2.5 engine needs some love

[Rexter]

I picked up an ‘01 for my son and me to rehab for when he starts driving.
Backstory from the P/O is that it ran hot, died, and that was it. It puked from the cap and has no coolant. System had rusty coolant in it judging from the puke. Oil level is just under the low mark. No evidence of water in the oil. Hit the key and it just clicked. I figured it blew the head gasket and hydro-locked.
Charged the battery just for s&g. Hit the key this morning and it started right up. Sounded like a Singer sewing machine on crack. Ran it for about 3 seconds and shut it off since it sounded like there was no oil pressure. I figure I’ll add oil to the full mark, prime the pump, fill it with water, and try again.
If it did crap the bed, I’m just going to drop in another 2.5 long block.
S&J Engines is on par price-wise, and has a 7yr/100K warranty for self-installation.
Anyone dealt with them?

 

[Chris]

@TJ4Jim, didn’t you recently replace your 2.5? Or am I thinking of someone else?

 

[TJ4Jim]

@TJ4Jim, didn’t you recently replace your 2.5? Or am I thinking of someone else?

It's been a few years since but I did just drop an ATK V6 into my son,s Dakota, very good experience with them including having a local delivery and core pickup right to my garage.

 

[Rexter]

Did some diggin today.....

Oil was pushed up into the dipstick tube, so the end result was that it was almost out of oil. I added roughly 3 quarts to get it to the full mark. I tried priming the pump by the method of cranking in short bursts with no plugs. I saw the gauge move a tick, but googlefu says it should get up to at least 15psi. The next step is going to be attempting to get some oil pressure with a drill and rod. I don’t want to buy a mechanical gauge yet, so I may just pull the sending unit and see what I get.....if anything.

The plugs looked a bit dark, but no water on them. #3 felt cross-threaded but the threads looked ok. Pulled the terminals off of 3&4 wires so new wires are in order at some point.

The dizzy was not bolted down to any tightness at all. The bracket is moveable by finger touch, so the whole thing moves freely. Weird that it started the other day with the dizzy being so loose.

I figure the end result is the p/o ran it out of oil and it overheated. Oil pump is prolly toast, and the bearings are most likely shot. If I can’t let it primed and showing some pressure, and it runs quiet, I’ll just throw a long block in it so it will be dependable for the kid to drive around town. Prolly try priming the pump next weekend.

 

[Goatman]

Did you find the blockage that caused the oil to push up the dipstick tube? I'm not a 2.5 guy, but should be pcv line to the valve cover is blocked up. But to push the oil up the tube I would thing there is a fair bit of compression blowby through the rings into the bottom end.

 

[Rexter]

I won’t be able to get to it until next weekend. Today is taken up with sanding the headlights and replacing the blend door actuator on my car, and helping my brother and another guy replace the fuel sending unit screens on their trucks.

Plan is to try get oil pressure. If it comes up then I’ll check compression and go from there. If not, I'll just drop a long block in it.