Coolant Leaking frorm Exhaust?

66 Tiger · Sep 9, 2007

Hello Everyone -

This morning after starting the car I noticed a significant amount of fluid leaking from the passenger side exhaust pipe? ( allot more than the normal amount of accumulated condensation - it had a slight hue of green to it as well )

I also notice a lovely fuel-smell coming from the radiator when I removed the cap?

I have at best, maybe 20 miles on the car since re-installing my re-conditioned 351 heads & a new intake / cam. The motor is a 302 for those who are not familiar with my history of interesting problems with the car, LOL!

Anyway - I now have the intake removed & am trying to figure exactly what went wrong. ( I'm hoping just an intake seal problem but have no idea what I should be looking for in determining this )

Does anyone have any advice as to what I should be checking for, or does this sound more like it could possibly be a head-gasket problem?

Thanks.

ron67fb · Sep 9, 2007

I'd do a leakdown test just to make sure. Are there any strange traces on the gasket surface that point to a mismatched/broken intake gasket?

66 Tiger · Sep 9, 2007

ron67fb said:
I'd do a leakdown test just to make sure. Are there any strange traces on the gasket surface that point to a mismatched/broken intake gasket?

Not really - everything actually looked ok to me as far as disassembly went. The gasket tore where I sealed it with RTV around the water ports, & came off nice and clean everywhere else. ( the only scraping I had to do was around the water inlets / ports )

There didn't seem to be any OBVIOUS signs that it was actually leaking from the intake. ( though I'm not EXACTLY sure what I should be looking for? )

I should have also probably tried re-torquing the intake bolts before yanking everything apart?

Here's acouple of pics:

zookeeper · Sep 9, 2007

I'd pull the plugs as well, if you have 7 colored spark plugs and one that looks like new or smells like anti-freeze, I'd bet on a head gasket problem. If it was just leaking in through an intake gasket, you probably wouldn't see liquid coming from the exhaust, you'd see white smoke, but then again the same could be said for head gasket problems.

68keyblr · Sep 9, 2007

sounds like a head gasket

66 Tiger · Sep 9, 2007

zookeeper said:
I'd pull the plugs as well, if you have 7 colored spark plugs and one that looks like new or smells like anti-freeze, I'd bet on a head gasket problem. If it was just leaking in through an intake gasket, you probably wouldn't see liquid coming from the exhaust, you'd see white smoke, but then again the same could be said for head gasket problems.

Well - I pulled the four on the passenger side & this is what I have.

#4, #3, & #2 all look identical. #1 is significantly darker. Doesn't really smell like antifreeze though. ( I'd have to say it has more of a gassier bouquet to it, LOL! )

Does this indicate anything?

iapexl8r · Sep 9, 2007

bust out the compression guage and check them all. my guess is # 1 is low. was the car missing? did you check for milky oil? what kind of gaskets did you install?? chris

zookeeper · Sep 9, 2007

Those plugs look good, if you find one that looks brand spanking new, that's the bad cylinder. Maybe you got lucky and it is just a bad intake gasket.

66 Tiger · Sep 9, 2007

iapexl8r said:
bust out the compression guage and check them all. my guess is # 1 is low. was the car missing? did you check for milky oil? what kind of gaskets did you install?? chris

The oil actually looks great! ( nice & gold ) I will say though, that as SOON as I noticed the problem, I took the intake apart - so I don't know how fast the oil would turn milky, if in fact this actually ends up being a head gasket problem...

Intake Gaskets:
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_119772_-1

Head Gaskets:
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_343652_-1

Do you think that I should have used a different "intake" gasket being that the heads are 351W's?

66 Tiger · Sep 9, 2007

zookeeper said:
Those plugs look good, if you find one that looks brand spanking new, that's the bad cylinder. Maybe you got lucky and it is just a bad intake gasket.

Just out of curiosity - Why would the "bad" cylinder-plug look brand-new with a faulty head gasket situation?

Also - any ideas on why the #1 cylinder plug looks the way it does compared to the others?

