first off, let me start by saying camaros rule! now, down to the good stuff. i have a 1994 stock camaro with no additions. v6, automatic. i bought it last year with the understanding that there was problems with it (the engine). however now it is seems to be having other problems that i was hoping to get advice about.

1) engine overheats. Im pretty sure that it is not the thermometer. it usually overheats after idling for about 10-15 minutes. if driving on the highway, it will go up to redline but drop back down and continue doing so.
- I did the test where you open radiator and look for white residue, none of which i saw. in the coolant resivoir there was what looked like some sort of stop leak residue.
2) the fan does not come on.
3) strong gas fumes from the muffler.
4) very tight suspension. this has always been the case so I am not sure as to whether or not camaros simply possess this characteristics.
5) The front driverside wheel is not the same as the others. I am not sure as to whether originally the front tires were different sizes than the rears.

These are all the major issues with my baby. The original owner i purchased it from said it would be more cost effective to just swap out the engine but the engine sound strong, no knocks. Im thinking that it might be something with the head gasket.

My major concern is with the engine. I was wondering if anyone knew of a test to determine what the problem was short of tearing the engine apart or going to a mechanic. I also was wondering if anyone knew a guesstimate as to how much this cost. I'm a college student who doesn't have many funds right now.

 

well a head gasked can lead to overheating problems and could give you some white smoke out of the exhaust. Does the car go through lots of coolant?

 

there is a lot of smoke and it has very strong fumes. as for the coolant it goes a pretty good rate, i dont get to drive it that much because it isn't registered. when i drove it home from the place i purchased it at i drove to a gas station about 1/2 mile away and had to top it off again.

 

I tossed this in the V6 section, you'll probably get more replies about a V6 car here than in the LT1 section.

Anyway, does the fan not come on period? The temperature that the fan comes on is quite high. Is the SES light on? Have you noticed any leaks?

 

i haven't noticed any leaks. the fan does not come on at all,i checked to see if the fan comes on when the temp guage is maxed out is on but it doesn't.

 

Are you sure the strong "gas fumes" are not the smell of coolant burning? It sound like a classic issue of the cooling system stoped work (most likely the sensor) the the head gasket(s) blew cause of the lack of cooling.

You can pull the plugs and see if any of them are discolored.
You could do a compression test but that does not always show a head gasket issue.

You can borrow a coolant system pressure tester from autozone and see if you coolant system will hold pressure. Make sure you have the plugs out while you do this. If coolant fills you cyclinder during the test and you try to start you will damage your engine.

On plus side the head gasket issue is a very comon issue with a 15 year old 3.4. Other then the head gaskets these motors are very dependable. Once you get this done and get the coolant system all cleaned out she could last you awhile.

 

any ideas as to how much it would cost to repair?

 

I just changed the head gaskets on a 1995 3.4L and it's a major effort. I'm no slouch when it comes to repairing cars and it took me three full days. The difficulty is in the fact that the motor sits so far back in the engine compartment.
The gasket kit is less than $100 but the labor bill will be in the 15 hour range I'm sure. So depending on who does it I'm sure you are looking at a $1000 repair.
After I repaired the head gaskets I drove the car to Helena Montana and back from Portland Oregon, over 1300 miles and it went through the mountains at 80 mph and gave me 26mpg on the way.

 

Same here. I went to Vegas in September and came back, 3 days later the head gasket blew. Between that and the water pump that seized up, the bill came to $1634 and change. Look in the dictionary under 'damn near impossible' and you'll see the manifold of a 4th generation Camaro with a diagram of how to get it out next to it. It's a drop the engine type repair. You've got the fuel rails, ignition module and everything else on top. I'm looking at swapping my 98 with a 99+ manifold to get the bent neck out of there, and not seeing any fun in it at all.