1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula

[Aztlanahauc]

Hi all,

Sorry I do not post much in here. Spend most of my time at TurboBuick. com. My brothers friend has a 96 Firebird with a LT1 and automatic that smokes. Looks like white smoke.....so headgasket I figure. There is no coolent in the oil. I have a nice 86 Cadillac Coupe Deville that he wants to trade for. I am not sure though. What kind of work am I in for if I want to tackle the headgasket problem my self? I have a local dealer who quoted me 1200 for the job. Is that a good price?

Thanks all :LS1LT1flag:

[97formula1234]

it might be bad rinds or something worse, is it burning oil?
First take it to a shop and have it diagnosed
Second if you still want it buy a repair manual for it and do the work yourself

[Aztlanahauc]

Not burning oil....White smoke that has that sweet coolent smell to it. It still runs real good.

[OEM_TA]

When I 'lost' a head gasket in my '95 I paid $1500 to get it fixed up.

[97formula1234]

Not burning oil....White smoke that has that sweet coolent smell to it. It still runs real good.


Yup sounds like a head gasket if you can smell it.

Honestly you can get a lower millage LT1 long block for $1500.
How good are you at working on cars?
can you change stuff like the alternator, waterpum, ditrbutor?

Their are alot of write ups about how to do the heads yourself or what i would do if i was short on cash, buy a used motor maybe a cammed one and put it in their.

[myTreadZz]

If the car has been sitting there is a chance antifreeze has leaked into the bottom end. In that case the bearings with get eaten up and the motor will start knocking. Now a rebuild down to the bottom end would be a pretty big pain in the ass, so just realize with a blown head gasket that is a possibility.

[shak180]

If the car has been sitting there is a chance antifreeze has leaked into the bottom end. In that case the bearings with get eaten up and the motor will start knocking. Now a rebuild down to the bottom end would be a pretty big pain in the ass, so just realize with a blown head gasket that is a possibility.

Yup thats exactly what happened to me.

I bought the car with a blown head gasket (actually both gaskets were broken slightly) drove the car for about a month then it developed a nose in the rockers, sure enough the antifreeze mixed with the oil enough to wipe out the bearings cause low oil pressure and then my motor was starving for oil.

im in the process of puttting the motor back together but unless you know what you are doing i wouldn't attempt a full rebuild on your own.

[CKJ]

There is no coolent in the oil.

If there is no visible sign of coolant in the oil then trade the car and do the swap yourself. The biggest PITA is going to be getting the exhaust manifold off whatever side has the leaky gasket. Then you might as well do both of them while your right there. Have the head checked for cracks and be sure its not warped. Also put a straight level on the block to verify that thats not warped, and check for any visual cracks.

[ShowNoMercy]

And while the heads off, might as well throw some LTs on there too. If you buy the car that is.

[burnzilla]

Hi all,

My brothers friend has a 96 Firebird with a LT1 and automatic that smokes. Looks like white smoke.....so headgasket I figure. There is no coolent in the oil.


Blown piston ring.

[95maroz28]

i had to swap my heads/headgaskets about a month ago because of the white smoke and dissappearing coolant. there wasnt any coolant mixed in the oil just some white sludge under valve covers. i would have to agree now about getting the heads checked as i had do pull everthing apart twice :mad: being that a head was messed up and not just a gasket as i thought:dontknow:. work wise i dont think it was really too hard... took my time and did it on a weekend (twice). hardest part to me was torquing all those head bolts lol and trying to remove my stripped banjo bolts:eek:. if you can do it yourself it would be alot cheaper. first time i bought mls gaskets... what a waste haha. second time i spent 200$ for fel pro head/header/intake gaskets and arp head bolts. i also spent 170$ for a set of reman heads. good luck:thumbsup:

[Aztlanahauc]

Thanks for all the help.:thumbsup:

I have alot to think about now.