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My heart goes out to you, Bill. I suspected all along the broken
brake booster was a red herring. And I'm afraid that I agree that you need
to get the whole engine done, if necessary, and not just the top end. I
did the top end of engine and, sure enough, the bottom end went out pretty
quickly afterwards. There are some elements of your circumstance that I do
not fully grasp which would probably make me want to get at least a second
opinion, if only to satisfy nagging doubts that the job is really what is
called for.
My total rebuild was not temperature or bad running
related. I lost the rings on several cylinders. This led to a lot of
smoky blow by, but other than that, there were no symptoms. I was also
losing oil from the worn out oil filter canister and the rear main seal.
Surprisingly, performance was not unduly affected, though I think gas mileage
was worse than before.
I can see how poor valves might affect performance
but I'd like to know how it is causing the overheating. Maybe you
already have the information, but I would want to know more, if only to help me
get over having to bite the bullet yet again.
I, too, have invested more money than is in any way related to
the value of the car. I suspect that this is the case for many people on
this list. I hope the mechanic you trust is very familiar with things
Mopar. I say this because I truly felt the substitution of a GM alternator
was a very bad idea. There were better, less intrusive, alternatives and I
think you really need to take this car to someone who really understands and
appreciates how Mopars work. I take different makes of cars to different
shops. Our 63 Lincoln, a real money pit, goes to one place, our GM
products to another. I would not take the Imperial to either.
Your statement, 'He could give the car a valve job, but
that wasn't going to cure bad rings, and would only make the bottom of the
engine blow out that much faster,' is the main cause for my concern. It seems like muddy thinking that
is not consistent with your situation. This may be due to a lack of
understanding on my part, or perhaps you reduced a long conversation to a
snippet, and, as a result, may not be perfectly conveying what was
said.
In my limited experience, high operating temperatures have
been caused by a poor radiator or running the engine way too lean a fuel
mixture. Several people, in response to your first post pointed towards
the carburetor and I tended to agree. I would be sorely tempted to get the
car properly tuned and see what if that makes a difference. What other
problems are you experiencing that leads to the conclusion you have poor valves
and rings? I'm the kind of person who really needs to just about have a
gun put to my head before I'd totally tear down an engine completely just
because it was running a little rough, and I'd sure want to get every
question settled in my mind before I did something so drastic.
I had to re tune my engine once I had a brake booster that
would hold vacuum. This was years before the other problems that did lead
to needing to get the engine rebuilt and, in my case, there was no connection
between the two events.
I wish you all the luck in the world. A rebuilt engine
is a good thing to have. You will probably want to repaint the interior of
your engine compartment once it is out and you know what will happen then, don't
you? Watch out for those "Might as well" projects!
Hugh
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