tht1guy

Hey guys im new to the site and for the past few days my 98 firebird with the ls1 engine with light mods has been randomly dieing while i was driving. i have found out that i blew my head gasket. any tips about replacing it?

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

just curious, how do you know its the headgasket?

Welcome!

ZouMechE

iTrader: (1)

Who told you its the headgasket? Check your oil dipstick, and if it smells like coolant, or the oil is a milky color, then yeah, shot or leaking headgasket, but its sounds like more of a spark or fuel issue to me..

tht1guy

I put a dye into my coolant and the die is on my dip stick

Zlow28

iTrader: (11)

tip, do not strip a headbolt.
now's a good time to put in a ls6 intake if you dont have one yet.

tht1guy

Do I have to pull the whole engine in order to change it properly?

FBGSU02

iTrader: (6)

No you do not have to pull motor to change head gasket. Since your taking it apart you might want to to both sides. Change lifters while you are there. depends on miles you might want to put in new valve seals.
Did car overheat?

tht1guy

I was driving to school and it was running really weird then it died...then I started it back up and it kept dieing every like 500 yards

dailydriver

Besides the above mentioned symptoms, what are the other symptoms of a gone gasket/warped or cracked head??

Wildly hunting/almost stalling idle??? VERY rough running? Or are these all electrical/computer/sensor problems as well?

lt1pwr1

iTrader: (1)

I would be very careful driving your car if you are burning that much coolant that it is dying. You can bend a connecting rod trying to compress that water/coolant.

Are you noticing smoke out the tailpipes? I'm very surprised if you aren't if your car is stalling that bad b/c of the coolant.

tht1guy

I have never been so confused about a car...like coolant on the dip stick I threw like 4 serperate codes and no smoke that I've noticed

brandenprato

And you didn't see it overheat before it blew? That's odd...

tht1guy

That's what im sayin...I mean why else would there be coolant in my oil?

FBGSU02

iTrader: (6)

I would not crank it anymore. Take it apart and inspect. sounds like a head gasket. The gasket kit is not that expensive. get the heads checked to make sure they are not warped. As I mentioned above I would refresh heads while there off and change lifters.