Before I go tearing off my intake manifold and my heads to replace the gaskets, has anyone seen a leak like this?

I have a stock 460 CID in a 1974 Ford F350.

There is greenish fluid in on the very back of the valve covers. I cannot find a leaking line.

Has anyone seen something like this?

I havent done a compression test (dont have a guage) to check if its a blown head gasket. However the truck runs fine, doesnt overhead, doesnt spit smoke, and doesn't run rough.

What do you think this is?

Thanks for any help.

 

Greenish fluid is usually coolant. Some times gear oil.

Sounds like you have a leaking head gasket though. Any puddles under the truck??

 

Since you do not have any running or overheating issues, I would replace the valve cover gaskets first.

Blown head gaskets show themselves by causing rough running, overheating, water or strong antifreeze smell out the tail pipe, and water in the oil (milky white substance on the dip stick).

Alot of time people over tighten them and bend the edge of the valve cover, or if the truck sets over a period of time the gaskets will shrink and cause a leak.

When you get the valve covers off ck the underside edge of the cover against a flat surface, to see if that are bent. Good luck on what is hopefully a easy fix.

 

Is there any showing on top of the intake ? Possibility of a temp. or heater outlet fitting leaking and finding it's way around and down to that area.

 

Check and tighten the heater and rad hoses at the front of the motor first.
I had one leak one time that was a hose at the front but didn't show up till it got to the tranny cover. Ran along the pan rail.
Clean it up, tighten it up first. Could save a lot of wasted time and money.

 

Get a hold of a rad psi checker. Pump it up and find the leak.

 

Did someone dump leak finder in the A/C system? Hard for me to tell from the picture but is that an A/C hose running over the top of everything?

 

The stretched black hose running from the top of pictures to the bottom (first and last pictures) is an A/C hose. It runs to the compressor.

I had no idea about the pressure testers for the coolant system, I will give that a shot and see what I find.

 

You can rent the pressure tester from Autozone instead of buying one. even though they are great to have.

 

I'll ask an obvious question.

Are you adding coolant/oil/etc to the truck often?