Just purchased a 90 gt hatch with 145k miles on it. The car sat for 6 years prior to me purchasing it, it runs fine i changed all fluids in it. Problem is its leaking oil from almost everywhere lol passenger head gasket right above the #3 cylinder, both front and rear main seals, and oil pan. Now i do know the past owner of the car did "baby this car" have records of every servicing done since bought in 92. The car doesn't smoke at all and fires right up, does drop off to about 500 rpm when started but revs back to normal idle afterword. Should i just drop the tranny/ clutch and replace the seals and gaskets or pull the motor and do a complete over haul pistons rods etc.. or would i better with just getting a reman. / or used shortblock?? I plan on using this as a my daily driver and minor weekend warrior at the track.
90 gt 145k miles what to do
- Thread starter KrazZ27
- Start date
darthcual
Member
First, I would check the PCV valve and make sure that screen isn't clogged. If that goes wrong it will make these engine's spew oil all over the place. If that's good, this can be a sign of piston ring blow-by. I would do a compression test, and a cylinder leakdown test, and see how it stacks up. The fact is these engine's when properly cared for are usually good for at least 200K miles. However, you are going to have to pretty much have to tear it down to the shortblock anyways. If you are getting excessive blow-by then a re-seal will have a short term fix. If the system is good, it might just be the fact you have almost 22 year old seals that have just died of old age. You could pull the motor and tear it down to the shortblock, replace all seals and gaskets. It's going to be hard to justify putting back some of that stock stuff. If you are going to do all that, and the ring seal is still real good, might as well do an explorer top end. If the bottom end is poor or marginal shape, just swap over an explorer engine. Upgrade the valve springs, put in the stock or better cam, and you'll be happy you did. All options above this are going to be out of your budget.
I looked online and found a rebuild kit with pistons for $600 with gaskets and oil pump as far as upgrades I already have plenty left over from my last project. I have compete explorer h/c/I, truckflow heads (non twisted wedge) just trying to find out what my best/ easiest approach would be and if u think replacing the bottom end would be my best option.
Mr. Rustypwnz
Advanced Member
ID89GT
10 Year Member
If it were me I would do all new gaskets, intake manifold, valve cover gaskets, timing cover, front main, oil pan and rear main. Then I would do a full tune up, cap, rotor, plugs, plug wires, fuel filter and then see how you sit after that. You can buy a full gasket kit for less than 100 bucks from 50resto. Then the tune up stuff will be like 120 depending on what you buy for everything.
