I recently swapped my intake on my car. My Edelbrock performer had a hole in one of the runners right where the carb stud runs into, so I picked up an identicle used Edelbrock Performer from a member of this board. The only thing that came off the car was from the intake up, the heads and everything else stayed on.

Anyways, after getting it back together, I went to start it today. It seemed to have an extremely hard time turning over, so I stopped figuring something was clearly wrong. I backed off the timing and gave it another shot, but it was the same. I looked at the back of the car after my buddy told me there was a puddle of coolant underneath and behind the car. I looked and noticed there was coolant dripping outta both tailpipes. I pulled spark plugs #1, #2, and #4. All the spark plugs were covered in coolant and there was coolant in the cylinders.

What would cause this? I never took the heads off, so it can't be that, but clearly compression is getting into the cooling system somehow. I've pulled the intake at least 10 times and i've never mixed up the gaskets before, plus these ones are marked so that doesn't seem likely i'd confuse them, but obviously that's a possibility. Is there anything else that could cause this?

Also, obviously i'll be pulling all my spark plugs and changing the oil, but can I get away without pulling the heads and just turning the vehicle over a few times to get out the majority of the coolant? Also, I cranked it quite a few times with the coolant in the cylinders, is there any chance I might have bent a connecting rod or no?

-Thanks, Brandon

 

sounds like the intake isn't sealing. Do a cooling system pressure test and see if it holds pressure. It may be a bad intake gasket, or improperly torqued. It could also be a warped or shaved manifold. It is possible you bent a rod but I'd fix the problem at hand and go from there.

 

Is there coolant in the oil? If so, it's definitely a gasket issue- possibly good gaskets but an intake that's been milled by the previous owner preventing the gasket from compressing and sealing up. (Or, less likely, an unmilled intake on a motor that's had the block and/or heads milled)

Can't imagine how coolant could get directly in the intake ports even if the gasket wasn't sealing up completely, but I'm betting you just traded an intake with a mild problem for an intake with big problems.

 

So i'm assuming the next step is to do a pressure check and then to pull the intake and look it over? I know the heads weren't milled, and the intake didn't appear to be either. There wasn't anything I saw that stuck out right away on the intake, I compared it to my other Performer and it looked identicle.

From looking at the dipstick there didn't seem to be any coolant in the oil, oil was clean as can be, it was just changed about 100 miles ago.

 

loosen the oil plug and let just a little oil out if coolant doesnt come out there youre alright .i would bet its the intake gaskets ,maybe 1 slipped during install,hope thats all it is. by the way torque on intake bolts should be 30 ft/lbs.look at intake bottom for cracks in water jackets.sounds like sealing issue tho, good luck with it.oh after you reinstall intake check the oil again for coolant ,just to be sure.bearings DONT like antifreeze.later jimmy

 

I'll probably end up doing that with the oil. What problems could overtightening the intake cause? Hopefully the gaskets just slipped and it's nothing worse.

 

over tightening can crack the intake( aluminum)or warp it ,unlikely, but possible.plus it mashes the gaskets flat causing improper sealing.hope its just slipped gaskets,later jimmy

 

Well, the intake isn't cracked, i'm sure i'd see that. I guess when I pull the intake, which will probably be tomorrow, i'll throw a straight edge on it to make sure it's not warped.

 

Better mach sure a rod didn't bend when you cranked it, air is compressable, coolant/water isn't, if nothing bent then the leak is large enough to relieve pressure before causing any damage. Good thing you did try cranking anymore.

 

That's my main concern, that a rod did bend because I cranked it for quite a while. If I pull all the spark plugs and then turn it over, will I be able to tell if the rod is bent right away or what?

 

A compression check might be a better test. If a rod is bent there'll be less compression in that cylinder(s.) To be consistent use a stop watch to give each cylinder the same amount of revs. Be sure to drain the coolant first, disable spark & fuel, remove all plugs, water pump belt, and hold TB at WOT.