impaled

as of late i have noticed that my car has a relatively odd smell to it after it has ran and got up to temp... today i checked the coolent and noticed that i was down a pint or so and that it appears that there is some oil in the coolent. my first thought was that my plastic intake manifold cracked and that was causing the mixture of the oil with the coolent... does that seem likely? the only thing that i wonder about is that there doesnt seem to be any white smoke coming from the exhaust, although i am not positive because i havent been standing back there while someone has reved the engine.

so here are the questions...
its been a while since i have been here so i might needa little refresher...

it would crack at the crossover for the coolent (where the radiator hose goes in), right?
should i be able to see some fluid accumulation or spray anywhere in the engine bay?

i think if the intake is indeed cracked i am going to go ahead and do a full pi swap and drive my camaro while i am working on it.

impaled

Anybody? i need some help asap. thanks

98SN95

sounds like you have a bad headgasket, cause the intake does not carry any oil through it, just coolant, and if it was leaking, it would leak in the front where you described,coolant that is. my 98 just blew the headgasket after the fan went out and i never caught

impaled

Yea, you are right... i didnt think about that. i was just kinda panicked and assumed intake crossover because of the previous lawsuit/settlement. with a blown head gasket, wouldnt i be blowing white smoke out of the exhaust? or loosing more coolent? i flushed the coolent a month ago and i figure i replaced about a pint today and the car has been weird for the last few days, that doesnt seem like much of a loss for a blown headgasket.

how could i tell for sure it isa blown headgasket? dont harass me for this if it is a stupid question, but, would it be something i could hear while the engine was running, like air rushing out?

98SN95

depends on the size of the leak in the gasket, the only for sure way to tell is to do a compression test and cylinder leak down test,

impaled

i lost another pint or so of collent in the last three days of driving, but i dont understand where the coolent is going, there is no white smoke. i saw a bubble or two on my oil dipstick but it didnt look like the "milkshake" that i have heard other people associating with a blown head gasket.

timeformiller44

yeah i have been having a problem with my coolant disappearing but its takes a long time... like i fill it at begining of month..then at end of month my resivior is bone dry...no smoke..i have an 01 so intake isnt leaking i checked....i am doing heads right now so when i get them apart i am suspecting a slightly leaking head gasket....if i dont find one...i think my block may have an issue..and its a 5spd so i dont have tranny cooler lines going into the radiator to have the coolant mix that way..

so my best bet would be your head gasket if you cant find the intake leaking also check your tranny fluid... the coolers in the radiator could have went bad and all 3 could be mixing in the radiator... just a percaution

penceman

My intake was cracked for a while before I noticed. I spilled coolant twice, all of it, out of the radiator cap. On the third time I reved it to just below redline and basically blew a whole where the crack was. So that being said, I think your issue has to do with your headgasket.

impaled

i think i might have some good news! i started thecar to heat it up to do a compression test, once it was done heating i started to look at the plugs. i noticed that the rear passenger side spark plug (number 8 i think) had a little puddle near it and to the rear of it that had dripped down onto some of the stuff underneath. that area had a very strong coolent smell. so could the intake just be cracked back there? i think the reason i smelled coolent on the oil dipstick was because i was so close to the coolent leak.

the only think that that doesnt explain is why there appears to be oil in the coolent... any opinions?

if it is just the intake i will be thrilled because that is moremoney i can put into my camaro (my drag car in progress), and the stang will still get good gas milage and be reliable.

98SN95

SINCE u have the all plastic intake you should change it rite away, if this is your suspesion, than your probly rite, it cant hurt, especially since its your daily driver