1997 Chevy Z-71 Intake Gasket Or Head Gasket Leak?

Reader Question
Hi!

We have a 1997 Chevy Z-71 which has decided it doesn’t want to heat all the time. It’ll work and then all of a sudden it’ll shoot out cold air.

I took it to a shop around my town and they said it was the intake gasket. We let it sit for a month in the Minnesota cold and now there is white smoke coming out of the exhaust and they said not to drive it more than 2 blocks because it’ll probably quit. Does that sound like the head gasket??

Have a great day!

Thank you,

Michelle

Hi there Michelle,

You MIGHT have two issues going on here. I would first start with getting a cooling system pressure test done by a mechanic….even an oil change place can usually do this inexpensive test while you wait. This will determine if you have an internal …like a head gasket leak, or external coolant leak…..like a leaking radiator hose. If you have an internal leak you might want to try this cheap over the counter product first and see what happens. Here is more about this product on my other site

Head Gasket Repair

If you don’t have an internal leak, and your HEATER is not getting hot, see if you can figure out what is happening from this article I wrote awhile back.

Car Heater Problems

Keep me posted,

Blessings,

Austin Davis

Reader follow up

Hey Austin,

Well they got the intake gasket changed. They said there was a major crack in it! But not the dumb truck knocks. It didn’t do that before…

I think some antifreeze may have gotten into a cylinder…I have to check on it next week! We’ll hope for the best! But the good news is it’s not the head gasket!!!! YAY for me!

Thank you,

Michelle

Michelle….ouch!!

DO NOT drive this vehicle with the engine knocking. There is always a good possibility of antifreeze entering a cylinder when performing this repair.

Unfortunately, when antifreeze does enter the cylinder and the piston tries to compress it along along with the fuel and air mixture (antifreeze does not burn) and the piston can not compress the antifreeze or burn it off so it usually bends the piston or does damage to the inside of the cylinder wall.

This new problem sounds worse than the original problem.

Blessings,

Austin Davis