Questions and Answers

Chevy Camaro Blew Its Heads Q. My son was driving on the freeway and apparently the freeze plug started leaking. He did not notice anything on the temperature gauge. The 1978 Chevy Camaro lost power and he pulled off to the side of the road. Tons of smoke was pouring out the edge of the freeze plug. It had a burnt type smell. Needless to say, I had the car towed home.

The smoke and steam was so hot that it melted a couple of my plug wires. I checked the oil and found no water in the oil. Probably because it all drained out the freeze plug. I then did a compression test on 7 of the 8 cylinders. One was giving me a problem.

Two of the cylinders read 0 psi compression, one read at 30 psi, one at 90 psi, and three at 120 psi. I did a wet test on the cylinders and there was no change in compression. According to my manual, this would normally indicate the rings and cylinders are probably okay.

Does this sound like I blew a head gasket, burned some valves or something else. Is there any other test that will help me determine what happened without first digging into the motor. I am hoping I could do the repair without having to replace the engine or completely pull the motor. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you...

A. First of all, we need to realize that his thing got real hot! Anything could have happened inside. I would suspect that a pair of head gaskets would fix you up, but you aren't going to know until you pull them off and check the cylinder walls for scoring and cracks.

Also, you should have the heads checked for warping as well as the block deck. Good luck!