Hello all, I bought a 1997 Camaro Convertible V6 3.8 about 9 months ago from private seller, i drove it normally and did not give any issues until one day it overheated a lot and it started consuming a lot of coolant and showed some white smoke from exhaust... eventually was diagnosed with blown head gasket like from a text book, i bought it as is and i am not very good with mechanic, i just loved the car and went for it =-S... ok i got the head gasket replaced (took 2 heads to machine to clean and stuff) and when i was getting the oil flushed, i was told the water pump was leaking. I drove during weekend to work (5 miles) and back and on Monday went and bought a new water pump and took it to another shop to be installed (for price reasons mostly) and the first thing they did (pump was not leaking anymore) was to check the oil and told me i have water there. I said is not possible, i just changed the head gasket and he suggested the job was not well done and i should take it back to whoever did it.

1. Guy who did the headgasket job says maybe waterpump is putting or, at some moment, had put some water in oil and that explains the water, replacing pump can fix issue.

2. Who i took the car for installing waterpump tells me that W. Pump cannot push water in engine oil and suggested the HG job was not good... eventually he listened to the engine revving and told me i might have a cylinder or block cracked...

So i spent a lot of money in replacing HG and 2 days later i am looking at the possibility of a cracked cylinder/block... so that makes me shiver... i wish i could do this type of things myself.. i have read many threads and i know there are many experts here and i need some direction or suggestions on what to do or alternatives to consider. I apologize if i misused terminology.

 

Simple solution is a junk yard motor.

I've never heard of a bad water pump let water get into the oil. I can safely say that on 90% of Chevy's that cannot happen. However I am not familiar with your particular engine.

With the original diagnosis I would have said it was head gaskets.

How can you hear a cracked block? That seems strange.

This is a stupid question, but if the guy thinks the water pump is putting water in the oil then maybe... Was the oil changed after installing Head Gaskets. You can not change head gaskets and not get water in the oil.

I would say the bad water pump cause it to over heat. So it should have gotten a new water pump. Then i would say the over heating caused the head gaskets to go. So you needed head gaskets.

Change the oil, then watch closely. If it over heats you need to fix that issue. If it has water in the oil again you have a bigger issue.

 

Thank you gfrench.... After i got HG replaced, i went to a shop to get an oil flush (they put some liquid in oil, ran it from few min and then let it drain out for about 40 min before putting new oil) and it was a nasty sludge... i want to think some residues from parts other than heads might have gotten mixed with new oil and showed like water or dirt in oil check, but i was told water would have eevaporated. I read in some other thread that i can make a coolant pressure test, to check for leaks, or maybe get a coolant flush... I am watching temp gauge closely...

Somehow, after installing new HG, i notice my oil pressure lvl keeps very low, it goes up to mid gauge or lower when i accelerate and is close to lower value of gauge when in idle... is it relevant? i recall it kept between 1/4 gauge to 1/2 before issue. Thanks for any comments, i really like learning about this things.