Hey guys, I just finished work on my car consisting of a new intake manifold, new head gaskets, new hoses, wiring, valve lifters, etc. I just finished everything tonight and the car is now completely together. I wanted to see if the car would start so I put coolant back in the car. What I noticed was that the coolant drained DIRECTLY into the engine oil pan! I know the engine head gaskets and intake gaskets were installed correctly and all hoses are definitely where they belong. I was just wondering if anyone knew how its possible for the coolant to drain directly into the oil pan when being poured into the radiator...I'm sure there cant be that many possibilities. It's just for my curiosity. I'm sending the car to a mechanic within the next few days but I wanted to know how that happened.

 

I'm thinking you have some serious intake/head mismatch. I'd be pulling the distributor, lifting the intake, and checking the intake gaskets against both the intake flange and the head. Something isn't mating, or you have a completely wrong gasket.

Just a guess.

 

I purchased an edlebrock intake that was supposedly for my model/year. The gaskets were right and fit just fine and are sealing. They also close off the very last ports as they should be. It's really a perplexing situation. I'm 18, and growing very impatient. I prolly shouldnt have tackeld a job like this on my own but I'm pretty sure I did everything correctly, but apparently I overlooked something. :/

I'll let you all know what the mechanic says happened, but 'til then, keep suggestions comin!

 

About the only other possibilities I can imagine are a cracked or poorly cast intake or a cracked head or block casting, Since all you apparently changed was the intake, my guess is there is a mismatch there somewhere. The only other remote possibility is that the heads are not sealed to the deck and coolant is getting into the oil drainbacks. That would usually be a very slow leak, however, and not generally cause "the coolant drained DIRECTLY into the engine oil pan!"