camshaft removal

[topboss718]

hi im trying to tke out the camshaft on my friends 1998 cadillac deville any help on how to remove it so i can get to the cylinders and pistons becouse my friends engine is blowing white smoke from the muffler when i check his spark plugs 5 out of 8 were in bad shape engine was burn gas and oil the rubber peices must be worn out from over heating
any help i will be thankfull for im doing this with the engine in the car

thanks

[jmf1964]

White smoke out the exhaust is usually an indicator of bad head gaskets, the camshaft does not have to come out to repair that, you would probably need to pull the motor out to change it anyway.
You didn't say which motor is in the car, if it is a Northstar it has to be repaired properly or it will keep coming back.

[submariner409]

A 1998 deville has the 275 hp/3.11 final drive FWD Northstar package.

There is a lot, a lot, more than just "taking out the (4) cams". Actually, in order to pull the heads you don't remove the cams: you time the engine, secure the timing chains and sprockets, pin the timing chain tensioners, and remove the cylinder heads as an assembled unit. Then you carefully clean everything, do the machine work to install Norm's Inserts (20) in the cylinder block bolt holes, and assemble everything using new head bolts and gaskets.

In order to get the front cam cover off to get to the head bolts you need a mopdified claw puller for the water pump drive pulley which is on the driver's end of the front intake cam.

I would strongly recommend a factory service manual (www.helminc.com) or eBay, or subscribe that car to www.alldatadiy.com.

Work on a FWD Northstar is like nothing else you've ever done in the automotive world...................you'll be on a steep learning curve for technique and special procedures.

[topboss718]

guyz is there a post with pics that i can look at were there doing this or maybe i should take a pic of were i reached in the engine so u guys can have a better idea were im at and what exceptly i need to do, should i take a pic so u guys can see ?? by the way its a northstar 4.6 fwd

[submariner409]

As I posted, there is no simple fix here - you need a service manual; NOT Chilton's or Haynes, a real GM service manual. There's just too much to try and post the procedure. The pictures alone will fill a NYC telephone book.

If you have time, go down to Northstar Performance in the Technical and Discussions forums and begin searching for threads with key words like "head gasket", "timeserts", "coolant loss", etc., etc. There are some engine and cylinder head pictures down in those threads, though. You need a good mechanic............

[topboss718]

lol ya your rite i got a haynes manuel and its stinks thats why im here asking questions but thanks alot guys for the feedback

[Ranger]

What does the white "smoke" smell like, coolant or fuel?

[topboss718]

little bit of both lol

[chacenbra]

What is your reason behind doing the repair in the car? Doing the job without pulling the motor presents a few problems such as --

The NorthStar motor does not actually "blow" the gaskets, the head bolt threads become corded and the head bolts actually pull up and out of their holes. To repair the problem correctly you have to drill and tap out all 20 holes utilizing either a threaded insert (norms or timesert) or the SureGrip stud kit. Now drilling the front 10 holes will probably be no problem, but if you take a look at the rear head you will see that there is little to no room to work.

Another fault of doing the job in the car is you cant utilize the stud kit, which in my and most people on this forums opinion is the best option when doing this repair, even if you get everything drilled and tapped you will not be able to reinstall the rear head.

This task is difficult anyway you slice it but the easiest way is to just pull the 6 cradle bolts, disconnect the electrical, fuel lines, brake lines, hoses, etc. and pull the motor out the bottom.

You must be quite mechanically inclined to even attempt it and as stated above get a FSM, and whatever you do DO NOT put in any type of gasket repair in a can scams, NONE of them will work.

If you do end up pulling the motor to make this repair and your friend wants to keep the car for awhile, replace the TCC solenoid (they tend to go out and its easy to do while the motor is out) re-seal the half case with RTV, check all the motor mounts and replace the O2 sensors (when coolant passes by them they get wrecked)

Like sub said look around in the "Northstar Performance" section there is ALOT of information there and a couple threads with pictures, if I run across them I will post links here for you

[topboss718]

k thanks alot chacenbra