[chevyelc81]

I just bought a 1978 pontiac trans am for only 500 bucks. Its been sitting behind a shack next to a corn feild for about 3 years. It has the pontiac 400ci engine with the 4 speed munci with the hurst shifter. The body is solid, no rust anywhere and the underbody has been undercoated. The engine looks like it was newly rebuilt, the out side of it is very clean. I turns over no problem. The only thing im worried about is the engine had water in the oil pan. the person I bought it from said it ran when they parked it. When I drained the oil, about a half a gallon of water poured out before the oil started coming out. The oil was very grey and clumpy also. I was wondering if this could be caused my condensation and from it sitting for so long, I really hope its not a crack somewhere. Please give me some suggestions on how and why there is water in the oil pan and what I should do about it. Should I try running the engine or should I pull it and rebuild it?

 

[Fast_89rs]

better tear it down, there is sure to be rust..hate to see ya do all that work just to doit again in a thousand miles.
The heads probably need worked, seals dry out.

 

[Pontiacman]

You say it turns over?You could try a compression test to start off with , all plugs pulled ,carb opesame number of revelutions per cylinder, I use
pops on each cylinder, you should be within 20 lbs
overall, If your low on one or two, squirt oil in cylinder, couple squirts, if comes up,compression
your ring are bad, stays same valves bad. If you
have acess to leak down tester, this is better.I
had New motor, same thing water in pan, I tore down, Piston pins were sizzed, had to press off and work repress on. How did it get there? Hood
off during work , some jerk messing around. Could have been blown head gasket. I think if it looks
new and grey, you got a blown head gasket, car was drove home in this condition and parked. I'd buy a complete gasket kit and tear apart.

 

[shagginwagonvic]

yea i agree with pontiacman and i say just rebuild the motor i mean its a great looking motor dont want to get it started and have it blow ya know?

 

[critter]

if the bird was mine I would go ahead and tear it down. if it sat for several yrs your gonna have some collapsed lifters, dry mainseals, and dry valve seals. while you have it out you can check your bearings and everything else for peace of mind. also replace your oil pump depending on milage, as well as check for cyld ridge and valve seat condition. the big thing i'm thinkin is checkin for cracks. you can do this initially by drainin your anti-freeze and refillin with water only, drop some cheap oil in the crankcase and start the engine and let her come up to temp checkin your dipstick constantly. this will tell you if your block is cracked in short order without blowin your engine or causin irrepairable damage (been there done this). Good Luck