My dad gave me his 1995 Camaro z28 with the lt1. He let it sit for a little over a year when he started it it had white smoke and a quiet but noticeable engine tick. Then he let it sit for almost three years before giving it to me. I did an oil change and filter and put a new transmission mount in. Got a battery went to go start it and it took a few minutes to get it started now it’s got a very noticeable engine tick and has a hard time running with thick white smoke that stayed in the air like a cloud. I didn’t let it run for long what could be the problem I’m new to the cars club so I don’t know much, but I read it could be head gasket or valve gasket or something like that. Could it be possible that it’s just the old gas mixed with bad fuel injectors. I don’t have much money the point I accepted the car was so I could get a job the next city over which is a 45 min job till I saved for a better car. I think it’s just a lifter my cousin has a motorcycle shop so I’m thinking of borrowing his endoscope to look to see if I can see coolant other then that I’ll have to sell super cheap as a parts car and I don’t want to do that.

 

It really does sound like a bad head gasket. A bad lifter wouldn't generate white smoke. I'd start with a compression check to see if you have low cylinder pressure.. A common cause of a head gasket failure is overheating so when you change the head gaskets have the heads checked for flatness as they may have warped. A machine shop can check for this and repair it.

It's not a ton of fun pulling the heads with the engine in the car but you can do it....

 

Take a good whiff of the white smoke... if it has a "sweet" odor, it's coolant = head gasket.