i seem to be losing coolant and am fearing the worst (head gasket). what kind of things can i check to be sure if it is? I smelled the exhaust, but it does not smell like coolant, but the engine bay does sometimes. I also can see a small spot of coolant down on the shelf of the timing cover below the water neck towards the passengers side. could it just be the neck is leaking and the smell is it burning fromt he heat of the block? any help is appreciated. i really am hoping itsa not a HG, but i dunno how to tell. Also there seems to be no loss of power in the car. Still feels fast to me, not sure if that means its not leaking or not.

thanks
nate

 

water pump, probably.

 

check your t-stat housing and and your waterpump and make sure those are not leaking that would be the first place I would checkand you can test it buy going to autozone and renting one of those pressure tools that builds your cooling system up with pressure and it has a gauge so you can se if you are losing any at all

 

will that tool help me find out where its coming from? like will i be able to hear the air leaking out? or do i just use it to see if the pressure in the system drops?

 

if your leaking coolant you should be able to watch it leak, you dont need the pressure tester. take it around the block, park it, leave it runnin, and look.

 

its not leaking down that fast that fast that i can see it coming out while running, thats why i didnt know if it was a head gasket. i guess i need to clean the coolant off that spot on the timing cover and run it and see if it shows back up there. i sure hope its just the t-stat housing, i hear people have problems with them because of the front mount instead of top mount on the intake.

 

But yea you will be able to hear the air leaking and probably the coolant spraying everywhere!!

 

+1 on water pump seems to be a common problem leaking throught the weap hole. Easy to fix....new water pump.

 

yea i wouldn't worry about the head gaskets on '90 and up stangs. survey says.......water pump

 

um.. my car had a blown hg when i got it, and a warped head. i dunno why you think 90+ dont blow head gaskets. fords 10 head bolt design is inferior and makes for blown head gaskets easy imo.