Cadillac Repair: 1990 cadillac 4.5 engine blows antifreeze thru the tailpipe overheating., blown head gasket, cadillac sedan deville

Question
I just bought a 1990 cadillac Sedan DeVille FWD with a 4.5 8cyl engine and when I got it home I filled it up with antifreeze and the next day after running it for awhile it ran hot and the overheating light came on and there was no antifreeze in the radiator. No leaks that are visible on the ground at all. Just blowing out of the tailpipe white smoke that smells like antifreeze and no thermostat installed.Do I have a blown head gasket and is it worth fixing this engine? I am a 60's and 70's Cadillac man and the reason why I bought this Caddy knowing about the aluminum heads and overheating is because I only paid $250 for the car. Is it worth fixing and is it the head gasket or something else?
Thanks,
Alex

Answer
Hi Alex, The price was sure good you kinda had to suspect something major was wrong...engine or trans. I guess the thing you need to ask is if I put say $2500 into the car would it be worth it or not. You are probably right about the head gasket and provided it did't have too many overheat cycles the engine might still be ok. What I have been finding is that head bolts strip out in the block and then you need the special Cadillac heli coil kit to repair this. One time I had 3 holes strip out so was kinda frustrating when the last torque pulled a thread and the head needed to come off again. The other thing that might be happening is an o-ring seal at the bottom of the cylinder head liner might be bad and without the special gage to know that the height is correct it wouldn't be worth trying to fix this one. I guess you could add dye, diassemble it and see where the leak is and then go for there. Its kinda a crap shoot otherwise. Might just be better to install a differant engine. Bill