Need help think I'm f'ed

[alludethis]

I just got my new 88 5.0 LX today and it drove great. Only problem I noticed was throttle body sticking. So i take it home, take the TB off and clean it really good, no more stuck throttle body. I put everything back together the way it was before, at least I'm pretty sure It's all back together. I then decide to adjust the timing. I start to do it and i realize I cant see the numbers to set it to, so I put it back to where I thought it was and decide to see if its pinging and see how the TB is. I get my GF to back it out of the garage and see 2 pools of antifreeze on both sides of the car, not to mention there is white smoke POURING out of the exhaust. Remember the car was running EXCELLENT from Harrisburg to Lancaster in the rain, no knocking, pinging rattling or anything. Not until after I do this stuff does it act like this. My question is this, does it sound like this car is screwed already, or if the timing is off will it ping, smoke, idle funny and make me leak antifreeze?? The first 3 I know it can, but whats with the antifreeze leaking? My oil didnt smell funny, and with no cats I know the car will smoke, but the exhaust only smelt like gas. I don't understand what could have happened between this afternoon and this evening. Im going to adjust the timing again tomorrow, I know it's suppose to be set to 10 degrees, but I need to know why it would be leaking antifreeze after I cleaned the TB and tried to adjust the timing. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[MikeC]

Did you pull the TB to clean it? If you did maybe you broke the seal on the TB spacer between it and the manifold. Coolant goes through the spacer (the little tube). It's possible coolant leaked out between the spacer and the manifold and onto the ground and into the intake to make the white smoke. If its still leaking you may need new gaskets.

 

[88gt]

The antifreeze most likely came from the EGR plate. Button everything back up, clean up the mess and take another look to see if you are still leaking coolant. If it went back together w/o issues, you should be fine.


Jim

 

[MikeC]

Did you pull the TB to clean it? If you did maybe you broke the seal on the TB spacer between it and the manifold. Coolant goes through the spacer (the little tube). It's possible coolant leaked out between the spacer and the manifold and onto the ground and into the intake to make the white smoke. If its still leaking you may need to replace the gaskets.