psu_Crash Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 If I don't have 1 problem it's 3 more! So I went for a ride this morning and was pushing 15psi when I started blowing coolant ... again. Watched the temp like a hawk on the way home and never overheated but is was steaming like it was on fire. Got home and popped the hood. Definitely coming from the radiator area. Hard to tell exactly where because EVERYTHING is wet. Let her cool off and filled the coolant up. Lost about a half gallon. Went to start it and nothing .... WTH!? Checked the fuses and fusible links. All good Everything else works fine it just won't crank, not even a click. Praying that something just got wet that shouldn't ??? Even though I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Someday these problems have to end, but I'm not very optimistic. It's days like this I just want to put a for sale sign on it and be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Isn't this not supposed to happen with mpi? lol j/k im sorry to hear that man but it seems like small things. The moment you get them all fixed you will realize it was worth it i am sure. At least your block didnt crack...or pistons melt...or head crack? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Questo Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 mine is the same way and it only has 32,000 original miles on it.it's mostly minor things but as soon as you take care of it something else shows up.my aunt bought it new and never drove it hard and it's been in a gargage it's whole life,i want to mod it but because she gave it to me on the condition that if i don't want it anymore or she wants it back that i give it back to her so i probably won't mod it.before she gave it to me she had 3 head gaskets done on it.i keep having issues with the power steering line cracking.weather permiting it gets driven around 200 miles a week since i got it.i have a feeling she is going to want it back when my cousin is old enough to drive and i think she is old enough this summer. Hang in there guys almost all of us have gone through these things. But definatly once you get through the problems these are great cars. Starquests are like women, they are a nagging pain in the a$$ but they are sure fun to take for a good hard ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 (edited) Very Funny Starwolf A compression check is in order! lol I did crack my first block .. while being stupid Time to try and start her again ... man I don't know what's going on. Wires all look good ... hmm I did just have the steering column out .. maybe one of the connectors wasn't snapped completely in and the drive vibrated them loose ... hmm ... is there a separate plug just for the starter circuit?? Time to hit the FSM On a good note she was running strong on the run. I still get a good hiccup about 10-14psi at around 4k RPM ... but that's a tuning issue, I'll fix that Edited March 12, 2009 by psu_Crash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 (edited) Wasn't me. Mine is White I live about 1 1/2 hours north of Penn State. Although I did go there, and had the Starion there about 8 years ago. ... ahhh it was such a beautiful car in those days. Storage has not been friendly. Edited March 12, 2009 by psu_Crash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted March 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 steering column plugs are all good ... @#$! ... wires are still on the starter.... time to bust out the meter and check for voltage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 "watch'd the temp gauge like a Hawk" thats like saying I watch'd my friend put a gun to his head and blow his brains out ,doesn't help or prevent a darn thing,, now if you'd rod'd the rad, made sure both fans were runable and working,, new thermostat, you'd not have a gasket out,, the fact the car has had several head gaskets go out is telling you THERES A PROBLEM thats being OVER LOOK'd ,few ever go back and retourqe the gasket like they should ,esp if a shop did the work after all the gasket says PT rigth on it ,, just watching while is a good thing don't do any thing to prevent a failure,, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redecocav Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 "watch'd the temp gauge like a Hawk" thats like saying I watch'd my friend put a gun to his head and blow his brains out ,doesn't help or prevent a darn thing,, now if you'd rod'd the rad, made sure both fans were runable and working,, new thermostat, you'd not have a gasket out,, the fact the car has had several head gaskets go out is telling you THERES A PROBLEM thats being OVER LOOK'd ,few ever go back and retourqe the gasket like they should ,esp if a shop did the work after all the gasket says PT rigth on it ,, just watching while is a good thing don't do any thing to prevent a failure,, Haha Funny you should mention this because I just did my head gasket this weekend and have plans this evening to recheck the torque. First head gasket I ever did I messed up and didn't re torque the bolts and the head gasket blew again about 3wks later do to the bolts loosening up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 just me i guess but i see nothing funny in any thing that may cost you 300 to 500 bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted March 12, 2009 Report Share Posted March 12, 2009 Oy, I feel your pain at times. I really need to spend a day and find a place to where I can check ALL the grounds on the blasted car. Nothing is more awesome then turning the ignition and just hearing a click! click! click! as you turn the key over and then you do it again and the car begins to turn but you already went back to off expecting it to not start and then you go back and it just goes click! