You can buy an adapter to pressurize the cylinders through the spark plug
holes, and see if any air comes out the radiator cap. That is one of my
favorite ways to check for a head gasket leak. You do this, of course, with
the engine not running. A compression test might show something too.
Usually, if you have cause to suspect a blown head gasket, you have one. (

Replacing the head gasket is not too much work, but you will want to know
why it went bad, before you put the head back on. At the very least, check
the deck and head for warping with a straight edge and feeler gauge.

My '89 Suburban had some coolant leakage and lost about a quart of oil in
two hundred miles. It smoked like a gangster in a '50s movie. So I took it
to a Chevrolet dealer with a good reputation, and told him to "replace the
engine with a new one, and put it on this credit card". That worked a lot
smoother than the other way. :^)

Earle

"Rusted" > wrote in message
...
> A buddy came over last night so we could weld some new floor panels and
> replace rotten roll cage mounts on his CJ (see I am back on topic
already).
>
> When he went to start his 89 suburban it had power to the starter but the
> engine would not turn over. We used a wrench to manually turn the crank
a
> little to prove that the engine , then by holding the starter it started
to
> turn the engine slowly, until suddenly it fired up. It acted like maybe
it
> was hydro locked and once we turned it a little to open the valves it
> allowed the fluid to escape and turn over.
>
> Then the exhaust seemed to have a little water, then we notice a mixture
of
> mostly coolant with some oil was leaking out from around the passenger
side
> / rear area from the exhaust manifold. Also it was running rough, almost
> like it was missing a cylinder. He commented earlier that he thought that
> purchased some bad fuel and it was not running right. But now I am
thinking
> that this is the reason it was not running right.
>
> Am I safe to take a guess that this is a problem with a bad head gasket?
> How much is involved in replacing a head gasket on a 350?
>
>
>