I have a 1994 camaro 3.4l. I was driving for about five days with the gauge in the vehicle at the 3/4 mark which is 235 degrees. I didnt think anything of it other than it being hot out and i only drove a few miles to work anyway. But yesterday i drove to my friends and noticed it was at about 250 degrees. On my way back from his house which is like fifteen miles the temperature gauge would go into the 260 degrees red zone for a few seconds and drop down to about 255 again. The check gauges light also came on. I knew it was bad but decided to keep driving to town which was like ten miles away. It kept going in and out of the red zone and averaged about 255 degrees for fifteen minutes straight. I parked the car in town and there was no coolant in it so i added some. I told my dad and he said i might have warped the heads or blew a head gasket so i start up the car and a not normal about of white smoke came out the tailpipe for a few seconds. I shut the car off and turned it back on again and the same thing happened. I drove the car around and parked it and started it again and no white smoke came out. I was coming home from my friends house today and no white smoke came out when i started it and the tempature gauge stayed right around 210 degrees so thats good. My question is where did the coolant go?. Is the engine burning it and do you think i could of warped the heads or blew the head gasket. I planed on putting money into this car to make it nicer but dont wanna go buying everything and than it breaks. Any ways i can see if i warped the head or blew a gasket on the vehicle.

 

The way it usually goes:
1) The driver does not pay attention to the coolant level
2) Engine overheats
3) Driver keeps driving with overheated engine
4) Heads warp and gasket blows
5) Driver worries how it all happened.

Do a test for combustion gases in coolant, this will tell you if head gasket is blown
Do a pressure test on cooling system to check for leaks

 

Without pulling a head, you won't be able to tell if you warped a head. Easy way of checking to see if you blew a head gasket is to check the oil. See if the oil is milky brown.

Check all your hoses and overflow tank to see if there's a leak somewhere. Radiator could be leaking also. If it was a intake gasket or head gasket, you'd have white smoke coming out.

 

Could the head warp or gasket blow from fifteen minutes of driving. Im starting to worry about it and how i could of simply pulled over.

 

There's a reason that part of the gauge is red. You can definitely warp a head and blow a gasket in 15 min. The best test is the coolant combustion gas and a compression test. You can also pull your plugs and see if any are really clean, this would show that coolant is burning in the combustion chamber and "steam cleaning" the cylinder.

 

Lets say i did warp heads or blow a head gasket what would that run. I dont have any testers to test gases in coolant so how much does that cost to get checked out. Im so mad all i can think about it coulda shoulda woulda stuff.

 

Just a tip for the future, if youre driving and the car starts overheating, and you ABSOLUTELY have to keep driving, crank the heater on full blast. It will draw some of the heat off the engine and should drop the temp a bit. I drove my Daytona from Illinois to South Carolina with a cracked radiator once. I had to stop and let it cool off occasionally so I could add water, but most of the time having the heater going would keep the temp gauge in the clear. Sucks when its 100 outside to ride with the heater blowing, but its better than blowing a head gasket...

 

i believe the 3.4 has iron heads so they are tougher than aluminum in most cases. if your holding coolant now i would not assume the motor has been harmed. coolant system pressure test should tell you if your leaking coolant, compression test on all cylinders will tell you more of the condition of the heads and head gaskets. you may have a small leak in a hose, heater core or radiator. im not saying no harm was done, i am saying dont go off the deep end.

 

ya the 3.4 has iron heads. you can rent a compression gauge from the parts stores. just pull a plug, thread in the gauge and crank the engine over a couple times, and record the results. you should have at least 150psi on all cylinders (my 3.4 was at around 170psi). also the lowest cylinder should be within 14% of the highest cylinder.

 

If your car is an auto, you could have also done damange to it as well.