My 16 year old son is the proud owner of a beautiful 1994 Camaro Z28. It is a dream car for him, with a top speed of 160 mph. While going down the highway, the car is fine. However, when idling at a stop light or in heavy traffic, the temperature gauge moves toward the hot mark, going at least 3/4of the way up the gauge. A faint smell of antifreeze and smoke are also coming from the tail pipes. The car hasn't actually "topped out" yet at the red mark but may at any time. This car has a 350 engine and was previously used as a race car. It has 100,000 miles.

Also, the interior will not heat up. Our weather is not freezing cold, but we do have a few 32 degree mornings and heat in the vehicle would be welcomed!

Do you think the 2 problems are connected? Our fear is a "cracked head" on this car, which we have only had for 4 days now and has been driven less than 100 miles. We currently have another vehicle in the shop for this same problem

Any help you can give is appreciated.

The first thing I would check is to make sure the radiator is full. The majority of the time, when a car is overheating but not heating inside the car, it's because there isn't enough water/antifreeze in the coolant system to reach the heater core. After that, I'd check the heater hoses for blockage.

Edit: Oh, and Welcome to Team Camaro!!!!!

I bet you have a intake leaking. I have a 99 Tahoe with the 5.7 and had similar problems, the intake gasket was almost gone. I read about a lawsuit over the type engine coolant GM used was supposedly causing premature intake gasket failure. I replaced my intake gasket and had no more problems

Yes Trenton Is Right About Intake Gaskets But Dont Overlook Head Gasket Or Cylinder.you Did Say You See Smoke [actually Steam] Coming From Pipes And The Smell Of Antifreexe...either Way Get It Fixed Immediately.......engine Bearings And Antifreeze Have Zero Compatibility

top off your radiator, the let it idle till it's warm with the rad cap off. Look for coolant to start to flow when it's warm enuf to open the thermostat. Once that happens, rev the engine a couple times and look for bubbles in the coolant.

Top it off let it heat up then do a Co2 test,,that will tell if the head gaskets are leaking,, the intakes are known too leak,,replace a few sets of them but none was smoking out the pipes,for the inside heat look for a blocked heater core,,sometimes you can just back flush them out and it will work fine,but have seen a few cloged up from what i tought was corrosion from the type of coolant that was put into the systems,,Frank

If you're losing water, intake /head gasket leak, the level in the radiator will not be high enough to allow the heater core to carry enough water to supply heat. The radiator must be full to suppy the heater core, therefore, no heat is the first sign of low water level.

As for the interior heat and you saying the car had been a race car, check to be sure the previous owner hasn't bypassed the heater core.

Your smelling a seeing coolant vapors coming from exhaust? Usually intakes on SB engines dont leak into the combustion chamber. My guess would be you have a blown head gasket, cracked head or a cracked cylinder. Regardless the motor need to come apart, as to how far it depends on what you find.

The cooling system on a 4th gen needs to be bled. There is a bleeder screw on the thermostat housing. If you have an internal leak there might be an air pocket in the system. This can cause the overheating at idle and no heat symptoms that you describe.

With the vehicle on a level surface...Open the radiator cap (cold) Note coolant level and fill radiator with 50/50 mix Dex-Cool coolant. Open the bleeder screw. Start engine and allow to idle to operating temp. Close bleeder screw when steady flow of coolant is present. Top off radiator, Close pressure cap, Fill overflow reservoir to level.....Jb