AAX86

Sorry for the billionth thread about my coolant leak. I just want some final input on this before i go deeper into the engine. Last time, some of you said it wouldn't be possible that the leak is from the intake manifold gasket because of how much coolant is leaking (coolant spraying from tailpipes in liquid form when the engine is revved) and instead suggested maybe an internally cracked head or block. I figured i'd try a block sealer before i go take the heads off. So i used the K&W stuff but of course it didn't work.

Anyways, since i used the block sealer, i had to flush out the system with water a whole bunch of times and when i took the intake off today to get to the heads i found that the water made the leaks way more visible so i took a few pics. You can see the white spots where water was. So the intake gasket is definitely leaking a bit but do you guys think that would be enough to make such a big amount of coolant leak out the exhaust? If not, then i'm gonna go ahead and take the heads off and have them checked out.

Both heads look about the same. The picture i took of one side was really blurry so i didn't attach it. Also i checked the spark plugs and #1, 2, 5, 6, and 8 were white. 3 and 7 looked fine. Didn't get #4 cause i got pissed and gave up but it's probably white too. The brown stuff in the pics isn't oil, it's a sealant.

All help's appreciated
Thanks again

petrock

Not sure who said it couldn’t be the intake leaking, but in my opinion, it definitely could be. Coolant is under pressure as the motor gets hot, so it can spray pretty quickly. With that said, don’t rule out the possibility of it also being a head gasket or other issue. Often times when there is one leak, there are others. Good luck...

AAX86

Hmm.. Well a compression check ruled out a blown head gasket. And i just realized it's probably not a cracked head cause there's coolant in cylinders on both sides. unless both the heads are cracked. Does that mean i can rule out a cracked block too? i'm not sure how the water passages work in the block.

So i'm down to cracked block or leaking intake..

capri debris

It's wrong, but I WILL laugh if you do all this work and discover the "coolant" spraying out your tailpipes was nothing more than condensation in the exhaust.

mjr46

don't be so sure on that, I have story after story where compression tests revealed nothing yet the symptoms pointed towards a head gasket and replacing the gasket cured the issue, depends on where the blow is often times and how severe it is. Had a Honda at Christmas where leak down test, compression test and pressure test all came back inconclusive, the only test that sort of picked up something was a block check kit that revealed slight presence of combustion gases in the coolant.

AAX86

You say that like i'm lying about it lol... I can take a picture of the 2-foot spray marks behind my tailpipes in my driveway. and not just that. It's definitely coolant.

Well... crap. i didn't even consider that- the compression test being wrong that is. But from the spark plugs it looked like there was coolant in cylinders on both heads. Well i don't really have anywhere to go from here so i guess i'll pull the heads off and see what happens. What could go wrong?

mjr46

not saying it was wrong, just sometimes things aren't is obvious as they seem,just need to cover all bases

dawson1112

So first it was spraying out of only one bank , and now after the next install its on both ?

I don't think you are having head gasket issues. Have you used a thread chaser to clean out all the intake mounting holes? You need to visually verify that none of the mounting holes have any kind of debris in them , ie old gasket material , or even a tip of a broken stud or mounting bolt. Use an ice pick if you have to to dig any kind of junk out of the bottom of the holes then used compressed air to blow them out , chase the threads , and blow them out again. Verify the depth of each hole and make sure that they are all the same depth . A broken stud or mounting bolt may be very hard to see.

Check the mating surfaces with a good straight edge to be sure there is no warping . All mating surfaces should be cleaned of all old gasket material . Use a good scotch brite pad to clean them up . Or if you have an angled die grinder they make a 3m pad that is designed just for this, course enough to remove corrosion and gunk but soft enough it does not remove any metal.

AAX86

Yeah pretty much. There's liquid coming out of both sides now. Still the passenger side way more but the driver's side is leaking liquid now too. I don't know what's going on. maybe i'm just chasing the leak around? I have no idea. I've been cleaning up the surfaces real good every time. Usually i just spray around everything with a computer duster can to blow out the loose crap.