OT roadside engine failure

my little brother is stranded on the road 30 miles away in the dark on his way back to school. He says all of a sudden a lot of noise (mechanical probably) and excessive vacuum (car has a vacuum gauge). no flashlight or underhood light. oil feels gritty and smells of gas. i checked his coolant before departure in afternoon light and told him to stop and top it off, couldn"t see it in radiator--he did not do as told!

any guesses as to what happened?

karl f

Didn't listen to you!!! Low coolant has a cause that needs fixing, Have to top up and inspect, fix then drive or you are asking for trouble. Hope he's not far away.
Later Bob

he found a ride from a school mate, yet i still had to drive out to his car to help get it off the road...nice 35 mile trip one way, he had about 30 more to go.
at any rate, too dark and wet to even figure out anything, and the batttery went dead on him before i got there. hope it"s something minor like alternator bearing or only semi serious like a collapsed lifter. I had enough of a flashlight to see oil was full, though questionable quality as he flooded it twice badly on this oil change. the cause of that has been fixed for a couple weeks now. could not tell color of oil and the coolant was indeed still down 6 inches like before he left. at least it hadn"t lost more, but it is still too low.
He said he was driving along and the noise started and got worse and worse, as he was pulling over and coasting the engine killed. it still cranked over after.
this is a 77 pontiac 400 with under 60k on it, having sat for 20 years. he"s been driving it 2 years now. a silver lining would be that he needs an engine to rebuild for school in a month or so.

will let you know what we find for sure, keep guesses coming!

karl f

he said when

Coolant loss can be anywhere--rusted freeze plugs--hoses--water pump seal. Sitting that long, if not properly stored & brought back, could be sludge that got cut loose & eventually blocked the oil pump pick-up screen. Could be a head gasket.

pulled the dipstick in daylight and there"s metallic shavings in the oil. time for a rebuild.
My brother needs an engine for school, he just didn"t plan on using that one.

karl f