Is there any way to visually check for a bad head gasket with just the intake removed? Or do you need to strip off the the head to check?

 

HG cannot be visually confirmed by just removing the intake.

Do a compression and/or leak down test.

 

So i'm guessing a bad head gasket shows no signs of physically being bad.....

 

There may be signs like external coolant leaks, burning coolant, coolant in the oil, etc., or there may not be. A leakdown or compression test would be best.

 

So when people talk about blowing a head gasket nothing actually happens to the gasket? I just decides to start leaking one day?

 

It depends on the reason for it blowing in the first place and the nature of the failure. Usually the gasket is corroded or burned and then starts leaking.

 

Are you experiencing some form of symptoms (that we may be able to help) or is this a curiosity question?

 

Ok, i got chocolate milk oil and did a diagnosis and thought it was definitely my intake gaskets. So after pulling my intake, I realized i wasn't so sure as to the location of the leak. So i'm just wondering if there's anything i can do instead of putting my entire motor back together and doing a leak down test.

 

Pull the heads and see if there are any pistons cleaner than the others. If water has gotten into the cylinder, it'll act like a steam cleaner.

 

yank the plugs. Same theory as cartmans.

 

Pulling heads involves just so much more..... i almost want to try my odds at just slapping my new intake gaskets on and see what happens. By the way, does my avatar make me look gay? haha i've never paid much attention to it before.

 

Pulling the plugs sounds great. Didnt' even think of that before.

 

You don't strictly need the intake on to do a leakdown test.

 

Oh really... guess i'm gonna have to look into it. Thanks for all of the advice.

 

checking for exhaust gases in the coolent is a very good, quick, and near effortless way to do it.