Hi guys;
I am kind of newbie here.My wife has this 79 Z28 (her first car!)which is sitting there for years. more that year ago I got theengine running and changed few little things like fuel pump, radiator,etc. Since then I just started occasionally since I didn't have time /money to do anything more. few weeks ago, I notice that steam or smoke coming out of one of the exhaust pipe, couple of days ago when I wanted to start it, it made some abnormal sound and then when it turned on, water/ antifreez was coming out of the pipe. Is it blown cylinder head or gasket?
By the way, my mechanical knowledge is very basic. Thanks ahead for any inputs.

It is one of 5 things.

1. A leaking intake gasket.
2. A cracked/loose intake.
3. A blown head gasket.
4. A cracked head.
5. A cracked cylinder.

Sometimes when the head gasket goes it will produce a passage for the antifreeze to pass from the capillaries into the combustion chamber. It is easy to check if you have an air compressor. Remove one of the rear sparkplugs and the radiator cap. Fill the radiator and then push some air into the sparkplug hole (get a good seal in case a valve is open). Repeat with all the cylinders and watch for air bubbles coming up into the radiator. If bubbles come up or fluid is pumped out, the head gasket is blown and must be replaced. It is more likely to happen at the back of the engine because it is farthest away from the fan and therefore gets less cooling.

You don't need an air compressor to test for head gasket leaks in the radiator. No matter what, if antifreeze is getting into the combustion chamber, gasses are getting into the coolant as well-this will even get by the thermostat. Just start the car with the radiator cap off and watch for ANY air bubbles to come to the surface. You should notice the engine stumble ever so slightly if it is a small leak. Sometimes the engine needs to warm up before anything is noticed. If that fails, NAPA sells litmus paper strips that change color depending on the level of antifreeze in the exhaust gas-that'll tell you also. Small coolant leaks tend to burn the plugs very clean so check the plugs-if they are oily but extremely clean, there's a clue there as well.

Thanks for inputs. I'll try to check it this week.

"Shade-tree" as all get-out, but it might save you a motor so that you can make it last another year or two.. Like until you have MORE cash to fix it right!!!

Do a search here and over at both T-C's under my handle using "waterglass" as the search word.

I tell how I have used waterglass, (Sodium Silicate) twice through the years to crutch my hurt engines so I could run them longer!!

It works BUT you have to do JUST like I say OR it can be a big mess and not work!!

AND yes, been there, done it TWICE!!! The OLD Mechanics taught me this when I was in highschool back in the mid '60's!!

pdq67

A buddie of mine had the same thing happen to a fairly new motor and it still drove okay so he kept driving and then all the sudden it went filled a cylinder up and bent the rod.