2003 Monte Carlo SS 3.8 Problem
 

Hello,
Let me start by saying that I dont know anything about cars, but I own a 2003 Chevy Monte Carlo SS 3.8! My SS seems to be letting out blue smoke from my exhaust pipe upon sitting idle and the Temparature gauge starts rising as if my car is about to overheat. It has funny smell as if its burning oil or something to that nature. I have taken it too a shop and they told me that my head gasket might have gone bad? I gotten the gasket repaired in the past and it was costly (Trying to avoid this route again). A coworker told me that he had the same issue and all he changed was the Intake Manifold???? I also notice that every so often the oil level goes low, I checked on the surface to see if I can detect any oil spill but cant seem to see any!!!

If you are losing oil, burning coolant, and you can't see leaks, there is a good chance that the gaskets for the lower-intake manifold are shot.

It is NOT a cheap job to pay for.

So do it yourself :p

It's not too difficult of a job, just time consuming.

I'm trying to remember smoke colors....
White - Burning coolant
Blue - Burning Oil?
Dark/Black - Burning Fuel?

The blue smoke concerns me. That sounds like it's more then the LIM gaskets. I had an issue with blown head gaskets on a 3100 sending compression gases into the cooling system (creating a "overheat" reading on the gauge due to an air pocket and over pressurized the system, damaging the radiator in the process).

I would suggest taking it to a reputable mechanic and getting a diagnosis.

Thanks for the help! Will the diagnosis test pin point the problem? Doesn't sounds like a bad idea!!! On occasions I can hear water as I accelerate!!!

Blue smoke indicates oil getting into the cylinder. If you only get the smoke during idle or cruise (high manifold vacuum) it could be a bad head gasket or worn valve guides. If it smokes all the time it could be worn piston rings or excessive cylinder bore taper. A compression and/or cylinder leak down test will determine where to focus.

03SSLE, you just said a bunch of what I was thinking but not certain enough to say (hence why I recommended the aid of a reputable professional to at least confirm the problem).

Hopefully it's not worse then a set of head gaskets. If it is head gaskets, that's not too bad.

helping on 3800
 

if your smoking at idle your rings are bad.. put a compression check on each cylinder see if the pressure is different between all six theres test that they can perform on your 3800 to see if your losing fuilds its called die test its like 10.00 dollars for the test.

My Key wont turn, Is their a way to get the car outta park so I can Trailer it to lockshop?

you should make your own thread for this, anyway you can pop the shifter cable off the trans and then shift it by hand at the trans. the shifter cable is on the trans below the throttle body and toward the fire wall a bit. its hard to see but its there. just pop the cable off and count 2 clicks and that will be N once you are done moving it be sure to move the shifter back into P or the car could roll away.