hello everyone im new to the 4th gen f body seen....ive got a 94 camaro lt1 auto with 104,000 miles. I got it off a guy who said it had over heating problems, which it does u can start it up and let it idle and it will get hot. If u top off the radiator it will stay cool until it i guess runs whats in the radiator down some or until the thermostat opens. He thought it had a blown head gasket, but it has no white smoke coming from exhaust and appears to be no water in the oil, so is there another sign to check for head gasket? Car runs great pulls great shifts great. i think my leak may possibly be around the water pump maybe. i just would like to kno if its a head gasket or if its a water pump or what. I know these cars run hott kinda at least my 3rd gens did and it looks me be like my car only has 1 electric fan i havent really looked. It has no ac anymore someone unhooked everything for it and heater core has been bypassed i believe i really like the car i just dont wanna throw a water pump on it and that not be the problem. thanks again

 

do you have access to a thermal imaging camera? look for the cylinder that's cooler than all the others. Works for me every time!

on a side note, if you see a leak at the water pump, your pump has gone bad and it should be replaced. They are deceiving, mine had a small leak, and when I replaced it, the pump was definitely not working. so, I would look at that water pump...

 

rent/pick up a coolant system pressure tester. pressure it up and look for leak. water pump would be the obvious first place to look but hoses do go bad. lt1 is tough to get all the air out of it or it will overheat. gotta bleed the crab outa it. look here https://camaroforums.com/forum/lt1-l...-system-66742/

 

When the car is cool, check the coolant level in the overflow bottle and the radiator itself. Make sure your levels are right for a cold car. If the coolant isn't at the neck of the rad, (cover the optispark) unscrew the bleeder screws and top it up. Close the bleeder screws when you see coolant dripping out.


It's quite possible there is air in the cooling system. Not everyone bleeds the cooling system right on these cars. Put you car nose up on a slight incline. With the rad cap off, start your car, put the heat on full and fan on full. Watch for bubbles coming up through the rad. Let the car run until normal operating temp or until the coolant level starts coming up near the top. Put the rad cap on and open the bleeder screw closest to the throttle body. Close it when there's nothing but coolant coming out. Repeat the same process for the other bleeder screw near the alternator.


In some cases when running the car with the rad cap off, you can get a geyser of coolant coming up through the rad cap. This means there was a large pocket of air in the system. It needed to come out.

 

I had a similar problem with the 96 I bought. Except it eventually started gushing coolant and I couldn't keep any in it at all. I don't think my pump was bad as it seemed like it was only leaking where it connects to the block. The pump had been changed by the previous owner like 9 years prior, but he used gasket maker instead of just putting gasket sealer on the paper gaskets. I went ahead and put a new pump on anyway just to be safe since I didn't want to tear it apart again.

As for filling the system afterword, I couldn't do the standard bleeding technique. I opened the bleeder valves and filled it up while it was on ramps. As soon as coolant started dripping, I'd close the valves. Then I filled it on up to the neck of the radiator. Then put a little in the overflow tank. I tried to start it up and let it run, but it started gushing coolant. Rather than let it spill everywhere, I just put the cap back on, assuming it was full. I went ahead and drove the car ( no overheating ) until the low coolant light came back on. Went back home and let it cool off. When I opened the radiator, it was low. I opened the bleeder valves and repeated the previous procedure, just not on ramps this time. It hasn't overheated or been low since.