Thread: pop goes the head gasket

I've had an exhaust leak for a over a month now and figured I'd buy headers and a downpipe and just kill two birds with one stone. Well, it turns out the exhaust is fine, the head gasket is blown out. Thankfully, there is no oil and coolant milkshake, but I'm pissed that I gotta rip the whole damn thing apart now. I bought this car to buy me time to fix my other car, which I wasn't planning on starting until spring, since I don't have a heated garage. Now I'm gonna have to freeze my butt off fixing it anyway (trans swap on that car). So a trans swap is gonna be the quicker of the two jobs, so I'll plan on doing that this weekend, and the GTP will sit. Once warm weather comes, the motor is getting pulled, heads are getting redone and ARP head bolts are gonna clamp it back together with VR headgaskets and copper spray like I did my Grand National and that thing never popped a head gasket again. Then the headers and downpipe are also going on along with the new pulley!

Owch! I've been there... stay warm and good luck!

Intake manifold doesn't leak exhaust! And it definitely sounds and smells like an exhaust leak. The good news is, after it's all said and done, the whole top end will have new gaskets, everything will be fresh and I'll also put in new coolant elbows. That should be good for another 100K as long as the bottom end lasts.

A cracked manifold would be wonderful. I can hope. But I did see bubbles coming up through the coolant on a cold start when I took the cap off, so I'll be hopeful with reservation. The GTP is at my parents house at the moment, because they live relatively close to where I work and they had an extra car I could borrow. And they won't mind if I use their attached garage, which I can heat with my kerosene heater. So since I have access to a garage, and don't feel like freezing my butt off doing a trans in the Saturn, I'm gonna pull the exhaust manifolds, and put in new coolant elbows. If the manifold is cracked, I'll throw the headers on and see if that does the trick. Worst case is I gotta plead with the rents to borrow their car an extra week.

I haven't gotten a chance to pull it apart yet, except to put in aluminum coolant elbows and yank the heat shield off the rear exhaust manifold. The coolant loss was definitely the elbows though, so that's good. Can't find a crack on the manifold and no soot marks to show me any clues as to where it's leaking. I've been driving one of the 'rents extra beaters to buy myself some time. I may be picking up a 2004 Monte SS Dale Jr today after work though. I'm still hoping Scottydoggs is right about the exhaust manifold and not being a headgasket. BTW, my GTP is a 2004, so it does have the newer manifolds. After doing the coolant elbows I took it out for a quick drive to warm it up to temp to make sure I got the heater hoses filled too. My misfire is back with a vengeance! This car is starting to wear me down with ignition issues.

Good idea.

Found it. The corregated flex joint is separating from the sleeve. And The misfire was fixed with ANOTHER set of new coils. The first time I replaced them with OEM used coils, but they got soaked when the front coolant elbow started spraying hot coolant all over them. Got another full set of AC Delco OEM coild brand new and it runs good now. I'm just gonna wait until it gets warmer out to put the headers on. I did end up getting the Monte SS as well though. My wife is starting to get pissed about all the cars in the yard, and she doesn't even know about the Vette in the barn yet! Oops!

Or she'll burn em down, lol.. That's one thing I've never kept secret was what car(s) are here. Since I have a weird habit of people giving me cars I just mention it and as long as it makes financial sense they stay. Nothing goes in the yard though, I'm not looking to start a junkyard. If it can't be in one of the 2 garages or in the main driveway then its a no-go.

I only have room to store one car unless the mower and all the yard stuff go out into the yard. I generally rotate cars on a regular basis. If I have a car for more than a year it's unusual. I buy and sell anywhere up to a dozen or so a year. I've got 5 at the moment. So while 4 are outside cars right now, they won't be outside at my place for long. As soon as spring hits, anything that's ready to sell gets sold.