I was recently given a 94 Firebird. I was told that before it sat for awhile, it drive and ran completely fine, other than the fact you would need to add coolant after awhile. It did not however, blow any white smoke out of the tale pipe. So my question is: Without tearing into the motor and without jumping to conclusions and buying parts for the car... What is the most likely problem? The only symptom seems to be the leaking coolant, however neither the previous owner nor myself can see where the coolant is coming from. Any thoughts? Oh, for what its worth the car has ~98k miles on it.

 

Well, you could always do a leak down test at your local mechanic. Costs about 40$ and gives you a good idea if it could be a blown headgasket or not.

Also- if you are continously adding coolant and it was indeed a headgasket blown, it would be mixing with the oil. So check the oil, that's another good idea.

 

Another thing to check would be if the oil is mixing into the coolant. that's how i realized my intake gasket was leaking on my 96 Camaro. just another thing to check. I would recommend the leak down test though. give you a much better idea of what kind of animal you're dealing with.

 

forget all that crap and pressure test the coolant system, since thats where your problem begins. see if you cant find a leak, maybe a freeze plug in the block, water pump seals, even hose seepage, small radiator leaks? could be a number of things. blown head gaskets usually have other symptoms as well. find where the coolant is going. check your plugs for discoloration.