Saab 97x 5.3i Misfire among other things

[rndgotham]

Hi
Been reading the forums but cant find anything like this.
2007 97x, 5.3 vortec 110,000 miles.
Car ran great until one day oil pressure dropped. Got home with it, read about the little screen to the lifters, cleaned it, changed oil and was great for a month or 2

Drove to work, ran fine, started up to come home and it had no power and a serious tick. Once home and in garage, pulled valve cover to see a stuck lifter on number 5.
Replaced lifter, head gasket, bolts etc, put it all back together and it fired right up, no tick but it seemed to have a slight misfire.

Took it for a ride. seems to take off great until about 35-40 mph, the seems to make a real wierd noise (like a BOOOAAA) lol...sorry can't explain it, almost like a 4 barrel carb opening and it has no power, then check engine light flashes and i get code p0300, and a p0106 sometimes

So this is what i have done so far. Replaced both head gaskets, check compression, ( all good) changed plugs, wires, coils and injectors. Complete motor flush while apart, ran sea foam...cleaned and checked all wire connections, and grounds. Replaced and or check all vacuum lines intake and gaskets.

Today, after more intake cleaning, checking this over i decided to drive it about 10 miles. Again seemed to take off fine, but as i approached a hill again it seemed to roar like a 4 barrel and slowed down to nothing and was chugging really bad. shut it off, restarted and it ran bad, all kinds misfires.

So i got out my code reader and had a p0 300 and a po521.....so i erased the codes and drove home about 30 and it was fine as long as i didn't step on it.

Just came in from the garage, i have a few questions. I have a lot of oil in my intake, when running if i pull the valve cover hoses from the intake the are blowing real hard, a mist of oil? is this normal? Also pulled off the driver side valve cover and started it, i noticed one push rod was really shooting a lot of oil out it, enough that it almost hit the fender.

So are these related or do i have a couple problems? Are my afm lifters bad?? i saw a tsb about afm lifter locking or maybe it was unlocking at startup, and this would case a misfire?

Please any help or advise would be greatly appreciated

 

[BlazingTrails]

There should not be oil spraying out of the vent tube or a significant amount of air. It is hard to diagnose over the forum but the lack of power really sounds like the mechanical timing is out. P0300 is multi cylinder misfire which would also coincide with timing being out. If your timing is off you could have some cylinders firing just before tdc which would cause the excessive blow by. (Oil spraying from vent tube)

Possibly

Edit: just noticed that was your first post. Welcome to the nation!!

 

[rndgotham]

Well the timing has never been touched, it's not like a stream of oil it's a mist, but a power full mist, if you hold your hand a few inches away oil will start to drip off your hand.

I think these are connected somehow, I get the "shut of engine"warning at idle, hit the gas and pressure goes up above the red.

I am curious about why the one pushrod shoots oil out so far too,......

 

[BlazingTrails]

Your oil pressure goes into the red??

It sounds like you have a major mechanical problem. I don't know anything about you so don't take offense. It sounds like your oil is being blocked from going into the heads. Maybe the head gaskets weren't the right ones. Oil ports not in the right spot in the gasket? Did you have the heads decked? How did you clean the gasket surfaces? How clean were the gasket surfaces? Do you have any pictures? In what sequence did you torque the head bolts? What did you torque them to?

Brandon

 

[rndgotham]

Yes at idle, that's why I am thinking something is plugged or messed up with that one lifter, I mean with the valve cover off if you start the engine the oil literally shoots out the one lifter, it up and almost hits the fender, steady stream, I was wondering if it's over filling the valve cover then ending up in the intake, and with that much oil shooting it seems it would lower oil pressure

 

[BlazingTrails]

I just edited my last post and added some stuff....

 

[BlazingTrails]

???

 

[rndgotham]

pulled the driver side valve cover today and started it. I am now getting oil iut of some the the push rods but not all.

i used torque specs i found online and sequence. I think they were 22lbs then 90 degrees twice.

The one one pushrod isnt shooting oil now, it seems normal