I'll be trying this in the morning, but just as a side note. I had drained all the oil before replacing the LIM and UIM gaskets of course, but I refilled it before realizing the engine was hydrolocked. Will I need to change the oil again right away? I was planning on doing it again in a couple hundred miles to get any debris that may have entered.

If you have fluid in the cylinders you have to change the oil. The fluid will leak down the cylinder walls past the rings and into the crankcase. Start it like that, and you could spin a bearing.

Just to clarify, change it again, even though the oil in there is brand new?

The price of a oil change is much less then a new engine.

Absolutely. Get all the fluid out of the cylinders first, but you MUST change the oil before running the engine. The filter too.

Good to know. Should have this done within a few hours. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

My car runs!!! Thank you so much everyone for all your help.

Okay, one problem. It of course was smoking pretty bad due to the water / degreaser everywhere. However, I let it run for a few minutes and no coolant was taken in from the overflow tank. I checked the radiator cap and its turned correctly. Tried removing it a couple times and putting it back on. Won't take any coolant in from the tank. I wasn't getting any reading on the coolant temp gauge either.

So I poured coolant directly in through the radiator cap and then I got a coolant temp reading. I only put about half of one of the large bottles in, but I figured that'* better than none to just let it run while I observe things. The smoke settled down, but there is still some coming from the rear of the engine. It is possible this is still left over fluids sitting on top of the engine, but I'm not real confident in that because it was running for some time.

The fact I'm getting a reading on the temp gauge implies coolant is being cycled through when supplied through the radiator, correct? What would be keeping it from sucking it in from the tank? Loose hose?

Oh, and I might as well post this for anyone else'* future reference.

Turning the engine over by the harmonic balancer is definitely a plus. I was able to get it to drip quite a bit of fluid out. However, it was not enough on it'* own. So I had to remove the plugs and let the starter cycle it. This pushed what little was left in there out. Even then trying to start it it didn't want to go, so I turned it over with the plugs in by hand a bunch of times and kept trying. Eventually it started up. Ran rough at first, but settled down after a little bit.

2 small problems I could use help with:

1 ) There is some white steam coming out from the front and back of the engine (appears to be from right around each cylinder). I have only drove it once, but it has been idling in the parking lot for a good amount of time. I would expect all of the degreaser and such has burned up by now. There is coolant flowing through the system. It reaches about 200 degrees, cycles, and goes back down to about 150. This seems normal. However, still enough steam to be seen with the hood shut after a few mile drive. Would loose spark plugs do this? I feel like I tightened them pretty well, but just wondering.

2) There is no air whatsoever coming through the vents from either the AC or heat. When switched to defrost I can feel it up by the windshield. I could not tell if any was coming out from the lower vents, but I don't think so. What should I be looking at for this, and where is the component located?

Thanks!

Sounds like you have some air in the cooling system, it'* fluctuating to much. Look real hard for a coolant leak.

You will need to find your air control actuator. It'* not moving. The default location is defrost.