for the past couple of weeks i have been smelling burning antifreeze a couple days ago i saw antifreeze coming outta my valve cover gasket pouring on my intake manifold yesterday it got real hot in orange range so i took it home and saw antifreeze coming out of fromt part of valve cover gasket, so i checked oil last night and was real low so i put 3qt s in last night went out this morning and there was a puddle under my car,I have a 86 Z-28 4bbl 5 speed 305 , Not sure if its blown head gasket or cracked head piston or what??? But i do now this probaly isint good

 

coolant out the valve cover would have to be a crack from the water jacket outward. can't say i've ever saw that before but guess anything could happen. not even sue how water would build up to leak out the valve cover, it should drain back into the engine before it got past the gasket. pull a valve cover and take a look.

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-=ICON MOTORSPORTS=-
1st & 3rd

 

The part about being low on oil doesn't sound good. But, the part about antifreeze coming out of the valve covers doesn't sound right. It may be in the area, but if it was coming OUT of the valve covers, it would be mixed with oil and would most likely be a dirty milky white, as would the oil on your dipstick.

I would check your hoses first. The heater hoses may be routed over the top of the engine, and if one has sprung a leak, could be leaking over the valve cover and intake manifold. Also check your thermostat housing and upper radiator hose. Second, check the intake manifold itself on the corners, where water passages in the heads meet the intake.

It probably got hot on you because your coolant level is low. Some engine damage may have occurred because of the low oil and hot temperatures, but most likely if you fix your coolant problem and keep the oil level where it belongs (how often do you check it?), it'll probably continue running for a long time.

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R. 2.73 unlimited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LB9 w/ZZ3 cam, TBD heads, exhaust, paint, etc.).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. 0.030 over 396, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" headers, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & shift kit, 3.08 10-bolt, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Best 15.1 @ 5800' Bandimere. Daily driver while Camaro was being put together.

 

That sounds more like it's actually coming from the intake gasket where the intake meets the head. That's right under the VC gasket. There's basically no way for the VC to leak water.

Pop the intake off and change the gasket. It's not too painful to do taht in a 4-barrel car, maybe a 3 hour job from drive-in to drive-out.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

 

to find where the coolant leak is comming from, top off the cooling system and do a pressure test on it with a cooling system pressure tester... do it while the engine is cold and hot...

zroc