ok well my 84 gs had a bad radiator leak and i sealed it up the best i could till i could get a new radiator. well then mt coolant sensor decided to strip out and blow and my rad just steamed so i pulled over and had my friend tow me home, like three blocks, well i just got my new radiator put in and i decided to get a new thermastat too. so i replaced that and the seal, but inside the hose and all by the old thermastat was this gross rusty looking crap, so i cleaned it all up and put in the new one. i changed the oil and filter and filled the rad with fluid. well i went to start it and i guess my battery was dead, great, so i hooked it up to my dads and tried to start it but t just sounded like the starter was cranking but nothing else. i tried it a few times and it didnt work so instead of killing my starter to bad i just thought about it. and i thought maybe it was an ignition problem, i pulled the plugs out of the first rotor and when i pulled the bottom one out this little stream of rusty water came out with it, and same with the top one. i looked at the plugs i replaced maybe 3k ago and the were covered in this watery crap and looked pretty bad. so i guess to get to my question, what is wrong?? is it carbon locked? bad starter? or what. my car has been sitting for about a three weeks because i didnt have the funds to fix it and i didnt want to chance driving it while the rad was in bad shape. i mean im lost hear i dont know what it is, if u have any suggestions please let me know asap!!

 

It could have been a manifold O ring. They go bad on '83-'85 engines due to the extra heat load from the 'beehive' oil cooler. Actually, all the soft seals are stressed more in those engines than any other (air oil cooled) NA engine.

If you had the means, I'd recommend a freshening up of the engine's seals as basic maintanance. For me, it's bit like a carb rebuild. Oh, that reminds me that I've gotta get back out there and start reassembling my Hitachi today.