[Safari64]

Hey everyone! I was so close to having my Safari drive able and life went nuts. I have a lot of excuses, but the main thing is that it wasn’t a priority and I had a lot of other things to worry about instead. Including my health.

I am in a much better space right now and I want to get the Safari running. How much work will it be? I’m not sure. It was running right before I moved which was 6 years ago. Wow. I can’t believe it has been that long. But I haven’t touched it since the move and some things happened with the move.

From a punctured tranny pan to broken antenna.

Would anyone be interested in a video as I go through and find out where things left off? I have some memory of what was going on, but I am pretty sure I did a lot of stupid regrettable things to that car.

[Safari64]

Ok, so I cleared everything off the hood. Backed it out of the garage a tad to open the hood. Looks like there is some seeping at the seams.

I am going to grab some gas and a battery and see if I can get it to turn over. I will put the rear on jack stands to make sure the tires don’t move.

I will need a linkage kit for the transmission. I have a new pan that I will put in for the tranny.

[Safari64]

Good news. Fresh gas and battery and it started right up.

Bad news water was coming out of the exhaust and white smoke.

Is there an easy way to verify I have a leaky head gasket? Just change the oil and if there is water I am screwed?

[Shiny]

Looks like a great project!

Hope you are psyched to get back at it.

I moved my beater 4 times since I bought it so I can easily top your 6 years. But every time I work on it again it's fun and I'm glad I haven't tossed it.

How long did you let it run?

I turned my engine into a milkshake machine once and it was obvious when I drained the oil. And ugly. And frustrating. I fixed the leak (hole in the water pump housing), drained the oil, flushed it with new oil a couple times and moved on. If I ever start driving it, I'll find out if the bearings fail quickly, but just puttering around the block, starting it every few months, tinkering, etc., it hasn't started knocking.

Mike

[Safari64]

Thanks Mike!

I am so psyched. I am a little overwhelmed with the problems I am inheriting from my younger self, but I just want to drive around. So more excited than scared. I just know I did some stupid stuff.

I didn’t let it run long, maybe 10 minutes. It started to snow so I turned it off and pushed it back in the garage.

I am so thankful for my wife who hasn’t killed me yet. She even seemed excited I got it to start.

[433lemans]

There will be condensation in the exhaust system until it warms up so at this point water dripping and white "smoke" shouldn't be an issue in your cold climate, unless it continues after completely warmed up. JMO

[mgarblik]

That water out of the tailpipes is completely normal. If dripping water out after running 30-45 minutes, then check into it. This is assuming there is no water in the oil. Glad it started and ran so easily.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by 433lemans

There will be condensation in the exhaust system until it warms up so at this point water dripping and white "smoke" shouldn't be an issue in your cold climate, unless it continues after completely warmed up. JMO

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If the steam doesn't subside after 15 minutes or so you can easily test for a compromised gasket, or crack with a test kit like these on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=head+gask...l_2zz0ne2amr_p

Head gaskets leaks on stock Pontiacs aren't a common problem, but age can play a part in eventual deterioration. Cracks can happen if there is insufficient antifreeze during storage.

If it were mine I'd run it and see if the steam doesn't subside, likely it's condensation.

[Joe's Garage]

BEFORE you do this, check for water in the oil. If the oil is milky, STOP and make plans to take the motor out and fix it right.

If the oil looks fine, let the engine warm up to operating temperature - 10 to 15 minutes minimum. Keep checking the upper radiator hose to see if it gets warm.

When the upper hose feels warm, it should start to build up pressure. By the time it is fully hot, the hose should be fairly hard.

If the hose get hot and the system doesn't build pressure, that's a potential sign that the head gasket could be leaking.

If the hose get hard BEFORE it gets hot, that is potentially a sign of combustion gases leaking part the head gasket.

Good luck!

[Safari64]

Drained some of the oil. I am assuming it is black from the assembly lube? Or something?

It hasn’t run long enough to burn oil.

[Safari64]

This was at the bottom of the tranny pan

[Shiny]

No idea why so dark, but it's NOT milky. A big coolant leak would be obvious (literally like milk and oil mixed) and that isn't it...

[Safari64]

Perfect.

Any idea what that little plate is on the rim of the transmission pan? It was sitting at the bottom and I don’t want to put a new plan on if it is something I need to re install.