I just picked up a 94 Z28 with a blown head gasket. It does turn on and run, but the car shakes and shutters. I get plenty of white smoke out of the tail pipes within a minute or so. So far, I have not heard anything odd coming out of the motor unless you let it run for a few minutes. There IS coolant inside of the motor oil. The motor has 134K on it.

At this point, I know this can be a costly repair to replace the head gaskets and then find out the inside of the motor is ruined and I need a rebuild or replacement after dumping the money into the repair. The head gaskets I wouldn't mind trying to attempt after looking up good instructions.

Am I better off just ditching this motor and moving on?

I would appreciate any info you can share. Thanks.

 

Put the head gasket on and see what happens, you may get lucky. Hopefully its the left side head, its a bit easier to do because of better clearances. Either way you are looking at a weekend job if you have not done one in the past.

If its not knocking due to trashed bearings then is a big big plus.

 

I do hear a bunch of repeated squeeking after it runs for a bit...

 

yes getting coolant in the oil is not a good thing for bearings, if you can afford it i would try to just re-build the motor, if not read up and do them yourself so that way if there another problem at least you wont have to much money into it

 

Either today or tomorrow, I am going to drain out the coolant infested motor oil and also the radiator fluid. I should have done this days ago, but haven't had the time to get around to it. I am then going to add some fresh oil to the motor while there is no coolant in the radiator, and let it run for a few minutes, as advised by a ex-GM tech friend. Then of course I will drain it out afterwards.

I hope I am able to save the motor and get away with just replacing the head gaskets...

 

Considering you are starting it up with coolant in the oil you probably trashed your bearings if they weren't already trashed.