i did a pressure test because my car was overheating and i didnt know it was teh air damn... but all thats fixed and i did a pressure test to see if there was a problem wiuth the new head gasket i put in because I used to run the car at about 255* about 3 times a week for a bout two months.
anyway there were no outside leaks but i was wondering how to tell if there was a leak internally like into the cylinders. i'm afraid it might be cause my poor performance and shaky running in 2nd gear.

 

Couple of things.

First and most obvious is a noticable decrease in coolant level over a short period of time with no noticed external leaks. You said you changed head gaskets, did you clean the surfaces of the block and head thuroughly? Unpreped surfaces do not make for good mating surfaces.

Next, when coolant leaks into a cylinder it is because of a cracked block or bad gasket. The cracked block may be harder to tell. Check for bubbles on the dip stick or sometimes a milky color to the oil. IF you have coolant leaking through a gasket you will probably have a vacuum or compression loss as well. Coolant burning will produce thick white smoke and liquid coming out of the exhaust.

You can pull some of your plugs to see. If one or more has noticable moisture and it is not oil or gas, then it is coolant. You can use a pressure tester to check while doing this as well. Pump up some pressure and start pulling plugs. If you have a leak into a cylinder, you'll know.

Hope this helps you get started.

 

thanx for the ideas... yeah i actually did clean the surfaces of teh block really well.. i do get a little white smoke upon start up but not trhick and it goes away when the car gets a little warmed up.. Unfortunatelly i cant check the dipstick because when i put the manifold back on... i bent it and it broke lol but i will check everything else that you mentioned thanx again