My 87 2.8 was throwing an EGR code and is hard to start so I took off the valve to check if the diaphragm was seized and its not. However, there was a pool of coolant in the in the crevasse that returns from the valve and goes up the large metal tube into the throttle body right behind the butterfly valve. I decided that it was very unlikely that unburnt coolant would be coming up from the exhaust so I took off the top of the intake and took a peak inside. First of all, its very carboned up. Second, there's the reminants of a small trail of coolant flowing through the intake into the front cylinder (closest to the bumper) on the passenger side. I took the plug out of that cylinder to see if the plug was fouled and it doesn't appear to be. I took out a different plug to compare and they looked the same, but this time, with the plug out i shined my flash light inside and the top of the piston is wet (Is this normal?). There is coolant leaking out somewhere at the back of the engine and I have to top it up once every 800 kms or so.

The kicker is that it has good power and responce and gets about 26 mpg (canadian gallons). When it starts you have to turn it over for about 5 seconds and it struggles to start and when it does it puffs un burnt gas and possibly burnt anti freeze (its a little whitish, but mostly just grey and gassy smelling). The car has an over heating problem that we're trying to figure out as well.

I noticed some small cooling lines going in to the bottom of the throttle body. Could these be leaking into the intake manifold some how? By the way, it only throws the 32 code after its be running for about 15 or 20 minutes.

 

Coolant in the EGR, thats a new one. I would imagine from what youre describing, that your intake gaskets are leaking into the combustion chamber. It should all be getting burned off, but somehow its not and getting into the EGR.

 

That is where I would start. For coolant to travel down the corrugated metal EGR tube it would have to either completely fill the intake manifold, or leak out of the TB. If it filled the intake the engine wouldn't be running.

It is possible that the coolant has corroded a pin-hole through the TB. Which would create a path to the intake. A quick fix/test would be to bypass the coolant lines to the TB. Remove the hoses and run a short hose between the two pipes from the engine side.

The EGR is the reason that the inside of the intake is all carbon'd up. All the EGR does is to recycle exhaust gas back into the intake right behind the TB. Makes the inside of the plenum/runners look like the inside of an exhaust pipe.

RBob.