Hello all!
I'm posting today cuz I need some help with my 1995 Pontiac T/A. It's got the LT1 auto in it, and I'm burning tons of antifreeze! I know I have a leak and it's either in the intake or head gasket. What I was wondering was if any one else has gone thro the pace's and fixed a leak like this before. What does it in tail? Can the heads be pulled off with the motor still in the car? I love the car but hate working on it!
Any help, suggestions, info, any thing any one wants to post is greatly appreciated! I guess I'll soon find out if I'm in over my head!

Thanks guys,
Garret

 

ya sounds like you blew a head gasket. i blew mine and yes you can pull the heads with the engine in the car. i decided to go ahead and make some upgrades while i was in there and am still in the process of putting it back together.

 

Yeah for sure! Great time to do extra mods while it's all apart. I plan on doing the same!

 

a little tip, bring lots of beer, and take the hood off, it helps when you are straining to pull the heads out, they might be alumanum, but they are still heavy...

 

ya for sure the heads are a pain but i did it with my hood on i didn't want to mess with having to refit the hood to the fenders.

 

should be a fun job...

any other advice?

 

lol at heads being heavy, try doing some caprice iron heads

 

I just pulled the heads on my car and put it back together a month or so ago i broke a timing chain and bent some valves.

make sure you cover your bumber cover and fenders with a blanket or somthing, i didnt and when i was up in the engine bay i scuffed up the bumper cover with my shoes

its not a bad job, went pretty quick actually. Make sure you send the heads off to get them checked.

Austin

 

i would rather do those heads half ouf ours are under the cowl

 

"entail"

Do you have water in the oil or oil in the coolant? Can you check that and
report back. Do you have steam coming out the exhaust? Anything dripping
on the ground?

 

there was nuttin in the oil, and lots of white smoke out the tail pipe. and it over heats.

 

thats exactly how mine was oil was not contaminated but it was blowing white smoke and losing coolant but no visible external leaks.

 

Showing off that Aggie ejukashion, eh?
The only way oil would get into the coolant is if something is cracked.

 

You'll need head gasket, intake manifold gasket, and posssibly valve cover gasket depending on the condition of the ones you have. You remove the intake, valve covers, and then heads to get to the gasket. When aluminum heads overheat, they tend to warp; they need to be checked if they're straight, if not, they can be milled. I'd also change the oil just to be safe, you don't want any coolant inside the oiling system. After you get everything off, just make sure you clean everything up real good.

When you reassemble, you need different head bolts. Stock ones are only one time use, but if you get ARP head bolts I think they are reuseable. When you torque the heads, as well as the intake, follow the proper order and values. After the intake is installed, don't drive the car for a day or so to let the RTV silicone set up, intake leaks are a pain in the butt.

 

are you sure about that i dont think they are torque to yeild. i think they can be reused

 

Yes they are TTY, however there have been claims made they can be reused w/out issue. I believe it all depends on how much cylinder pressure the engine is producing. I wouldn't trust them. ARP's are comperable cost wise to stock and ARP's can be used over and over again (I think mine are on their 4th or 5th tour).

 

I just changed the gaskets on a 93 z i picked up and i just dropped the motor out the bottom and put it on a stand where i could sit on a stool and get to everything easy. Screw that workin on it in the car stuff, i tried that, and it breaks your back and you cant get to crap especially the damn coolant passover, since the dash is half over the engine. If you know what you are doing at all and you have a buddy to assist you, out the bottom is the way. I would recommend a cam while its out. I would use arp headbolts if you can afford it, but i reused my stocker and it runs.

 

My head gasket went last year and while I thought about doing it myself, I just paid a mechanic to do it for $1500. (Ouch!) When I read up on it and learned about "special" torque procedures, I figured it was more than I wanted to tackle.

And no, they didn't drop the engine or take off the hood. It only took him two days and that time/price included resurfacing the heads.

 

Hey, did this about 2 years ago on my 97 TA Firebird Formula. The hood off is a great suggestiong just to give you some more room as you'll be laying on the engine periodically. There's a kit that has all the gaskets for about $100. Take the heads to get them cleaned and machined (that's safest). Buy the service manual for $50 and it has everything you need in that. I did the whole job for under $500 in total and it took me two weekends to do it (I'm no master mechanic obviously). You should replace the head bolts for another $60-$70 but you don't have to.

Good luck