head gasket or something else?

[A fireman]

94 bird 3.4l stock plus Megasquirt so one extra sensor in the bypass line.

What its doing.
Car starts and runs fine. No white smoke but the smell of coolant when the car warms up. No drips no leaks and no coolant in the oil but about once a week the car begins to over heat and I'm adding 1/2 to 1 gallon of coolant. What its doing is the dash gauge read a rapid warm up with sparatic temp fluctuations from 180 to275( 180°thermostat) Ms reads normal temps and normal warm up pointing to air in the head to me because the Ms temp sensor is at the water pump level. The only place I can see this leaking is into one or more cylinders but very slowly. I plan on getting the head gasket set and bolts this week but if there is another option without an additive I'm game. Thanks in advance

Forgot to mention. Fixed an external leak from the top bypass port where it heats the throttle body and replaced the water pump.

[jheat01camaro]

Re: head gasket or something else?

I had that happen but on my 01 camaro 3.8. I had an ongoing issue with a water leak. Mine look bad cuz it shoot out white smoke while driving only. I dont know if this will help or not. Im not sure if the 3.4 has the.same setup. I found 2the small elbow hoses connected to the belt tensioner had broken and were leaking water onto block. Just a thought, im not sure Iaf 3.4 has the same setup or not.

[viper98885]

Re: head gasket or something else?

I know you said you did not want to use an additive, but what about the UV dye for the coolant system? You can get the kit at NAPA, Autozone, etc. This will let you know if the leak is internal or external. The kit works really well.

[A fireman]

Re: head gasket or something else?

Thanks for the help guys I'll try the UV dye but I think I found the leak last night right at the top bypass connection again. Have to fine a better fix I guess