Hello and good evening!

I purchased A 1996 monte carlo 3.4l z34 today for $1500. The car sounds good and the transmission shifts smooth. I noticed the Low Coolant light was on as well. After 30 minutes of driving, the car began to smoke from the exhaust, white smoke with a hint of blue to it. I also noticed a small puddle of oil under the car- around or near the oil filter after I had parked it. Please help me!

 

welcome to the forum.....

 

Welcome to the Forum!

 

i would avoid driving it, untill you know whats going on, don't wanna lose your motor. first check and see if the coolant resivoir is full, empty, ect. next, pull the dipstick and see how much oil is on it, and see if the color looks pale. if it seems overfull, drain the oil and refill with fresh, and check what you drained and see if it looks like chocolate milk.

these cars are notorious for loosing the intake manifold gaskets, sometimes they leak the coolant into the engine, and dilute the oil untill the oil looses it's ability to lubricate the motor and the engine seizes. i had to replace the gaskets on my monte, my grandparents buick, on the other hand, locked up the engine because of they didin't fix the gaskets.

like i said, before you buy any parts do some underhood detective work and see what you find out

BTW, welcome to the forum. had a '96 Z34 myself a couple of years back

 

^^^ great advice above from Ryan, I was gonna mention the same, but I couldn't say it any better than he did.....

 

thanks chris. i kinda feel like i'm scaring the guy, but i'd hate to see him loose the motor in his new car over a $100 set of gaskets.

 

I would do a compression test to make sure the head gaskets arent blown. If compression is ok and even, then I would replace the intake manifold gaskets. You could be burning coolant if the LIM is leaking. I would also check the oil and make sure there is no water in the oil.

 

Welcome to the site. Post pics when you can. All the others have said is very good advice. If these repairs are outside your mechanical comfort zone take it somewhere and have it repaired ASAP. Shop around tho, being this is a common problem a few mechanics in my area do them for pretty cheap. One shop was doing them for about 300 to 400 bucks.

 

after adding coolant into the reservoir, the Add Coolant light did not switch off. On my way home tonight the car began overheating for the first time, the temp gauge shot to the other end and I had to shift into neutral so it would cooldown. Drove home, got out and noticed it was reeking of coolant, i'll have a look at it in the morning and update.

If I replace All fluids, the head gasket and lower intake manifold gasket asap, is there a chance my motor will survive?
(should I purchase both the Headgasket/lim gasket and the entire gasket set? Autozone says 303$ for a Felpro gasket set)

I'll have a mechanic look at it this weekend.

thanks everyone! really appreciate the help.

 

i would wait to get the gaskets untill you have a mechanic look at the car. if and when you need to purchase the gaskets, make sure the kit includes valve cover gaskets. i would also suggest, if your mechanic winds up tearing the engine down to replace the gaskets, to replace the thermostat and timing belt while it's apart. might even want to consider replacing the rear plugs & wires while the upper intake is off the engine, scince it's the only way to access them.