Thanks...

zookeeper · Sep 9, 2007

I wouldn't lose any sleep over the #1 plug looking a bit different, carb'ed motors rarely look exactly equal. As to why a plug in a cylinder getting coolant would look "new", it's because the steam generated by water introduced into the combustion process would clean the plug (and piston) of any and all carbon. The more I think about it, even if the water/coolant came into the cylinder via a leaky manifold, the plug would still look clean, especially if you're getting enough into the cylinder to wet the exhaust pipe. What do the plugs on the other side look like?

zookeeper · Sep 9, 2007

Another thought just entered my head: are you actually losing coolant? You'd have to lose a significant amount to make it to the exhaust pipe still wet. Also, head gaskets leak both ways, that is a leaking head gasket may leak coolant into the combustion chamber, but since the combustion process has so much more pressure, it'll likely pressurize the radiator as well. If you don't find any goofy symptoms with the plugs (snow white) then I'd put the intake back on and when you start the car look into the radiator cap (cap off) and see if you find LOTS of bubbles in the coolant. If not, then you likely do not have serious engine problems, it's most likely just condensation. My wife's Corvette pukes so much water out the exhaust after sitting a few months, you'd swear it had major problems. When you suspect engine problems, always analyze the problem BEFORE tearing into the motor. Check the plugs, look at the oil (level and color), check the coolant (level and color) and then think about what the problem might be. Or post your problem here, sometimes just a fresh perspective turns up a simple fix.

10secgoal · Sep 9, 2007

A tool I love, you can buy at Napa. It test the air that you suck out of a radiator. Sometime they leak, but the coolant will not bubble. This chemical will change colors if there is exhuast present in the radiator. One of the best tools I ever bought.

66 Tiger · Sep 10, 2007

10secgoal said:
A tool I love, you can buy at Napa. It test the air that you suck out of a radiator. Sometime they leak, but the coolant will not bubble. This chemical will change colors if there is exhuast present in the radiator. One of the best tools I ever bought.

If exhaust is present in the radiator, does that AUTOMATICALLY say head gasket problem or could it still be intake-gasket related?

zookeeper said:
Another thought just entered my head: are you actually losing coolant? You'd have to lose a significant amount to make it to the exhaust pipe still wet. Also, head gaskets leak both ways, that is a leaking head gasket may leak coolant into the combustion chamber, but since the combustion process has so much more pressure, it'll likely pressurize the radiator as well. If you don't find any goofy symptoms with the plugs (snow white) then I'd put the intake back on and when you start the car look into the radiator cap (cap off) and see if you find LOTS of bubbles in the coolant. If not, then you likely do not have serious engine problems, it's most likely just condensation. My wife's Corvette pukes so much water out the exhaust after sitting a few months, you'd swear it had major problems.

The difference in the quantity of fluid coming out of the exhaust was HUGE. The drivers side had the usual amount of splattering BUT the passenger side was actually dripping out and puddling on the driveway. ( it appeared to have a greenish color as well ) The car had only been sitting two-days since the last time it was driven.

I am unable to look directly into the radiator, ( I have a header-tank instead ) but didn't notice any bubbles upon removing the cap - I did however, notice somewhat of a gassy smell emitting from the tank?

I obtained about a cup of fluid from the radiator drain & it didn't appear dis-colored in any way, or have any kind of oil residue in it.

Also - after reading through countless "search" threads on the subject, I realized that I SHOULD have tried re-torquing the intake bolts first. I only torqued them once during the initial install & DEFINITELY should have done it at least one more time after several heat-cycles.

As for now - I will get some new intake gaskets & see if that fixes the problem. I would HATE to tear off the heads if I didn't really have to - the intake is bad enough on this car...

Thanks everyone!

SoCalCruising · Sep 10, 2007

Did your instructions call for re-torquing the head bolts? If you have carbon products in the coolant, that does point to a head gasket leak.

When you analyze the coolant, pull it from the top of the radiator with a baster, or syringe - gas/oil floats on top of coolant.

10secgoal · Sep 10, 2007

66 Tiger said:
If exhaust is present in the radiator, does that AUTOMATICALLY say head gasket problem or could it still be intake-gasket related?

Yes. The only way is to pass thru the headgasket into the cooling system. Exhaust in the radiator means.

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