Hey everyone. I've got a 1988 Camaro with the 5.0 FI engine in it. Lately its been overheating really bad (like boiling the fluids) so I changed my thermostat, fan starting unit, and the sending unit with no luck. I took it to a mechanic hoping he could tell me something, and so far he can't find a problem. His guess is that I have a cracked head because I am loosing fluid. The car passes the compression test just fine and doesn't show it has a cracked head or anything else, but its still possible. I was wondering if any of you had any other ideas of what I could check, or if anyone knows of a place I can get a head for my car. I can get the whole gasket set, I just can't find the head anywhere Anyway, any suggestions would be good or if you can point me in a place to look. Thanks.

 

Who makes the camero? I've heard of it before, but never seen one. If when you rev the engine you can see white smoke from the exhaust or it smells sweet like burning coolant, you may have a bad head gasket or a cracked head, or even a bad intake gasket or cracked manifold. When you change your spark plugs if any are much cleaner than the others, that cylinder may be leaking coolant. Did you pressure test the cooling system yet?

 

Well, when I first start the car some white smoke comes out the back. it doesn't smell sweet but its not an oil smell either. Thats the only time it smokes. Yes the cooling system has been pressure tested, it passed that just fine, even though the head could still be cracked or getting ready to go bad. I just hate to do all of that work and still have the problem... what I might do is go ahead and take it off. That way I can make sure the gaskets are all ok, and then I can take the head to get tested for cracks. I'll also check the spark plugs, but I don't see how that would cause it to heat up. One thing I have noticed is that sometimes it stays cool, and other times (when I'm in traffic and stop and go a lot) it seems to heat up more. Tonight it stayed cool and I was pushing it kinda hard. I'm not sure what the normal is, but the fan doesn't seem to turn on until the car hits 240 or so. Seems really high to me. Sometimes it doesn't even come on. I replaced the fan starting unit so I know thats not the cause, the mechanic even said that it was working just fine. Any other ideas or suggestions? I'm also looking for a head if anyone knows of somewhere I can check for one. Thanks.

 

I have a couple of v8 tbi heads that I will let go for cheap

 

Hey cool. Have the heads been magnifluxed to check for cracks yet? Also, where are you at and how much are you asking for them? Thanks!

 

If you're losing coolant you shouldn't have passed a pressure test. You should find out what the smoke at startup is - it has to either be coolant that collected on the valves or leaked through from a badly sealing intake, fuel from your injectors leaking, or oil from one of many things.

The stock fan is supposed to come on at 235 degrees, you can change to a lower fan switch or run a manual one to your dash if you'd like it to come on sooner.

 

I'll check those things out. I might just wait on getting a head until I know for a fact that thats what it is. I'll try finding a fan switch thats at a lower temperature... maybe that will help also. Usually by the time it gets up that high and the fan turns on, its too late and the car overheats. So maybe if I can catch it at a lower temperature, it will prevent it from overheating. What would be your suggestion for a fan switch temperature? I'm not familiar with what temperatures those come at. Also, where could I find one? Would a Chevy dealership have them or do I need to go somewhere else? Another thing I was thinking about is getting a new fan, possibly a dual fan. I'm not sure if that would be worth it or not. Thanks.

 

Hi I assume you have a valley pan on that engine, if so it might be cheapest to first check the valley pan manifold gaskets or the pan itself? There could be a leak between the water passage and either or both the induction or the exhaust because the exhaust goes into the valley pan to get to the EGR. The water has to enter the pan from the heads to get back to the radiator. The symptoms would be similar to a cracked head.
You may have the valley pan to head gaskets fitted with the water passage blank in wrong or the blanks may have come out. Any of these might cause intermittent sysmptoms you describe. It would also explain why the checks you had showed no leaks.

It sounds like you may have two seperate problems, one with the water and another making the smoke.

White smoke though sounds like dripping injectors, because water wouldn't boil on engine start up. Only semi burnt gasoline from injectors leaking for a while into the inlet manifold would come out in the way you describe