Hey Everyone

I am braced for some bad news so don't be afraid to tell me how it is. Today I noticed I was low on coolant so I filled it up and watched the engine while running to see if I could pinpoint the leak. Well it was a lot more than a leak, it was a solid flow. It seems to be coming from all around the intake and out the distributor shaft. Further I have noticed my exhaust spitting oil lately. Is something internally wrong with my engine? Or is it a bad gasket? If anyone needs any more info I would be happy to supply it. This engine is supposedly freshly rebuilt, which I am inclined to believe just based on it's cleanliness, but so far it has been a pretty lackluster. Thanks in advance for any help.

Thanks Again,

Jake

 

you didn't mention what the engine was to help understand..some early small blocks used aluminum timing covers onto which the water pump bolts and also holds the distribtor..some timing covers acutally wear thru from water agitation or crack..bad timing cover to block gasket also possible

 

Sorry about that, I completely forgot. It has a 390 in it.

 

it sounds to me like its just a bad intake gasket, and on an fe block of course you have to replace your valve cover gaskets when you replace your intake gasket... so replace the gaskets, change the oil and filter, and you should be ok

 

How full of oil & coolant is the crankcase ?

 

I feel kinda stupid, but when you say in the crankcase do you mean just checking my oil dipstick? For the coolant how would I check the level in the crankcase?

 

look at the oil and tell him how much coolant is in it if any at all )

 

alright, i have not had time to check the oil yet, but i put some thought into my situation and have a question. from my searching past posts i have found that usually when an intake gasket goes bad oil leaks out of it, whereas in my case coolant is what is flowing out of my engine. is it possible for coolant to leak when you have a bad intake gasket?

 

With a FE there are water jackets from the head to the intake on both sides in the front and back of the motor .....But water coming around the dist. is not happening unless the motor is full that level !!! I can tell you don't look under your hood very often .. That would be a good start on the next ride..The dip stick is on the drivers side behind the power steering pump..

 

i wish i didnt have to look under the hood often but so far i have spent ten times more working on this vehicle than I have driving it. so hot428ford are you saying i have too much coolant in the vehicle? i guess i just filled the radiator to the top, but maybe you arent supposed to on the FE.

 

If you have coolant coming out of distributor you have coolant mixed with oil. check oil level. If level is way above normal you have coolant in oilpan. You filling rad to top didnt cause this.

 

Alright, I just went outside with a flashlight and checked my oil level and its just at the bottom end of safe and it looks like oil on the dipstick, not coolant. I guess I should be more specific and say that I do not know for sure that coolant is coming up the distributor shaft, but I do know there is a pool of coolant around it. There are also pools of coolant in pretty much every other place possible on the intake as well. I will clean it off tomorrow, run it for a while and take a picture of it and post it. Thanks for the help so far.

 

Now that I have seen. My radiator leaked and the fan blew it all over the engine compartment. While the system is still cold, remove the cap and look at the rubber underneath. If that rubber is cracked, replace the cap. There should be a rubber hose that attaches to the filler neck under the cap. If that is missing, and the radiator blows some coolant (very likely since you filled it to the top), the fan will help it cover EVERYTHING. It does look pretty bad. LOL

FWIW, fill coolant to about an inch below the radiator cap. This leaves room for expansion of the coolant.

On edit: Tighten the hose clamps on the manifold. A few heat cycles, some really cold weather and they need to be snugged up.

 

if u had coolant in your oil the oil on the stick would look milky

 

No milky oil.

This is good news.

You see when coolant leaks it just doesn't out of an engine..it can also leak INTO the wrong part of an engine.Like the crankcase where the motor oil sits.

You can now eliminate a cracked head or water jackets.

Replacing the intake gaskets and the possobly the t-stat housing gasket should rectify your problem.