant system turned out to be oil... SO YES there was oil in the coolant. BUT it LOOKED like sludge. Once it started to puke water out of the rad AFTER I flushed it I knew it had to be head gasket...... More pictures to come as I clean up the heads and block. Dave
Its hard to tell just by looking. I use a metal straight edge and a flashlight. Have a machine shop check them if you are unsure. I had the exact same symptoms after blowing a radiator hose on a freeway bridge with nowhere to pull over for 2 miles. Heads needed to be machined down 0.005" to get them flat again. BTW, just curious what casting # heads you have.
I used the straight edge and a flashlight . looked really good. No warping and no cracks visible. I am trying to just drive the car and not put a lot of money into this engine. If this doesn't fix it I will have to accomplish a decking of the heads and motor. This will push a rebuild or a swap.. Current castings are 177. 1961-62 177 389 cu.in. 215/348hp D-PORT 1.88 1.60 62 CC
