Morgan,

Seeing that you have 250,000 + miles on your car, any of the gaskets could have failed

The typical known issues are the upper intake (plastic) gets a hole burn through it from the egr stove pipe (metal heat tube from egr valve), and the lower intake (aluminum) gaskets fail, you will loose a quart or more of antifreeze per drive but don't notice any leaks...

These are the most common and can be fixed pretty cheap and in 4-5 hours

If you have overheated the engine to the point of it stopping, you may have a few more issues than the car is worth

head gaskets, heads cracked, heads warped, and so on...

An UPDATE!! It'* been awhile, and a lot of gratitude to everyone that helped me the last time.

What I ended up doing was replacing the belt tensioner last month, (why does GM run coolant through a belt tensioner?!) and the water pump back in October. I'd also replaced the MAF sensor (the housing for it had snapped off and had blocked the air intake hole. So it killed the hot wire when it snapped, The computer was being told the engine was starving on oxygen, and was shutting down) that was earlier this month. I had the codes read, and the three I got, all had a common denominator: vacuum leak.

Now with this recent cold spat the engine isn't starting at all, the last time this problem occurred, he solution twas just jumping the car...that bore no fruit this time. The fuel pump is good, and just in case, I warmed the lines, so its not a fuel issue.

However as I was turning the car over, a sound almost of escaping air, and black smoke puffed up from somewhere around the middle back of the plenum. After that only the ignition switch would click. The ignition coil wouldn't spin. I pulled the battery cables off, let the comp 'reset' and it will turn over again.

I know its the original intake manifold, as are the gaskets, the reason I hadn't replaced them yet was funds hadn't been appropriated yet; the really amusing thing is, is I was going to go ahead and ignore my overdrawn bank account and buy the parts I needed to fix the 88 this week.

My running theory is the cold finally exacerbated the upper intake manifold issue, and when it catches finally, it'* vented straight out. I've never had the puff of black smoke and sound of escaping air before. Could it be a fuel problem? Or is it time to start looking for an L67?

Pull the dipstick, check for coolant in oil and check the oil level. Check under your radiator cap. If it looks like a bad sinus infection like this...


Then you probably have coolant in your oil.

If the engine isn't turning over while trying to start it, STOP IT. Your engine is probably hydrolocked with coolant. Remove ALL spark plugs and attempt to turn over. This is the time to now drain all coolant from the cooling system.

That'* a disgusting (but accurate) way to describe that.

Quit with the negative waves Moriarty, quit with the negative waves.

That is an apt way to describe it. But no, my radiator cap is fairly clean.



Once the black smoke appeared, I figured there was more to the problem and haven't tried to turn it over since. What I can't figure is: the engine was running beautifully; gas mileage had gotten better the day before. That was why I did not think the engine was hydrolocked, the only change was that it had dropped to about 5 deg. here the night before.

I will pull the plugs today, how will they look if there was coolant on them, or coolant had burned them? Also, what is the best way to drain the coolant from the engine?

Thank you, for all of your help.

If you have coolant mixed in with the engine oil, an oil change will get it out. Change the oil, run it for a few miles, then change it once more.

Of course, this is after you fix the problem that put the coolant in the oil.

Sorry, 5AM this morning and I'm typing wrong.

I meant to say OIL cap, not radiator cap. Or for the gifted, 710 cap.

I'd guessed by the shape that'* what you meant. No my oil cap doesn't look like that, I would have had pictures of the spark plugs but, like an idiot I bought the wrong size socket. Thank you for helping me out

Your very welcome.

Just want to reiterate the importance of changing those LIM Gaskets, installing the reduced diameter EGR Stove Pipe that comes with the Dorman UIM Kit, and also replace the coolant elbow with the new aluminum elbow, followed by a radiator flush, and oil change.
I have heard of cars LIM Gaskets fail at as low as 50k miles, I would put a lot of money on your LIM Gaskets having spots where they have failed.
If coolant gets into your cylinders you could end up with catastrophic engine failure, possibly throwing a connecting rod through the block, as liquid does not compress like air.
I hope you are able to get your bank account in the positive, and are able to get the money needed for this repair, I do not recommend driving the car any more till you can get it repaired, as it could cost you your motor.

If you need any help doing the repairs yourself we have a thread here that is helpful, and I also have a video, and a thread from when I did my UIM/LIM Gaskets, if you need those links let me know, and I'll get them for you.