i have a 99 camaro and it ran fine never over heated never smoked nothing... then i flushed the radiator and put new coolant in it once i got around the corner from my house it started chokin and died... checked oil and my radiator fluid ran into the oil pan... idk what it is but i need my car fixed as i bought it 24 hours before it broke... i never worked on domestic cars but i do have experiance in foriegn cars... please help me out... i was looking for a free download for the repair manual but couldnt find one... only found the owners manual... thanx...

 

Are you saying you have coolant in your oil? That would most likely be your intake. If you bought the car 24 hours before this how do you know it never overheated?

If the coolant has been in your oil for any real time your motor is most likely shot. Coolant in the oil will strip the babbit from the bearings if not cleaned out right away.

 

IT never over heated as i was driving it... and i checked all the fluid before purchasing but since the car was hot couldnt open radiator cap... oil was fine when purchased and morning of the problem...

 

Did it overheat before it it shut off? Did someone put some type head gasket sealer in the system before this happened? That sux!

 

no the car did not over heat and i dont know if the previous owner put sealant in it... i was thinkiing taht maybe they did and when i flushed out the radiator it flushed out the sealant as well...

 

Are you planning on doing the repairs yourself or are you thinking about donor engine? At least drain out the oil, drain out the rest of the coolant and replace oil and crank it over a couple times to get the nasty out of the bearings.

 

i wanna fix it as cheap as possible

 

If I remember correctly, I had about $300 tied up in doing the head gaskets on the 3.8 when we did my sons. $85 for machine shop to test and surface the heads, rest was gaskets, oil, antifreeze and head bolts. I just finished doing the 5.7 and just the head gasket kit was around $225. You will need a angle torque meter for the head bolts on the 3.8. I used a Haynes manual as a guide to do mine. Even if you get a donor engine, best practice is to replace at least the intake gaskets before putting in the engine and if you are going to do that, you might as well put on new head gaskets since you are almost there anyways. It is a time consuming process and can be brutal using that torque meter up under that cowl but it can be done.

 

He may just need an intake gasket.

 

yea my head gasket was 215 and i ordered it so its at my store but im not gonna pay for it until i know for sure that i need it... im hopping its the intake... easier job... i need to get my car running so i can get back and forth to work...