Blown head gasket?

I've posted on here before about the car that I bought a couple of weeks ago, and after checking it and everything I think I have a blown head gasket. At least that's what everyone has told me from the symptoms. So I thought I would ask you guys to see if you think it's a blown head gasket too before I spend money that I don't have to go take it to a mechanic.

So, here's what it does:

1. It smokes white smoke at startup for a minute or two sometimes, sometimes it smokes for as long as it is turned on.

2. It idles high when you start it up, anywhere from 1400-2000 rpm, and it never idles at the same place, it's different every time you start it up.

3. It seems to be burning gasoline, and smells like it is burning gas from the smoke in the exhaust.

4. There is a very fine steam coming from the right side of the engine, it's so fine that you don't notice it unless the hood is up.

5. If you leave the car running for a while, there is bubbles coming up from the coolant when you have the cap off. It's pretty slow, about a bubble every one or two seconds.


So, if you guys think that my head gasket is busted, please tell me. Also, if it is busted, should I try to find some metal gaskets instead of regular ones to replace it so that they won't bust as easily?

Thanks

sounds like a gasket to me, dont know about the gas smell. check your coolant to see if there is any oil in it...

So, about how much will it cost me to get the gasket replaced?

a lot if someone else does it. you ahve to pull the whole engine out, cause you cant get the heads off with the engine in the bay. plus, the engine drops out from the bottom, so it would be a pretty penny. call around to different shops and ask em to give you a quote as to how much it would be...

#5 is the give away, it is definetly the head gasket.

You will also have to resurface the head flat in addition to the gasket.

dont go with steel headgaskets. those require 0 tolorance for head warpage and un-even deck height. you'll have a bigger leak that what you already have

yeah the steel ones are for high performance applications more than anything, or atleast engines that are blue printed...

Ok, so there's no way that me and my dad can replace the gaskets with the motor in the car?

No the motor is too far back.

Don't you wish you had my engine bay?
http://adepssimius.is-a-geek.com:81/rob/Engine%20compartment.JPG

Well, this is crap, I guess I'll try to be looking up some mechanics tomorrow. There goes my money for the next couple of months.

3. It seems to be burning gasoline, and smells like it is burning gas from the smoke in the exhaust.
I thought it was supposed to burn gas....

is the V6 motor really to far back??? I have replaced heads on two sets of LT1's!!! I guess when theirs a will theirs a way...

I replaced a head gasket on my LT1 a couple of months ago, with out taking the engine out. It took me a long night to take it a apart, and when i say "long" thats only because i almost took my thumb off (8 stiches), and then another night to put it back together. its a pain to work on it like that, but if you need to save money you can do it.

Ok, thank you, because there's not too much money to be spent on mechanics right now. So you guys are sure that I can do it with the engine in? Also, does it matter that it's a V6? Would it make it harder or easier?

i believe that the motor would be too far back. ive never tried it before, and based on what these guys said about the LT1's, i dont want to say that you cant. i dont see how you could get to the bolts in the rear of the intake manifold and heads and such because of the cowl area, but maybe it can be done. perhaps, one of these guys would be nice enough to go a little indepth into how they accomplished it, cause i myself would like to know...

Ok, I called a few local shops today, and the lowest I've gotten so far is $640 :angryfire just for the service, not counting parts. So if anyone has done this with a v6 motor and knows it can be done, let me know, because if I can't do it myself it will probably be parked for a while.

if they are only charging $640, i'm thinking that they do it without pulling the engine. If they had to pull the engine out, it'd be a lot more than $640. a GM dealership wanted almost $1000 just to change the intake gasket on my sister's grand am last year.

i am replacing the headgaskets, along with almost everythign else, withou pulling the motor in my 84 T/A. just mark wich hose goes where and wich bolt is for what, and its easy to do yourself.

I called the local gm place and they wanted 1000+ to fix both, because I'm not sure which one it is yet. If someone that's already did it before could reassure me that it is possible, that would help me out.

if you can, take some pictures of the engine bay. that'd help judgment a little bit

I don't have any pics of the engine bay yet, but if you have a hayne's manual it shows it in the book. Also, it's basically all stock, so if you can find any online you can see. I went outside and checked it , and there seems to be a lot of room to work around stuff.

If you had a seriously blown head gasket, would your car run like shit but still have high compression?

a blown headgasket doesn't mean it's completely shot, it's usually a bad spot between a cylinder and a water jacket, and is usually accompanied with overheating

you can rip apart a third gen without taking out the engine, this i know. i know that on the fourth gen v-6s the cowl extends into the engine bay and covers half the engine. there's about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of clearance between the sheet metal and the intake manifold. i personally dont know how you could do it but if these guys say they have done it than guess you can. i personally dont see how...

I went to camarov6.com and they told me that I can do it. I figure that they would if I can do it or not.

As for it overheating, I was overheating, like the previous message said.