I have an 89 firebird with a tpi 305 that will only start with starting fluid after overheating. I am doing a compression test tomorrow to find out if I blew a head gasket or cracked a block. I have changed or tested every part related to starting and this is the last thing I can think of that would cause the car to not start without starting fluid, and stay running until I put it in drive where it dies every time.

So the question is do I hire someone to do the head gasket or attempt to do it myself? If it's not a head gasket and the block is cracked do I hire someone to swap to a 350, or should I part out the car or sell as is. I am an inexperienced mechanic with basic tools and can learn quickly, have the strength needed but not much knowledge. The hardest thing I have replaced by myself was a cv axle on a subaru. The hardest thing I replaced on the firebird was a couple of injectors and the water pump. Any advice will help! Thanks and sorry for the long post.

 

Headgaskets blow white smoke from the exhaust when they're done. A cracked block can act like a headgasket or can do alot of other things like mix oil/coolant or simply lose oil pressure depending where the crack is

Hot hot did it get and for how long?

Headgaskets are not for the faint of heart

 

Don't part it out that's silly. but if you want to do either job and you don't feel entirely comfortable, get someone to help you.

 

The car had obviously overheated before as I found some repair spots on the coolant overflow tank and the thermostat had been taken out. When it overheated on me it was only for a minute, I let it cool down and drove it a block to my house where it sits. I am not the faint of heart type, mechanics are all over in my family and if they weren't four states away I wouldn't be having this problem.

Do I need special tools to do the head gasket? I have a 300 piece set and about 20 other tools. Thanks

 

Add a known strait edge (steel rule etc), timing light, plastic scraper and 1/2" torque wrench to the tools and youll handle the job

 

I started by pulling a 305, sticking in a worn 350, then pulling that one and sticking in a 385 over the past 8 months or so.

To just do the heads, you don't have to pull the engine, but you will have to take off the accessories and brackets attached to the serpentine system, tpi, exhaust manifolds, smog stuff and everything else on top of the intake manifold in order to pull the heads.

Take lots of digital pictures, be sure to label everything and take notes. You might want to use a plastic parts bin with little drawers to put all the different bolts into as they come off, and label each drawer. Work slowly and for your first time, give yourself the entire weekend to disassemble and another to reassemble.

One more thing consider getting a subscription to alldatadiy.com and an old computer with internet access in the garage so that you can research stuff as you go. Good luck and have fun!