Blown headgasket?

[MysteryMachine]

Car was sitting over the winter, had about a half tank of gas in it. I got it inspected Thursday and noticed when putting it under a load it would sputter. I figured it was just bad gas. I put in some gas line antifreeze and filled the tank up the rest of the way. Yesterday I put in some Lucas fuel inj cleaner cause the CEL came on. Thought maybe some dirt got in the inj. On the way home yesterday the CEL was blinking then would stay on, then blink. I checked the codes again and got the same cyl 1 misfire. Was gonna pull the spark plug and check for spark but when I pulled the boot I got a surprise. The boot was wet which seemed a little odd. I looked down the hole with a flashlight and found antifreeze. My first thought was a blown headgasket or cracked head, either way it SUCKS.

 

[wmburns]

IMO, you should first rule out:

• cracked/leaking intake especially if you have the all plastic unit.
• Spark plug back out. Re-torque spark plugs to recommended values.

 

[MysteryMachine]

Is there a way to check the intake? I am planing on pulling the plug and still check for spark so I will try that

 

[vertigasen]

Ok, hang on. Wrong section. This is the 4.6 Modular section, go HERE for the 94-95 Tech section.

Good luck with chasing it down.

 

[MysteryMachine]

umm no it's a 96 GT which means it has a 4.6 Modular

 

[vertigasen]

umm no it's a 96 GT which means it has a 4.6 Modular

I was going off your signature since you didnt give us a lot of info in the original post.

Blown headgaskets and cracked heads are rare on the 4.6, not impossible, but rare. Check the coolant crossover. To check it, there are 2 ways. If you are mechanically inclined, you can start it and look for a leak. It will be pretty easy to see. If you still are having a hard time seeing it, here is an old trick I learned a long time ago. Go to walmart and get some tissue paper.....white and blue. Put 2 blue sheets and 2 white sheets together so the white is in front of the blue. Clean the area and make sure its dry. Wrap the coolant tube with the paper, white side towards the intake.....then start it. You dont have to let it run long, then take the paper off. The blue will be bright through the paper where it got wet from the leak.

 

[MysteryMachine]

ok didn't know if there was normally a issue finding leaks in them or if it would be in a hard place to find. I will give that a look. The more I think about it though I think it has the metal crossover

Would be nice if it was something easy. When I bought it the guy mentioned a odd oil leak on the drivers side and said he replaced the VC gasket but it still leaked. I have seen that a bad headgasket could cause that so if the pass side one went it wouldn't really be surprised.

If I need to tear into it is there a way to tell non pi from pi stuff? I keep hearing that non pi cars are slow and mine seems pretty quick. Wanna make sure it hasn't already had the swap done.

I have the 96 listed in my sig figured I didn't have to go any further with that sorry, That's my bad I guess

 

[Kornnut]

I would bet it is a cracked intake leaking.

 

[vertigasen]

There are a couple ways to tell if the PI swap was done. Check the head casting number, it should be on the exhaust side. From there, you can remove the intake manifold and tell from the port shape. Teardrop and its NPI, a more square shape is PI.

The great thing about a PI swap on a NPI engine is the CR increase. You actually make more power than a stock PI car with the swap. The swap isnt that bad and can be done pretty cheap.....heads are cheap, the intake is cheap.

 

[MysteryMachine]

Well pulled the plug and it was dry which gave me hope. I put it back and went for a ride and still ran like crap. The CEL didn't come back on but I did find more antifreeze in the plug hole when I got back home. I can't see anywhere that the intake is leaking

 

[MysteryMachine]

Hey guys sorry to bump this but didn't want to start a new thread for a quick question. I still haven't fixed this but talked to my garage guy and he said to replace the intake gaskets. Gonna give that a shot so I bought new gaskets a couple weeks ago. I did a search but didn't find anything, is there a DIY for that anywhere?

 

[4inastang]

1+ on the gaskets. My intake on my 04 had a crack plus the gaskets were leaking badly. I went on with the victor jr. My car is fi and I've spent a lot of time and money on it. Why not a little more.
The part of my delima was me or any my friends could see that it was leaking. I drove the car like this for months spitting and sputtering until the engine came up to temp. Like yourself I pulled my plugs for a cleaning and try some re-gapping and found that my coil boots were wet and you know how the plugs look with this condition.
The Victor has a couple small hurdles to jump but it's all good. We machined the adapter plate, shortened the manifold bolts, delt with the FRPS, tommorow the egr tube is going in the scrap pile and I'm plugging the egr tube on the headers.
Hoping for the best.....all in the name of more HP! No more plastic to boot.