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted March 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 "watch'd the temp gauge like a Hawk" thats like saying I watch'd my friend put a gun to his head and blow his brains out ,doesn't help or prevent a darn thing,, now if you'd rod'd the rad, made sure both fans were runable and working,, new thermostat, you'd not have a gasket out,, the fact the car has had several head gaskets go out is telling you THERES A PROBLEM thats being OVER LOOK'd ,few ever go back and retourqe the gasket like they should ,esp if a shop did the work after all the gasket says PT rigth on it ,, just watching while is a good thing don't do any thing to prevent a failure,, If the temp would have started to go hot I would have immediately pulled over and parked it. It didn't get over 180. The car has NEVER even come close to overheating with the current head gasket. T-stat is new, Rad has been to the shop, both fans work perfect, and the Head has been retorqued twice in less than 500 miles since it went in. Not to say my Rad hasn't developed a leak but I need to get it started first and look. And don't worry I will do a compression check before I drive it again. My real problem right now is the starter not turning. IGN switch is good, Fusible links are good, starter wires and connections are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Technology Posted March 13, 2009 Report Share Posted March 13, 2009 Take a picture of underneath the intake manifold, looking at the starter. Maybe one of the other wires on the starter came off? What I'd do now is follow the starter wire back up to the B38 plug and make sure it's not broken or disconnected. The other thing you can do is get a voltmeter and test to see if that wire gets 12v at the starter when you/someone hits the key. That's actually easier than tracing a wire. I think no matter what, the no starting issue is more pressing than the coolant thing. Do you have any soft lines that are plugged with a bolt or anything? I had a small bolt wrapped with electrical tape and stuck in the turbo coolant feed line. Needless to say, electrical tape doesn't mix with heat and pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted March 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 Take a picture of underneath the intake manifold, looking at the starter. Maybe one of the other wires on the starter came off? BINGO! Yep the small wire with a spade connector popped of the starter. And the coolant leak was just my overflow tube being a POS Thank God ... man do i feel dumb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrazilBoy Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 Starquests are like women, they are a nagging pain in the a$$ but they are sure fun to take for a good hard ride. That is flippin funny as HE!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VICE Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Hang in there guys almost all of us have gone through these things. But definatly once you get through the problems these are great cars. Starquests are like women, they are a nagging pain in the a$$ but they are sure fun to take for a good hard ride. I like a good hard ride.. With the right woman And/Or wit the right StarQuest.. :winking0013: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conquest707 Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 every time this happens to me an want to get rid of it. i end up buying another SQ. its a paradox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonesh242 Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 every time this happens to me an want to get rid of it. i end up buying another SQ. its a paradox It's happened to me four times...one 89', two 87's and finally, an 88'. I think I've learned my lesson this time...this is the last one...when this one goes, it's done and I'm on to bigger/better things. My opinion sways each week...this week, I'm leaning toward parting it out...who knows what next week will bring...I've decided that if I fell like parting it out three weeks in-a-row, it's gone....piece-by-piece. Good luck all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indiana Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 So this is an mpi car? What intake? Where is the CTS located? Gauge not ever showing over 180 but overflow tube having a problem. ? That is not going to build 13psi to cause an overflow tank to even receive coolant from the radiator. Is there a pipe/tube from the rear of the head back to the stat housing like a stock intake, or the Magna when in FWD form has? If "no" to the question above, and if the heater valve is off do you realize all the coolant from the back of the head is blocked and doesn't flow? If the CTS is off to the side at the stat housing in the front of the head, or even far worse, at a remote stat housing then the CTS isn't getting flow across it and your coolant temps are very much higher. Even with the heater valve opened all the coolant from the back of the head just runs around in a circle and never gets to the radiator and that over heated coolant all ends up going right back into the water jacket in the front after it went around the hot side of the engine and back into the water pump. If you have lost coolant and the CTS, or gauge sending unit is not in physical contact with COOLANT, not steam, then your gauge just doesn't move. Steam doesn't cause a gauge to move much at all. So did you lose much coolant? In a stock intake, and the Magna in stock form the rear of the cylinder head passes coolant under the intake manifold all the time and this runs across the CTS and gauge sending unit. Coolant also goes out the back of the head and through the heater valve and core first when the stat is closed so it just makes a circle around and around in the block and head and out the back through the heater core then returns to the water pump through the water pipe under the exhaust manifold and back into the water pump to get pushed again into the water jacket and it won't