Ok My friend has a 1996 Camaro RS it was a great car and always ran good but one day out of no were he was driving at 60 and it started to loose alot of power down to a stop. Now when trying to start it up you have to feather the gas to get the car to even start and RPMs to clime up to about 1800 rpm then it dies. I think its a bad head gasket because I here the sound of of water dropping on hot exhaust but cant find any leaks. It didnt over heat at all or anything. So should we buy the same engine to put back in it 3800 or do a v8 swap (Kinda pointless takes alot of money and parts unless we did a carbed v8 its cheaper to buy another camaro)or should we buy a wrecked one off of a insurance auction I buy cars from and use the body parts to fix the wrecked z28?

 

You're not sure what is wrong, but you want to go ahead and replace the engine anyways? How mechanically inclined are you, and how much money do you have? I never understand why people want to have someone else decide for them.

 

Im pretty sure its a head gasket. I already did a Ecm Scan and replaced some sensors that might have caused the problem. As far as my background in mechanics go. Im 28 I have completed the automotive course from BBCC and been working on cars since about 13 or 14. The car has 135,000 Miles on it so I dont see why replacing the head gaskets would be a good idea. The only other thing I think it could be is if the car jumped time. We have about 1,000 dollars to work with. I dont know how dependable the 3800 motors are but I could get a wrecked z38 for around 900 to 1500 depending on how bad the car is wrecked and use the body parts from this car. My friend has let this car sit in his shop for about 2 years Im pushing him to get it fixed so he has another car.

 

My last 3800 went to 2XX,XXX miles. Ran like a champ. Replacewhatever you think needs replacing, but if you don't check for the telltale signs you'll never get it fixed. Personally it doesn't sound like a head gasket to me.

 

Figure out what wrong. Borrow a coolant pressure tester from Autozone and test the coolant system. Does not sound like a head gasket to me either. Unless you forgot to mention a huge steam cloud coming form the tail pipe,