Today I came home and smelled water. I popped the hood and there is water all along the drivers side of the intake manifold. It was pulled up around the thermostat housing and betweek the back two runners also. Could it ba a blown gasket or a cracked manifold?? The kid who had the car before said that it blew teh same gasket about 4 years ago!!!Why would it do it again?? And how can I tell which it is??? It is not coming from the thermostat housing or the bottom of the throttle body. This is making me mad. He said when he had it fixed, they told him a couple more days and he would have fubared the engine. I dont want to do this, so help me quickly!!!!!!!!!

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1991 WS6 Trans Am
Medium Green Metallic
Beechwood interior
305 TPI
TH 700-R4, Auto
T-Tops, PW, PL, PM
Keyless entry, alarm
Flowmaster Muffler
Monza Dual Tips
K&N Filter

 

It could be a cracked manifold, but that should have shown up long ago. Perhaps it's slightly warped, or maybe the intake bolts weren't tightened correctly and the pressure finally busted the gasket again. The bolts should be tightened down from the middle of the intake on either side and work your way "out". Either way, sounds like an intake pull.

See if you can get the gasket off without busting it up too bad so you can see where it's coming from. Seal around the water ports on the intake/head with silicon, but be frugal... if too much was used, this could also cause gasket failure. Check the intake sealing surface with a straight edge and see if there is any light coming through (use a flashlight or shoplight or somethin)

You can also get FelPro gaskets that have a little raised rubber bead around the water ports. Has the cooling system ever been flushed? Maybe there's a problem with blockage and pressure...

Be careful if you still run it like this, cuz you could suck water into the runners, and as we all know, a rod will bend before water will compress If you're leaking a little water into the motor, it will show as white smoke in the exhaust.

Hmm, one other thought... maybe the intake bolts are just loosening a little? Oh yea, do any of the intake bolts hit the water jacket in the head (???) Could be leaking there.

Sorry i'm so general, just throwing out ideas!!!

-Rich

 

What do you mean by hitting water jackets in the head?????????

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1991 WS6 Trans Am
Medium Green Metallic
Beechwood interior
305 TPI
TH 700-R4, Auto
T-Tops, PW, PL, PM
Keyless entry, alarm
Flowmaster Muffler
Monza Dual Tips
K&N Filter

 

No intake bolts go to water jackets in the heads.

I would clean it off real good and look and see where its coming from.

Might be as simple as a pin hole in the rad. hose, loose clamp, etc.

Could be the by-pass water hose at the bottom of the throttle body.

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ASE Mechanic/Machinist/Smog Tech

1999 NBM Trans Am
1986 Chevy 3/4 ton pick up
1981 corvette
1995 Kawi ZX6R

R.I.P. #3
My favorite quote about D.E. "He can see air"

[This message has been edited by Engineboy (edited March 16, 2001).]

 

Last year, my goose neck had a crack in it. It looked like the intake manifold gasket was leaking, but close inspection while running the engine should that the pooling coolant around the goose neck gasket was coming from the gooseneck itself.



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'87 L98 TPI IROCZ, AFR190 heads, 3.70 gears, ZZ9 cam, 2400 Art Carr TC, SLP 1 3/4" headers, SLP cat-back, no cat, no AC, no MAF screens, Accel manifold base & SuperRam, Edelbrock double roller timing chain, MSD ext coil & distributor, trans cooler, 52mm TB with airfoil, TB coolant bypass, AFPR(58psi), K&N filters, Hotchkis lowering springs, my custom chip, Lay Ind. ram air kit, SS Brakes 1LE upgrade 12" rotors dual piston calipers, 265/45R16 Kumho V700 tires.
ET 13.39sec @ 107.21mph
'90 Eagle Talon AWD, no rust thru 9 winters
'99 Camaro SS, red, 6-spd, T-tops, Mcleod clutch, Pro 5.0 shifter, MAF processor, Direct Flow airlid, K&N filter, next mod: 4.10 rear gears
313.7Hp & 320.6ft-lbf, ET 13.55sec @ 105.1mph