i have a 95 camaro 3.4. my wife was driving the car today and noticed that the car started (smoking) really bad. when she got home i checked it out and it was not smoke, it was water... i mean lots of water coming from the tailpipe and leaking from other places in the exhaust. i put anitfreez in the radiator and it was leaking into the exhaust as fast as i was putting it in. the car starts and runs fine. could this just be a blown head gasket? or is it much worse? need sugestions on how to narrow down the problem and easiest way to fix. how hard of a job is this? HELP

 

yep sounds like a blown head gasket. maybe a failing intake manifold gasket but not sure. are you getting any coolant in the oil? good start would be a compression test on all cylinders

 

To fix your problem, the upper engine has to come apart, plain and simple.

 

yea got water in the oil also. took off the oil filter and it looked like muddy water. i noticed the anitfreez looked rusty when i firts bought the car, i had it flushed out but didn't help. do you think there was a small leak before and it finally just broke loose? in the process of taking it apart. will post pics later. keep the help comming.

 

since the heads have to come off you may as well replace the valve stem seals and even lap the valves. I'm not suggesting sending the heads out ( unless you want) but for a few bucks you can improve things. Oh, new head bolts too.

Don't forget rags in the valley because you don't want extra pieces dropping into the lower end

 

while you have it torn down clean all parts as good as you can hell i used to bring my parts in the house and take my sweet time....if it was me i would take my heads down have them reworked,its like 75 a head with the hook up...

 

id only do this if you were doing it yourself (its very easy just youtube it)

yes with a hook up but most people dont have that. at least have them checked for warping or cracking, it would be a huge waist of money to get work done to these heads they have a really bad flow design. also when you have a headgasket blow and antifreeze gets in the oil it can eat away at the bearings causing catastrophic failure of the engine.

...ohh and i didnt see anyone say this but do not run the car until its fixed you WILL destroy it.

 

how do you youtube a valve?

 

Oh man...your mind is in a "special place" today, ain't it?

 

Don't waste your time on that motor if you drove it with antifreeze in the oil. You would most likely spin a bearing within a 1000 miles of rebuilding the top end. Look for a replacment motor and install new gaskets and seals in that.

Just a FYI ethylene glycol (anti fressze) has a chemical reaction to the the babbit on your bearings in the motor. Once a bearing sits soaking in ethylene glycol for a few hours its done for. It is possible that the motor would be ok if you got to it in time or if the concentration was real low but rebuilding the upper part of a motor seem like way to much work just to roll the dice. But I am lazy