ok so here is my thing. I bought a 1998 4.3L vortect V6. for a old coworker of mine. I was told it ran and but had a coolant leak. I had put a battery in it and tried to get it to crank but got nothing. Went over everything and all the wiring is good. So after further review and alot more work i was able to figure out that the lower intake was leaking because of a small hairline cut. But with that after pulling everything and seeings under the lower intake I decided to pull the valve covers and replace the gaskets with everything else seeings how i already had it apart. After pulling the the covers off I saw the lifting rods and everything else was rusted looks almost like it was pulled out of a river. With everything going on ( not turning over, lifters and intake) I decided to pull the timing cover and see how bad that was also. And this is where my jaw dropped because I have never see a time chain this bad before. Everything looked like it was sitting in the water for a few years and then dryed to where the rust was about a inch think. now I am debating on rather to try and pull it all and dip it in diesel and try to recover everything the best i can. or say screw it and scrap the whole motor or just not even deal with it at all and get rid of it. I like the trust everything else inside outside and trans and 4x4 all checks out good but dose anyone have anything or know of anything that might cause this problem that way it dosent happen again.

after time cover was pulled.

 

Engine was prob left open and filled with water { rain, kids with a garden hose ECT - who knows } total rebuild or use it for a boat anchor. Cheaper route find a used engine and R&R

 

As a sailor I like to think a bit of an expert on anchors and I would say that using an engine block as an anchor would be an insult to real anchors. LOL


The large version of this "Bruce" anchor is used to hold oil rigs in place.

Me sailing in Canada.

 

Looks like it had a lot of water in the oil - maybe LIM intake leak or a crack somewhere. Junk it and get another engine. But if it's been through a flood, lots of things will be junk. Might want to see what the fluids look like in the trans, transfer case, and rear end before spending money on this vehicle. Fluids are fairly cheap to replace if all of the rest is good.

Good luck

 

thank you Odat. I took the lower intake back off after I cleaned it and let oil sit in the engine and lower intake lifters and what ect. and i recentley pulled the lower intake back off and this is what i found I dont know if you have ever seen anything like this but

 

i checked over all of the other fluids throughout and saw nothing to shows it would be in a flood at all but then again i do live in nc where we tend to flood alot. from what he has told me is that is wife was driving it it over heated and he couldn't figure it out but it was Running before he parked it. I have torn it down and cant find anything else wrong with it but the fact that the lower intake was the only thing worped on it. so I did replace that. should i continue or stop because this is what i have found recently after cleaning the rust off the lower intake and putting on the new intake. I decided to pull it back off to see is anything came back rust wise and this is what I have found

 

Best advice I can give you is if you want to restore the blazer find a replacement engine.
Where you didn't find water in anything else you maybe OK to go forward, but as stated with a new engine.
I think unless you do a total tear down to bare block and have it boiled and cleaned you will never get all the rust out of passages and such and maybe not even then. Then you still have to check over other parts and pieces to see what you can salvage and what you have to replace.
My guess is - as you have no idea just how hot they may have got the engine you may have warped heads / block and unseen cracks
It wouldn't be worth my time or cost, I'm sorry to say but this rust heap would be on it's way to my scrap metal pile.