Has anyone else come across coolant in the spark plug recess in the cylinder heads? On my v10 I have 3 plugs on the pass side of the engine that have had coolant around them. I have 40,000 mile on it and about 12000 miles (2 years)since I changed the coolant. I have never had to add coolant. I assume this is a porosity issue and am thinking about putting in some Barsleak. Does this sound like a decent solution?
1999 6.8 engine.

Thanks

 

DO NOT USE BARSLEAK!!!!!!!!!

You neeeeeed to doa compression test! You most likely have a small head gasket leak. Or an intake leak

 

Or that coolant hose that is hovering over that side is weeping?? Wrap the hose and see if it continues.

 

The seapage is on the "coil side" of the spark plug. If it was a head gasket I think it would have to presurize the cooling system and would prabably blow out of the recovery bottle. If it was a leak on the combustion side and was forced out the plug threads I think I would be loosing large amounts of coolant out the exaust, could be wrong about this though.

Thanks for the help.
Ken

 

It's gotta be leftovers from the coolant change, a leaky heater hose, or even the rear intake coolant crossover leakying coolant onto the top of the motor. I don't think there's any way to get coolant in those holes unless somehow the head rotted through or something else way out of line.

Barsleak will just cover the problem for a while.

I'd clean out the holes, make sure they are absolutely dry, and run it for a while and see what happens.

Did YOU change the coolant, or did someone else?

 

I did change the fluid myself. This is in a Class A motor home so I have an excellent view of the engine and see no where that is is leaking externally.

The reason I may try Bars Leak is I know in the mid 80's Ford delivered some medium duty trucks with Bars Leak installed.

I can't see anywhere else the coolant is coming from so I am almost sure it is a porosity issue, coolant seeping through the aluminum casting.

Thanks very much for the replies, this is a great site.

 

Get a cooling system pressure tester, basically a hand pump with a pressure gauge and an adapter to screw it to the coolant resevoir...

Pump it up, without the COPs in and see if the level comes up...

Creepy.

 

Creepy,
It can sit with 16psi in the cooling system for hours and not a bit of moisture shows up (using dye and uv light). I've done everything I can think of, tomorrow its stop leak(not the pellet style) and i'm going to forget about it.
Thanks again, Ken

 

I seem to remember hearing that the Ford hose clamps directly above the coils/plugs may lose tension and result in minor leaks. If you have not checked the hose clamps, this may be worth checking.

On my MH, I added the 'screw' type as a preventative measure.