couple of ?'s everyone read

[jase386]

85 caprice. how do i change the warning indicator bulbs, all but one are out.


does anyone know what the gap should be on the spark plugs, it has a 305ci

and how can i tell for sure if a head gasket is leaking. the car poofs white, bluish smoke, but only on a cold start up. the rest of the start ups that day are clear, and no smoke while running or idling.

thanks for any help!!

[silicon212]

#1, the bulbs are mounted in plastic twist bases that are accessible from behind the instrument cluster. You might want to remove the cluster from the dashboard in order to replace these.

#2, the gaps should be .045" I believe.

#3, what you're seeing is a classic symptom of leaky valve guide seals. These are little neoprene O-rings that are situated in the retainer, below the keepers. With age, these tend to harden and no longer seal good. Your oil consumption should not appreciably increase over this - so there's no real need to worry.

[jase386]

hey man, thanks for a good clear answer to those questions

i have 2 more now!!

on a chevy, can you turn the position of the distributor, like you can on a ford? we have a spark knock while the car is moving.

and where is our coolant going? it uses about a gallon of water every 300miles. its not leaking water anywhere that we can find. none under the car, none under the hood, none in the floorboard. but the smoke that comes out on startup is two distinct colors. white on top of blue. my concern is that the white is actually steam. but again, it only does it on a cold start up..

any ideas where to find a factory shop manual for one of these at a reasonable price?

[silicon212]

Yes, turn the distributor clockwise to retard, counter-clockwise to advance the timing. Loosen the clamp bolt underneath first, and don't forget to retighten it.

You possibly have a blown or leaky head gasket or a cracked engine component - or possibly even a leaking (corroded) intake manifold or leaking manifold gaskets. I can't answer the last question - Ebay perhaps?

[87BoxClassic]

my caprice lost fluid at the same rate as well, it was leaking through the seals on the side of the radiator but only when coolant is moving through the radiator. so you wont see any drops leak. I had to buy a new one was pretty cheap. dont know if this is the same for you, but thats what was wrong with mine.

[jase386]

thanks for the advice, i hope this helps the problem.


its got a real bad spark knock when pulling hills, almost to the point of the car shutting off. sounds like a straight drive trying to take off in 3.