96 LT1 w/bad hd gaskets, any advice?

[Autophysn]

I have a 1996 Caprice that was an old cop car,
everything was great untill it started running hot.
Now all signs lead to faulty head gasket. She's
overheating extreamly fast and along with the heat comes
pressure, I'm hypothesizing exaust pressure.
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
I am a mechanic of ten years, but industrial at
that. Any good mechanic would understand,
we don't fly blind. Research before any job,
otherwise it becomes real expensive.

[bigtketz165]

i am no mechanic, but i like to tinker with cars, and i ha a head gasket go on my old caddy..... are you losing a lot of radiator fluid? also is the fluid in your radiator brownish, or smell like exhaust? head gaskets are no fun to fix....but i have used the sealant additives and they worked well. (8 more months of use) post some more info, and i may be able to help....maybe not, but good luck

[froggorf1234]

Look into using high performance head gaskets. They have pre-compressed rings around the area of the cylinder heads. Worked for me.

[froggorf1234]

I am trying to find the stock rear end gear ratio for my 1996 Caprice Classic with LT 1 engine and auto tranny. Any help will be appreciated.

[2phat]

I have a 96 Impala and it used to do the same as your car and get hot and lose water. if you dont see the water in the oil or oil in the water it might not be the head gasket. on the LT1 engines you have to blled the air out of the collant system and the set screw is located on the thermostat housing. you get it warm and build pressure then you release the set screw till it is a solid stream of water. this will help if you didn't know that but in my case i never thought of the collant overflow cap being bad. mine when it got hot it barely leaked out the coolant cap. but that was a cheap fix and wouldn't hurt to try. since replacing the cap and bleeding the air i haven't had anymore problems. I take that back my fans come on when the air conditioning is on but not when it gets hot. i've learned to deal with this since when it does get warm i just turn on the A/C and it cools down right away. if any one knows whats up here let me know...

[buddhahaha]

You're right about bleeding the coolant, I forgot to do that when I flushed my radiator and got coolant running all over the place. As far as the fan goes, since it works, you probably have a bad sending unit.

[buddhahaha]

Originally Posted by froggorf1234

I am trying to find the stock rear end gear ratio for my 1996 Caprice Classic with LT 1 engine and auto tranny. Any help will be appreciated.

3.08

[vinnyfh]

Originally Posted by froggorf1234

I am trying to find the stock rear end gear ratio for my 1996 Caprice Classic with LT 1 engine and auto tranny. Any help will be appreciated.

i have that same car and have 2.93 rear. now in the trunk there are codes stuck on the inside that will tell you. if you are still not sure let me now i can look up all axle ratio's for the caprice. just dont have them at my finger tips now . bye