I'm trying to troubleshoot a potential coolant leak, It recently had a bad head gasket so I tore it apart and installed new gaskets, the original leak was in cylinder 6 but decided to change both since I figured the other would eventually fail do to the age of the gaskets and old coolant that was never changed regularly. The car is a 2000 Mercury Sable with a 3.0 OHV engine.

So anyway I tore it apart cleaned the surfaces and installed the new gaskets and put it back together, I put just plain water in it until I knew there was no leaks and then planned to put 50/50 in it, but currently it appears to have a little smoke and a little water coming out the exhaust most generally after it gets toward normal temperature which makes me think after the thermostat opens its getting into the cylinder.. BUT when I shut it off and decided to remove the spark plugs they are dry.. I wouldn't think that they would dry that quick, the rear plugs I didn't remove because I had the little hoses off the egr tube and never seen smoke coming through the egr tube so I just assumed its not on that bank.

Originally after putting it back together it seemed to have a little more noticeably whiter smoke and since I didn't add 50/50 yet, I chalked it up to potentially just being residual or pooled antifreeze in the cats or muffler from the original bad head gasket leak (I read that can happen and you just run it until it blows it all out). When throttling it, it seemed to put quite a bit back out of the exhaust but again I'm baffled on whether or not its the pooled or leaking the water I put in it.

I really don't think its the head gasket itself but wondering how many different ways water can get into the cylinder, could it be getting into a cylinder through the intake? (Be a lower intake gasket leak? Coolant runs through the lower intake doesn't it?) or exhaust valves? It runs pretty good considering. could I troubleshoot better with a Coolant pressure tester or a compression test? Or could it just be that it is pooled in the cats or exhaust?

I was going to change the oil, but they gave me the wrong filter (it was for the DOHC engine instead of the OHV engine) so I don't have oil in it as it sits until I get the right filter, but I didn't want to put new oil in it yet if its going to leak and contaminate brand new oil.

Thoughts? Opinions? Experiences?

 

Did you compare the replacement head gaskets to the gaskets removed?
Anti-freeze can and does contaminate the oxygen sensors, watch out for that .
A pressure test should help confirm if there is a problem with coolant leaking into an exhaust port.

 

Yeah, the gaskets matched, I don't have a pressure tester, I do have a tire compressor with a pressure gauge could I use that?

 

A cooling syst press tester generally has a hand pump that you can easily control the amount of pressure you apply to the system. We try to stick close to the amount of pressure that is shown on the radiator cap/cooling system cap. Any more than that is usually asking for trouble by possibly blowing hoses, weak radiator etc.
You can usually rent one from an auto supply store. I would not use any other air pressure supply since it may be difficult to get a good seal and may be difficult to control the pressure.
Try to do the pressure test after the engine has cooled down overnight.

 

This is just a thought. When you changed the gaskets. Did you get the heads checked for warpage or not. I have known that when replacing the head gaskets it's best to get them checked for cracks and to make sure that they ain't warped

 

BTW hello Hanky

 

Nice to see you back,Grindman !

 

I couldn't help it . I have been so busy that I haven't been able to get back on track with all this stuff

 

I just wonder if he had them heads checked out before he replaced the gaskets on his auto

 

No unfortunately I didn't, but I keep pondering about that lower intake, coolant flows through it and I'm wondering if its not seeping through its gasket and into a intake passage, the thing is, there is no proof its even coming from the cooling system, I've pulled the plugs and unhooked the coil pack, nothing shot out of the holes, I have still yet to do it at normal temperature and under pressure, but it could very well be just in the exhaust I'm not sure how much could have been pooled but who knows, I thought about adding a little coolant to the reservoir and seeing it it blows white again, if it does I surely have a leak somewhere. I'll try these things today and see. I don't think its warped, its a possibility but I don't think its a head issue.