get to the radiator until the stat is opened. Now I know that almost ALL Magna intake MPI conversions and I'll bet all those others have no such coolant path out the back of the head when the heater valve is closed and the big part about why Magna intake cars are less prone to blowing headgaskets is because of the changed coolant flow and the equal sized openings in the head front and rear and the rear was welded up and its path to the radiator was blocked........big improvement huh? MPI people with blowing head gaskets and Titan miracle gaskets that slide around and exhaust sides of the blocks cracking at head stud holes and maybe you should look to this coolant flow path most all, but not me I didn't do it that way even on the reversed TBi intake I put a hose to retain that path, have eliminated all the water pipes that came with the Magna intake that you didn't want to use or maybe didn't even get. If you thought that 3/4 on the gauge for a stock car was "bad" I bet you'd get a real shock if you have a gauge that read from the rear of the head for this coolant that is blocked at the heater core. You know you have heard of some of these that had gauges that cycled up and down, there was one car I forget who but the coolant in the radiator was hot in one part but cool in another and I remember he had a remote stat housing and it was too far from the head and it had no flow across the stat from the rear of the head to cause it to open and the coolant was staying in the radiator too long, the stat finally opened and let all this very low temp. coolant into the head and it caused the stat to again close and stop the flow and the motor heated up while the coolant in the radiator got too cool again then the stat would finally open when the heat from the coolant in the head reached the stat to cause it to open again and this cycle just kept repeating itself over and over. The "S" hose from the rear of the head that took one of the two branches from the bypass tube and sent it back under the intake runners to flow past the CTS and gauge temp unit needs to be put back into these mpi conversion intakes imo and very badly so. There you have something to take about. I mentioned this before and I did see one person say he was going to correct this the 2nd time around...but how did it slip past ( most ) everyone in the first place? Now you can think back at a couple mpi cars that had some major issues, like blown hoses, gaskets, pre-ignition, detonation etc and I'd bet many of those were directly related to this eliminated coolant path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 humm my engine temp acording to the lap top reads 176f day in day out ,, the heater hose flow is out the rear of the intake in the heater and back to the thermostat houseing directly below the thermostat , now the big diff is the truck does not have a coolant shut off valve for the heater ,, the coolant continualy flows in a loop heat or no heat call'd for , but the arround the block heater pipe is sucking coolant back to the water pump while the engine is runing thermostat open or close'd and is the normal route for the trap'd hot coolant to travel while the stat is close'd i can see what your meaning IF the guy moding the magna did not make use of the frt heater out let , you end up with no thermostat bypass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indiana Posted March 22, 2009 Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 All the Magna intakes I've seen threw away that port underneath in the front, welded or capped the 2nd connection at the bypass tube and then there is but one port from the rear of the head in the intake where the slot is. This one port only goes to a heater hose. Our cars have a heater VALVE. Closed valve=no flow. If they did it any other way how does the heater even flow? They couldn't use both openings on that end of the bypass tube. http://www.b2600turbo.com/images/SQ%20Coo33.gif Show me one that put in the tube under the intake like the Magna had stock cause I've not seen any. I doubt the intakes even come with it. Its a fat pipe that bolts to the runners at the plenum and dumps back in at the front. Point is, they made the two connections on our motor so that when the heater valve is closed the coolant can still at least flow back to the stat. housing. http://www.b2600turbo.com/images/magnablockdifferences.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psu_Crash Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 (edited) Thanks Indiana! When I lost coolant it was roughly 1 1/2 quarts. Drove the car on well over a 1000 mile round trip to VA this past weekend and never had to put a drop of coolant in it. But then again I didn't romp on it at any point. I do remember plugging a coolant line at the back of the Magna because I had no where to plumb it back to (and other members advised to do so :character0285: ) I believe it was the pipe that should go to my T-stat housing under the intake, the "S" pipe #14 in the pic. I will look into this hopefully later today and get it resolved. I have 2 coolant sensors hooked up. One for the gauge and one for MS on both sides of the T-stat housing. They read within a few degrees of each other all of the time ( no big surprise there). The heater still works great if that means anything. So the line that comes off the back of the head should be plumbed directly back to the t-stat housing, correct? Should go to the engine side of the t-stat if I am reading this right, or would it make minimal difference plumbed to the radiator side of the t-stat? The tapped hole under the housing should be the spot right? I think I have a temp sensor in there. Have to look to be sure though. How do you recommend getting things connected correctly? EDIT: Nevermind I just found THISpost Edited March 24, 2009 by psu_Crash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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