Uhoh... go to fire up the beast yesterday morning [-5 all weekend, hadn't run since friday], and before oil pressure ran up to about 20psi [15sec], she was a knockin good. I know this is how it starts, but does anyone else have this problem on a cold winter day? should i be loking for a new engine?

u sure it was a knock and not lifters? with all my ln3 engines if i left them sitting for a week it would tick like a bitch for a minute......

hows the oil?

Oddest thing, didn't happen this morning. Similar temps, a bit warmer today, but still -3. Fire the old girl up, one little flick of the key, as always. And she was fine. There was something that MAY have been a knock the first pop of the first cylinder or something, but starting the engine any time after that, hood up, couldn't reproduce it. Hopefully this was an isolated incident, and should be alright. Still took a while for oil pressure to build up... probably about 15-20sec to get up to 60psi [normal].

DS: didn't you mention a while ago you wanted to email me something?

hopefully it was just an isolated incident.
but a couple of questions,
What kind of oil filter is on the car? what weight of oil are you running? how old'* the oil?

It'* a napa silver filter... basic ones. and 10w30 oil [i know, i know, but see it'* 1.15/qt, and they don't have 5w30 in that stuff... ] but it hasn't caused me problems yet. Now that i drive the car regularly, it'* no biggie, even in the 0* mornings it only takes about 10sec to get up to full oil pressure. I think -10F temps sitting for 3 days was too much for the old girl. But I definitely blew my intake gaskets... DAMN YOU INTAKE GASKETS!!!! so she be parked inside a heated garage for the time being, and the caddy brought out of storage. Oils fine, but she burns coolant very well.

EDIT: oh yeah, oil was changed last month.... ummm 500mi on it, maybe. I can check the DIC and see what it says if it makes a difference.

Yeah, definately want to get those intake gaskets fixed, flush out the oil and look for any metal particles too- same with cutting open and looking inside the filter, cant be too cautious...

Did the intakes just start leaking? Either way, if coolant'* getting into the oil, that can cause some serious issues...

As far as the oil weight, I personally ran 10w30 in the LN3 in my old park avenue year round, although it sat in a heated garage during the night. Engine seemed to be fine with it even when it sat outside in the negative'*.

[OFFTOPIC]
if that fleetwood has the olds 307 like my 86 did, that thing should run forever... [/OFFTOPIC]

if i remember right it was the diagnostic procedure for ur qdm code, i have no clue what i did with it now tho.....

and howd u manage to blow the intake gaskets on that engine, i can guarantee you that i was harder on that thing then you and i never had any problems with it......

Well, idk man, what happened wasn't very good... and i drive like a gramma, but with the right tunage, and some caffeine in me, i go nutso. But that'* besides the point

I got stuck in a very bad place, like a place I wasn't supposed to be, doing things I'm sure are illegal. Well, I needed to get out, and fast. It was very snowy, and there was no traction to be had. So by some amazing something I was able to just floor it, travelling 2mph, speedo sitting at 85, revvs around 5500, and i did that for about 30sec straight. Temp gauge was around 1/2, so I wasn't overheating or anything. Got out, no biggie, everything is cool. Driving home, I gave her a bit more gas something that would shift around 3500 or so, and she studdered, and next thing I knew I was being followed by some insane smokage. Definitely very white, and definitely very intake gasket. I knew I consumed coolant, and I was fairly sure it was the intake gaskets, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The oil isn't contaminated, and I checked it very thoroughly. I do know what coolant does to bearings, that'* why I was so cautious.

QDM diagnostics? Any idea if they were different than the FSM stuff, because I've got the FSM. It just leads me nowhere. I have a feeling it'* EGR related, but the cooling fans never come on.. which I know is on that circuit, so i'm not sure exactly what is wrong. I'm not worrying about it, because i get avg 25mpg, and the car runs excellent. But that SES light sure is annoying!

DS: by any chance, did you ever overheat that motor to some extreme degree? I never could get that water pump to seal right, we had that thing shiny as ****, with a brandnew felpro gasket, and it leaked like no other. We had to silicone it. Just curious man, because if the block is warped enough to cause the WP to not seat right, it may cause problems with the intake gasket.. ya know?

rusted: naw it has a 4.5L, it'* a piece, but gets me around. 240k, and a very good friend of mine drives it daily [still my car, but his ins and tags], and I know he doesn't take it easy.

Although not common, dont overlook the possiblity of the head gaskets at this point... I personally saw one with blown headgaskets in an 89 LeSabre, they blew due to (what we think) the (old, neglected, high miles)engine being cold combined with immediate heavy throttle and load. It caused severe coolant contamination of the oil soon thereafter though.

My fleetwood was a RWD brougham, yours is the FWD one, right? I forgot about the fact that they split the fleetwood line in the mid 80'*. the 4.5 is a good engine too, just keep up on the coolant maintenance.

If the intake gaskets turn out to look good, then i'll be doing a compression test, etc... hopefully it won't come to that.

Yeah, FWD, crapola. Looked freakin' sweet before it got rammed. Total drug dealer'* car, midnight blue, vinyl top, tinted windows, etc.. Heater core is blocked off, could it be it'* clogged versus leaky? It also leaks coolant, but we don't know where it goes. Oddest thing... but it doesn't cost too much to keep adding coolant. Maybe a gallon/month. $4.50 for some 50/50 here.