Could a leaking or broken head gasket cause an exhaust leak sound? The reason i ask is ebcause im trying to figure out two things. 1) Where the hidden exhuast leak is I cant find. 2) Where my coolant is slowly dissapearing off to. The only time i've noticed white smoke is on start ups, other than that none at all.
Thanks in advanced for any help.

 

It could. Take a compression test. Look at your oil to see if there is any water in it. Look in your radiator and see if you can see any oil.

 

You could pressure test your radiator if it leaks down and you see no water leaking on the outside its leaking in. Does your engine have thermactor holes in the ends of the heads? I had an old t-bird that leaked where someone had screwed a bolt into one sounded just like a exhaust manifold leak

 

Could you describe these thermactor holes? Would they be in the back of the block? Also could a bad gasket lead to overheating?

 

Watch out, if you overheat your engine too much you can warp a head. Then you will have to rip it apart and have the heads milled. Yes a head gasket can cause all of that. Doubtful it is a "Bad" gasket. Every time I have had that problem it was caused by me.

Did you just put the heads on? You might want to go through the torquing sequence again and double check....

 

It hasnt been overheating yet, but on 90 degree weather days it gets hotter than normal. going to replace the thermostat and water pump when I get income tax money in.

 

The holes i was reffering to are in the back of the head and look like an accessory bolt hole but they go through to exhaust. A leaking head gasket can lead to overheating you can see bubbles in your radaitor if the gasket is leaking into the water jackets

 

Bubbles in the the radiator when I open the top (on a cold cranked engine) and look in or bubbles in the actual metal....stupid question but i just want to clarify. Im going to chek for those whole whenever the engine cools down and get back to you.

 

I did find two wholes on the block. One on each side....nothingin them though...should they be plugged?

 

No exhaust coming from either of them....I found the slightest exhaust leak coming out of the drivers side where the manifold and pipe connect....but it sure is loud to be so tiny if thats the problem....as for coolant disapearing I make an overflow tank out of a brakefluid bottle....since my car does have a history of getting too hot that could be the issue of missing coolant. The coolant in the radiator looks as green as ever too. The oil going down the block onto the tranny is coming from the back corner of the valve cover I believe....So...i think all my problems have been figured out...hopefully.