coolant loss and weird smell from exhaust

[RareBreed]

Hey guys, need to know if any of you can help with this issue. I seem to be having a weird smell coming from the exhaust and I have noticed that I am losing coolant from the reservoir. I do not seem to have any leaks anywhere, does this sound like a head gasket to any of you? This motor only has around 1500 - 2000 miles on it since the rebuild. I did put 04 heads and PI intake on it at the same time.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Lee12609]

i would suspect either head gasket or intake gasket leaking coolant into the cylinder/s

 

[Mustang Mark]

^what this guy said

 

[RareBreed]

I guess I am going to have to pull the intake off and check it. Is it possible that the PI intake is not matching up exactly to the newer heads? these heads came off of an '04 F150, but the intake was a brand new PI. I do not see anything dripping down the motor anywhere though.

 

[Mustang Mark]

as long as they are 2v pi heads it should match up just fine. is the car overheating?

 

[RareBreed]

not at all, it always runs in normal range.

 

[Mustang Mark]

then my guess would be the intake.

 

[RareBreed]

you think it's not sealing correctly around one of the ports? this could be just enough to let some of the coolant seep through, but not enough to cause it to smoke like a steam train. like I said before, it does not smoke, the exhaust just stinks and it's not normal. I do have an x-pipe with hi flow cats on it, but that would not make it smell this way either.

 

[Mustang Mark]

that could be. especially since you're losing coolant and it isnt leaking. does it misfire at all?

 

[Lee12609]

whats it smell like?? sweet like or rotten???

could just be the torque on your intake, its best to re-torque after a heat cycle, most people get away without doing it but some not so lucky. get a torque wrench and hit them all to 20 ft lbs.

 

[RareBreed]

no miss fires, but it does smell strong almost like it's running rich, but not a strong fuel smell. I will have to torque the intake again and see if it goes away.

 

[Mustang Mark]

so did it go away?

 

[RareBreed]

I have not had a chance to get to it yet. I will update this post as soon as I get to it.

thanks for checking in..

 

[Mustang Mark]

okay sounds good.

 

[duff daddy]

There is a way that you can test the for exhaust gases in the coolant. Its a dye and we have it here at the dealership but im pretty sure you can get a "kit" from an aftermarket jobber. Ill have to look next time.

 

[Lee12609]

duffy is right its called a "block kit". you put the (blue) dye in a reservoir, then its snugged into the radiator where the cap attaches, and a ball is put ontop of that, crank the car, and let it idle for 1 minute if the dye changes the green/yellow you have a combustion leak into the coolant system (blown head gasket, cracked head etc).....

i use my block kit daily and its about 90% accurate, but a few have slipped through that tested good but werent. i think its about $50 for the kit, but i purchased mine years ago so i could be wrong.

 

[ETDRAG]

Did you use new intake gaskets? Sometimes i have seen old intake gaskets used and they leak a bit around the water port into the spark plug hole or #1 or #5 intake ports. No always but sometimes that rubber gets compressed too much i guess. You might try to un-plug the injector and if that is the case you can check the plug and it will get wet. Also let the car run for about 2-3 minutes then open the reservoir and see if it has pressue if so check head-gasket.