I just bought a 98 Camaro 3800 Auto about a month ago. When I bought the car, everything seemed kosher until about 2 weeks ago, I was driving home in a nasty storm and I started overheating and watching the battery gauge dropped. So of course, it was the belt.. The belt tensioner had some wobble to it and worked the belt off. I drove it as far as I could, until I lost power, keeping a close eye on the temp gauge, for fear of overheating and causing major damage. It never got over 3/4 gauge. Next day I went and picked up a new alternator(my bearings were going out) and belt tensioner. After driving the car about 15-20 minutes, I started smelling coolant, and seeing smoke from under the hood, and of course, cracked the radiator.. I put a bottle of the Bar's Leak liquid aluminum radiator stopleak(I NEVER use additives like this, but I needed a temp fix), which did nothing for it at all, except I turned the heater on after putting it in and my oil pressure(which has always sat at 1/2 gauge) dropped to 1/4. It still sits at 1/2 gauge, but now sometimes drops randomly at idle to 1/4 and the car will also randomly stall out very occasionally. I also noticed I had pressure in my top radiator hose, and none in my lower hose, which made me think water pump. So I replaced the water pump, thermostat, and put a new radiator and cap in it. Now, no more leaks, pressure in both hoses, I bought a oil pump repair kit for the pressure issue, but haven't put it in yet, and my temp gauge warms right up to 3/4 gauge and slowly starts rising shortly thereafter... Everything in me feels one of the head gaskets in shot, but I'm hoping there's something I've missed that y'all might think of. The temp gauge has fluxuated between 1/2 and 3/4 since I bought the car(I've driven it short drives around town, and longer 1-2 hour drives), but now when it gets over 3/4, the upper radiator hose pulsates like somethings is bouncing around in it where it connects to the radiator, but I think its more like the waters boiling inside it..... BLAH!! This is my like with cars, and I don't want to rip the top half of the motor off if I don't need to. Any suggestions? Or tricks to at least find out if its a head gasket, and if so, which one?

 

I like this test. Pressure testers can be borrowed from Autozone.
YouTube - Engine coolant system and compression testing

Also you can buy a kit.
YouTube - How To Tell If Your Head Gasket Is Blown

 

Okay, first off, thanks for the help Gorn.. I did both the tests, and with the block tester, it never changed color, but once it warmed up enough, it was running coolant back up into the test tube, regardless of how much I drained it.. the pressure test however, it failed miserably.. I could pump it to 20 lbs and it would be back to 0 in about 30-45 seconds. I did notice that I had some fresh water right about the coolant temp sensor, so I sprayed some soapy water on it and I get me some bubbles. So I'm hoping thats all it is, but i'm concerned with how fast it was leaking, its about an inch wide leak in the plenum gasket. I started changing it last night, but can't get the passenger side fuel rail off, so I'm trying to work around it. I got the injector clips off and took the inj. wires off, got the 2 bolts out that hold it down and lift it off only to find that it dissapears around the back of the plenum also, and I can't get my arm back there to see where it goes Anyone know where the other end comes loose or any tricks to getting the plenum out?