1984 olds cultass 350 overheated and died

[dhitta24]

I just dropped an olds 350 into my 1984 cutlass supreme and it ran great for a few weeks then began to overheat. I had a guy help me because he had a shop and the weather was too bad at the time. I let him finish it up and he put the wrong fan on the car (it was blowing air backwads away from the radiator) and had an old 8lb radiator cap on it when it should have been a 16lb cap. While driving i was getting bubbles and steam shooting into my overflow tank and all over the engine compartment. I replaced the radiator, pressure cap, hoses, thermostat, water pump, and flushed the system. Yesterday I was driving to work, it overheated sputtered and died. there was steam coming from the overflow tank. There is no coolant in the oil or smoke in the exhaust. I cant see any signs of external coolant loss or on the spark plugs. I had to get it towed home and I cant get it to start. What's my next step to finding the problem? Cracked head gasket?

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF. Pull the plugs and see if any coolant in the cylinders, then try to turn the engine over by hand from the crank pulley or bolt to see if it is seized, good luck.

[dhitta24]

Thanks. I already checked the plugs and it dosent look like there is any coolant on them, I dont think the engine siezed because it turs over when i try to start it, it just dosent start up.

[pappyl]

Would overheat if your timing is too far out. May explain why its not starting.

If you have a bad head gasket, one of your plugs should look very different - ie:clean, almost new, or have some white deposits.

Chec