SUPER DUPeR PROBLEM. HELP!

[thereisnoyun]

So, we had the meet yesterday, and now my gf car is burning coolant like nobody's business.

So after diagnosing it, it seem that the intake manifold isn't tied down to head enough, but the question is the symtoms

will a leak on gasket 4 and 5 on the intake side cause a coolant leak into the engine?

will excessive coolant leak cause somekind of liquid to burn seep out the exhaust header?

Most likely will replace intake gasket, and reuse old bolts and bolt it down with new hoses and boot, but... would there be any chance the head gasket would have blown ? I dont see how it would but I dont know.

[mattdk318i]

Thats a bad head gasket. M42s didnt have wet intake gaskets. in another words theres no way that could be the cause.

Edit: which part of the intake, the TB?

[thereisnoyun]

...

I have a m20... its leaking differetn places, but suspecting its the coolant area.

[SpecM]

I have a m20... its leaking differetn places, but suspecting its the coolant area.

-Still the answer's no, there are no coolent passages in the intake manifold.

-Questons: what kind of liquid is leaking onto the exhaust manifolds? Have you done a coolent system pressure test? How do you know the intake isn't "tied down enough"? If the head gasket is still suspected them have a compression/leak down test preformed to verrify.

[thereisnoyun]

uh...

yes... there are no coolant in the intake... The car was running fine, the question is what else. If there is a bad enough vacuum leak can it produce the same kind of white smoke?

Had the same thing happen on my 7, and everyone said it was head gasket, but it was just the clog manifold back plate, and it was blowing white smoke and everyone said it smelled like coolant.

The question is, does this hold tru to the m20? if the bitch tube under the manifold isnt sealed right. What are can happen?

[EtaSport]

If you have a large vacuum leak on an m20 you'll know it. Car will run very poorly, probably smoke, have bad idle and bad fuel mileage. With all the work that you did yesterday something probably got overlooked or missed when putting the car back together.

Just double check everything around the manifold, all the fastners, clamps, etc. How does the car run in general, what does it do?

[nando]

no, there is no coolant in the intake manifold!

it does pass through the throttle body, but at no point does it touch the intake itself.

you have a bad headgasket or perhaps a cracked head. perhaps it's even a leaky hose or bad freeze plug. but it's definitely not the intake manifold.

[thereisnoyun]

yea

we'll see how this goes... I mean everyone is going to scream head gasket or crackhead. I'm looking for more less obvious ideas.

- The car produce white smoke.
- idles like its burning oil or coolant and not gasoline
- The intake boot has about 50 rips so its definitely leaking air
- the intake manifold to head is leaking air for sure, between the gasket

Will a massive vacuum leak cause it to puff white smoke?

[EtaSport]

Well a vacuum leak with cause it to run very lean. Id fix the obvious and see if you've still got the problem. It would be odd for the head gasket could go from sitting for a few hours.

[thereisnoyun]

yep

yea, thats exactly what I was thinking, you read my mind. Everyone is always going to say head gasket... but how it was running fine. Nothing was touch. It was good. And then all of a sudden its leaking like nobody's business from firing up... its pretty unlikely. so yea fix the obvious then I'll see.

[nando]

a ripped intake boot isn't going to make you consume coolant.. but whatever.

[SpecM]

-Stop guessing! DO a compression test and FIND OUT if its a bad HG. Also do a coolent leak test to see if there are any external coolant leaks. The car will idle and run terrable if it has vac leaks, so fix those to get a good start on more diagnosis.

-It not too terrably "unlikely" that the HG did blow. Just because it was running ok before... I mean, it has to go at one time or another. Also, what work did you do to the car? If its running too lean the engine will run HOT and that MAY have cause the HG failure... if that's what the problem is at all.

-btw I do this for a LIVING. ;)

[thereisnoyun]

actually, i thought about that.

Thanks for the info.

I already thought about the fact taht if it was running super hot taht it blow the gasket. Its definitely a possiblity.

BUT! AKA "I do this for a living" ___underline ___ I have all the tools at my disposal and I can do all the test and knows how...

I'm not so loaded with knowledge and tool, so I need simple guess and check solutions. Unless you want to drive up and hook me up... or send me a super DIY, I wont be able to do it myself.

Basically, take everything apart and put it back together even more carefully and drain the coolant and try again. Well... if the coolant is milky then its absolutely the head. If its just the engine oil... it could have seep from elsewhere.

[silversleeper]

Possibility there is an air pocket in the system? Did the temp gauge read "HOT"? Were you guys ever able to pull the codes?

[SpecM]

-Do you have any mechanic freinds/neighbors/relitives with some test equipment? Ask around.

-As far as the white smoke/steam out of the exhaust, it prob is coolent. The only place coolent and combution mix is in the head. Sorry, I know that's not good news.

-Or you can take the car to a shop and have it diagnosed for about $50-100. Just be honest with them and tell them you need it diagnosed.