Hi there,

My father owns a 1994 Bonneville SE with about 120,000 km on it. He takes unbelievably good care of this car and always takes it in for service when needed.

A while back we were driving on the highway and black smoke started coming out of the hood. All the gadges inside the car read perfect readings, but smoke was still coming out. We pulled over and noticed the car was leaking a liquid, (i believe it was the water used to cool the engine), so he filled up the water reservoir and drove the remainer of the distance home. The next day he took the car into the garage and they somehow fixed it. (I'll post more specific details later if they are needed).

Anyway, the car ran well for about a month.

Untill we were driving and started to notice the oil levels were falling. We were close to home, so we decided we would try and drive the remainer of the distance. Along the way the car kept stalling whenever we stopped.

When we got home we again noticed the car was leaking a liquid (there was no black smoke this time).

The next day my father filled the car with more oil and tried to drive it to the garage. The engine seized metres before he could pull in.

We have since replaced the engine in the car and have had few problems.

I just want to know if there was an obvious reason for the engine stalling and if it could have been prevented. Because its just unusual to hear about an engine stalling at 120, 000 km.

Thank you for your help.

Sounds like Upper Intake failure to me. There'* a sticky regarding this very issue.

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...pic.php?t=5349

Unfortunately, this is a known issue with our engines...

But it'* a series I. That doesn't happen rarly to Series I'*.

gotta hate thos intakes

Well he still says this is the best car he ever owned. It ran for 9 years without one problem (untill this one of course).

Re-reading your original post, I may need to withdraw my upper intake speculation. Upperintake failure shouldn't cause black smoke or dropping oil levels. That almost sound like an internal seal of somekind blew and is letting the oil into the combustion chambers or something

That'* as detailed as I'm gonna get on this one....

sorry... I asked about it, and the smoke was white.

Plus when we took it in the first time the gasket was the part replaced.

the dropping oil levels did not occur until later, after the gasket was fixed.

and oh yeah... I forgot the mention, before the oil levels began to drop we heard the engine making a knocking sound.

Without knowing all the details I am still going to give it an educated guess.

What did they do to fix the coolant leak? This is the main question.

It may have been that hose that goes from the waterpump to the intake (which goes on all series 1). Unfortunately the car may have been overheated during that time which would have caused damage to the head gaskets. This obviously didn't show up right away but a month later when it may have ruptured into one of the cylinders spraying coolant into the combustion chamber (white smoke). This coolant, by continuing to run the engine caused damage to the engine and caused it to seize.

Do I pass for Sherlock Holmes?

I agree. The fact that the motor kept seizeing at stops or Throttle lifts tell me it was one hot potato. My experience with a cast iron engine that got hot enough to seize is simple ring damage, and thats where the oil may have been going. Also one that hot will Bust. {head or block}....