Another possible head gasket....

Hello all, new to the forum. I just picked up a 96 lumina LS with the 3.1L from a friend who tell me the car needs a head gasket. The symptoms he told me seem a bit odd. It overheated one day without explanation, and he immediately drove it home and sut it off, never starting it again. I asked how he knew it was the head gasket, and he said he couple see it leaking from the back side of the motor. (seems like an intake gasket would physically leak antifreeze, not the head, but i may be wrong). Any insight if the head itself actually leaks on these vehicles? He said it didn't smoke from the exhaust, and the oil looks fine, a bit dirty, but fine. And the radiator is out of fluid. I would just fill it up and run it to see for myself, but the car sat for 2 years and will not turn over. I have yet to put some marvel mystery oil in the cyl's and try to start it, but its too cold right now. Any takers on this?

Welcome to AF. Filler up and pressure test it and see where it comes from!

I'd love to, but i still can't get it to turn over to drive it to get it pressure tested...I did pull the plus from the fromt 3 cyl's. One of them had what looked like gel-like on and very wet on it. I'm guessing antifreeze, in which case its prob. the head gaskets.....

Anyone on this?

What can we do from here, this requires on site diagnosis, pull the other plugs look for coolant in a cylinder, try and turn the engine over with a wrench on the crank pulley bolt!

If it overheated and he continued to drive it, it's most likely a head gasket or cracked head. The gel-like substance on the plug is most likely coolant residue, so that almost confirms it's a head/ head gasket.

Thanks Richtazz, thats kind of what i figured. He told me it overheated all of a sudden, and he shut it off and got it towed home. I guess i'll start tearing it apart now.....Do the heads usually pose a problem? I mean should i take them to a shop and have them checked or is it usually safe to re-install them? Anyone know?

Well I had the same problem and It wasnt the head gasket or a cracked head. All I needed to do was change the Intake manifold gaskets. From what I am tol by other people on this forum is the thw 3.1s are known for that. I just ran into this problem less then a month ago and now I have had it fixed for 3 weeks and it still is running good. Did you check your oil t see if it looked milky? Maybe I am wrong or am missing something but I thought I would chime in.

The 3.1's are known for intake gaskets, but they don't cause leak into the cylinders. The residue on the plugs is what makes me think it's a head gasket. A cooling system pressure test (as Max suggested earlier) combined with a cylinder compression test would verify where the leak is.

Yeah, thats why i was hoping it was the intake gasket, but due to the fact that the one plug looked the way it did, and it sat for a while, i can't get the engine to turn over, adn its just too cold to get underneath it right now to try and turn the engine over manually, but in the next week it's going to warm up. I plan on pulling all the plugs including the rear this time) to inspect and lower the compression and try again with some marvel mystery oil in the cylinders.....Thanks for the input though.

hey there.ive had my fair share of head gasket problems twice on my 95 lumina.it overheated without any reason a few times.i couldnt see any leaks so i checked the oil and it had a funny color to it.both times thats how i knew it was the head gasket because you could see the coolant in the oil.well i hope this helps im off to figure out my overheating problem again.lol good luck.