I got a spurt of motivation today so I "made" a socket to remove the gas tank fuel strainer assembly. Went to the cheapo tool store and bought a 1 7/8" end wrench, cut the boxed end off, ground it down, welded a chunk of steering column tube (from 86 Olds) to it and I had a socket!

To make a real long story only long, I got the strainer out, cleaned it with B-12 (totally varnished closed) and reinstalled. I was really feeling good right about then and it started right up and ran pretty decent, then it started smoking and smelling real rich. Crap!

I revved it a little to clean it out and really fogged the backyard so I let it return to an idle. It idled for a few seconds then quit. I cranked it and it made about one revolution then stopped cranking. I cycled the key and hit it and no crank, just clunk. At this point I thought my flaky starter had finally bit the dust so I hit the key a couple more times and it began cranking and started back up. Of course I was killing skeeters big time and I finally shut it off.

When I shut it off I noticed it was barfing coolant out of the overflow tank and suddenly had a very sinking feeling. It had not ran long enough to get hot...

I pulled the plugs to do a compression test and as soon as I started cranking, testing #1, a few ounces of gase splurted over the l/h fender! I pulled the injectors and the injector for #6 was stuck open. As soon as this ocurred I knew what I was going to find but I kept going. After replacing the stuck injector I continued with the compression test. R/H bank was 125, 126, 128, and 135, that made me feel good. I moved to the left bank and had 132, 0, and there is where I quit because that was pretty much what I was expecting.

Apparently the injector filled up the cylinder and it hydro-locked and blew the head gasket between the cylinder and a cooling passage.

This thing is about a heartbeat away from either going to the boneyard or getting a SB Chevy dropped in it...

Disgustedly yours,

Justin B.