'02 Impala LS problems/questions

Jul 05, 2004 5 Replies
G

My '02 Impala LS has started running rough every so often (twice now) right after startup. It feels like a miss. The check engine message doesn't come up.



I also noticed a grainy deposit inside my oil cap, kind of like oily sand. But, the "grains" are softer and if you rub them between your fingers they smooth out into kind of a paste. The color is dark brown/black.



I have been keeping an eye on my coolant level (wary of the leaking manifold gasket problem) and it looks ok. The last oil change was a month or so ago with whatever stuff the local dealership uses. Any ideas out there? Thanks.


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B

The deposit under the oil cap seems to indicate the possibility of a leaking manifold gasket problem.

Ian has pictures on his site that show it.

If your oil filler cap looks like this:

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get to your dealer ASAP.

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J

I would certainly take a sample of engine oil and send it in for analysis to make sure that the dreaded intake manifold leak isn't happening.

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They will send you the sampling kits for free.

Cost for the oil analysis is $20 for the basic analysis, or $35 for analysis plus expert interpretation by Terry Dyson.

It is well worth it to check up on these engines.

John

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G

It doesn't look like that (no yellowish gunk), and I don't see any evidence of coolant on the dipstick. I noticed this deposit just recently, and it is coincidental with a dealer oil change a couple months ago (I usually do oil myself and use Mobil1, but they changed it for me without my asking them to the last time I had it in).

I've never noticed any kind of deposits on any of my vehicles when using Mobil 1, so I might just change it again ahead of time and see if it goes away.

Thanks for the tip, though - the whole reas>

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H

Injector problems won't cause crankcase deposits.

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