Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

Need some advice, my 91 got towed home last night. was in the middle of a 75 mile ride. low coolant light was flashing. stopped to get gas. popped hood, engine idling. coolant leaking from front underneath. from rear exhaust smell was so pungent, for lack of a better word, brought tears literally to my eyes. suddenly big white smoke out exhaust. temp went to 260. shut it down and had it towed to my mechanic. trustworthy guy. I like to give him any advice in advance that I can though. any advice on these symptoms would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!
Mike

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

Would have said just a hose but with the smoke and exhaust smell, Hate to say this but sounds like a head gasket. Any coolant in the oil? Do a compression check and a cooling system leak down test, check the plugs. Everything is fixable.

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

Mike,
Where in PA are you?

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

Hi Kevin,
I'm in the Northeast corner, bordering NY & NJ. Milford to be exact...

Seems my mechanic agrees We Gone, burning coolant. He's gonna diagnose. Basically said what you said above. And I guess we'll take it from there... trying to look on the bright side, what else can I upgrade while I'm in there? :-)

I posted about this car a while back, unknown mods due to it coming from dealer/auction. Finally got the title sorted out... seems (seemed) way stronger that my stock 1990 ZR1 ... so I guess now we'll find out the good and the bad maybe?

As you said We Gone, its all fixable, right?

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

To your "bright side" point, if the heads have to come off to replace gaskets anyway, it'd probably be a waste to put them back on without some porting, right?

Best of luck, Mike!

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

if you were closer I was going to offer to run over and lend a hand if possible. I haven't heard of many non sprayed lt5s going down but that's not to say it can't happen.

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

Really appreciate that!! thanks!!

Would it be more likely to fail if it wasn't the factory original assembly? I feel like someone has taken this apart before... I may be crazy but.... this car has some mods that I can see that were not advertised by the seller, including coil overs and C5 brakes up front. I swear the engine was painted too. its drastically different in color from my 90 and doesn't look to me like it is discoloration... I guess I wont know until I get in there but I'm assuming if the coil over conversion is a big effort and the brake upgrade isn't cheap either, is it likely that the engine was worked as well? I'm really curious to get in there! but a little intimidated...

I'm no mechanic but I've done a decent amount of work on SBCs, just enough to be dangerous. is it crazy for someone with limited experience to take on this head gasket job? I mean, I've got all winter pretty much! Anyone have a ballpark on how much labor a shop might hit me up for?

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

I think that would be a shame! :)

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

The LT5 is a little intimidating, but don't give up hope. The hardest thing to do is timing the cams after you get the heads back on. The easiest way to do the cam timing is with the motor out of the car. If you are capable of pulling the motor then you should be able to time the cams. It will require some special tools, but there are plenty of guys here who will help you if you run into problems. Just take your time, document everything as you take it apart, take lots of pictures, label everything. Contact Jerry at Jerry's Gaskets for everything you will need to put it back together, seals, glues, gaskets and "Get 'er Dunn".

I would strongly advise against taking it to any kind of local repair shop. The odds of a timely and correct repair are not in your favor.

'Crabs

Re: Hopefully not catastrophic failure?
 

Good luck to you Mike.
We hope you have no damage of major and the fix can be had for low $$.