Head Gasket Woes?

[90gmcmoneypit]

Hello,
I recently (last night) purchased a 1996 3.8V6 Camaro with a little under 175k on the dash. I got the car cheap (about 1,000 dollars) because it had several mechanical issues that I was aware of.

So anyway, I bought the car from someone who lived quite a long way from me and had a 2 hour drive home after purchasing it. The entire way home all of my stats were fine. Good pressure, low temp, good volts, etc. The instant I pulled into the driveway, I noticed steam from the engine bay. Popped the hood, and low and behold directly behind the water pump is a coolant leak. It's actually shooting a stream of coolant onto the backside of the water pump. Temperature started rising. I killed the engine before any damage.

Now just based on location, I'm assuming this is a head gasket. Sadly, though, I can't see exactly where this leak is coming from as the water pump/power steering pump/alternator are blocking my view. Instinct tells me it's a head gasket, which doesn't really look like a major job, but I'm curious if there is anything else it could be in that area. I'd hate to start ripping apart the top half of the engine just to find out it was a bad seal/freeze plug or whatever.

Also, anyone have any experience putting a head gasket on these engines? Advice? It really doesn't look like that bad of a job, but I'd honestly rather be fishing.

[90gmcmoneypit]

I'm learning about a lower intake manifold elbow which may be the culrpet.

[izzydjinn]

I'm going with the serpentine belt tensioner. I know, you might say wtf but when that happened to me, I too thought it was the intake gasket. When I started to pull it apart, I notice pvc-like elbows on either side of the tensioner. And what it is, is that the tensioner acts as a bypass for the radiator-to-motor water lines. Hopefuly this helps.



P.s. if is really this the culprit, might as well do the water pump. Oh, one more thing. I'm pretty sure autopart stores have it but I got it at walmart. What it is, is a t-hose(I don't know) that you attach to the radiator line that goes in the motor, well It comes with instructions. Anyways, that will help you do a complete radiator-engine flush and it costs like four bucks.