I've got smoke out of the exhaust on my 96. 67K miles. It's in good but not great shape. I'm not a major mechanic but I recently replaced the heater core myself which was mostly taking things apart just to get to it. I had a high temp issue a couple years ago. Some of the coolant hoses were clogged with think gunk. I can't prove it but I think one time I brought it in for an oil change, some idiot topped off the coolant with the wrong type. While I was researching the high temp issue, I saw a post that mixing coolants would do that. Anyways, I had my regular mechanic do a full anti freeze flush and it seemed ok. Lately it was running a little high but not like before. Then the smoke started just after I replaced the EGR valve. But that shouldn't have anything to do with it (I think).

I'm not sure it pays to get this done by a mechanic. I've watched a couple head gasket replacement videos and it doesn't seem tooooooo hard on a C4. I do have the FSM but I've never found them too easy to follow.
Looking for suggestions, videos, comments.

TIA to all the those on this great forum.

 

It can be easy if you have the room to take your time and be smart about it. Bag and tag, take pictures and don’t clutter stuff up.

Here us a good DIY thread. It will be similar enough to your 96.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...long-pics.html

 

Before you roll up your sleeve and dive in, have you fully checked if the head gasket is at fault. When you say smoke are we talking a vapor haze that goes away or a Heavy smoke that swallows a neighborhood, are you loosing coolant, is there build up or Milky oil, is there exhaust bubbles coming out of the radiator tank.
Just because you're not happy with temperature or you had a warm/hot day is not a write-off, if you're running warm check the normal things, debris in front of radiator under front bumper, fur/debris between radiator and AC and proper coolant protection/strength.

 

Thanks all.
I'll get to the basic checks this weekend. Just laying the groundwork. When this happened, the only thing I checked was the overflow tank and it was hot and had steam coming out of it. So I closed it up for now (went on vacation, disconnected the battery (dif issue, some power drain somewhere) and now it is time to deal with it. Oh, the starter seems to be going too - .

Looking at the link provided, the first thing is disconnecting the catalytic convertors. Maybe this is a really dumb question but I thought I could do all this from the top of the car?

 

This can be a very satisfying DYI project. I am a retired financial executive (so no auto mechanic experience at all) and I did it on my 93 convertible. So that means almost anyone willing to research, follow directions and be careful about the process can be successful. Here are a few tips:
-Take Chumpvette's advice to heart: bag, tag, and take pictures of everything because you will forget! If you don't replace your head bolts, punch them through a piece of cardboard in the orientation that you remove them so you can put them back in the same order, don't know why but it's recommended.
-Take Scarters advice and be sure you have a bad head gasket. Generally speaking, large plumes of white exhaust smoke is a good indicator. But check the other items he mentioned. You can rent a kit from some of the auto parts stores to check the coolant.
If you determine you need new gaskets, you probably should have the heads checked for warpage and, if so, milled at a local machine shop. You will need to watch some videos on the intake manifold removal, building the china wall properly and re-installing it. The scariest part is adjusting valve lash. However, I used the method described in the following video links and it is simple and worked perfectly. One final thought, if you have coolant in the cylinders, you make get some spillage into the open exhaust pipes when the heads come off. If so, when you put it all back together, you may get huge plumes of white smoke and think it was all a failure. I was saved by a member who advised me to take the car on a long drive to burn it off. What a relief. Or you can plug the exhaust pipes and skip all the drama.