[darbell]

Hey good people,I have successfully put in a new starter and radiator on my car,but now my attention has been focused on something else.I noticed the other day that I have antifreeze bleeding from around my exhaust manifold gasket on the rear driver side,I had alot of white smoke coming from the tailpipes and from the exhaust leak,also oil stick has a milky residue on it,headgasket right?,but wait there's more.The car doesn't overheat ,and the engine sounds fine,I did some reading on the forums and found that the LT1s nuts on the exhaust manifold tend to back out over a period of time so I check them,and sure as sh#t stinks they had,So I torqued them back down,So after that I started the car and the white smoke for under the hood and from the exhaust was hardly noticeble.The leak is still there but its not as bad as it was,do you think I need a new gasket or do you think its something else? And what is the triangle shape piece that's down below the manifold that that connects to the exhaust pipe on the driverside it has two screws in it,I've also notice antifreeze leaking out of it too,I wanna replace the gasket on it but I don't know what it's called. Your expertise is needed,Thanks.

 

[shoebox]

There should be 3 bolts holding the cat/y-pipe on at the driver's side exhaust manifold. The gasket is called "exhaust manifold pipe gasket". If you have coolant coming out of your exhaust, you should really take care of the cause. If enough gets in your oil, the engine is toast.

 

[darbell]

I don't drive it at all,do you think I should drain what's in it out? And what do you think it is, headgasket or exhaust gasket,I read that exhaust leaks give the same symptoms as headgasket failure, I don't known for sure if that's true,but I hope it's not the headgasket,that won't be good

 

[shoebox]

There is no way coolant can come from exhaust without it being introduced somewhere it is not supposed to be (namely the combustion chamber). Now, there can be a little normal condensation out the tailpipe, but that is not coolant and you won't get that near the engine, because it is too hot. See what the oil looks like. A head gasket leak does not have to contaminate the oil, but it can. A pressure test of the cooling system could help.

 

[steveo]

two easy ways to confirm a blown head gasket.. pull some plugs and look for some that are oddly cleaner than other ones, or have your coolant tested for combustion byproducts

also listen to your coolant reserve tank with the car running, it'll usually bubble like hell with a blown headgasket.

it's possible, but rare, to blow a head gasket in a way that will drop coolant in your oil, and not in your combustion chamber (but some coolant will obviously burn, via pcv system or whatever), however in that case, your coolant will still be contaminated with combustion byproducts.

 

[darbell]

The oil on the dipstick is milky looking with almost a green film,there isn't any coolant coming from the tailpipe just from the manifold gasket but there is alot of condensation and black soot in there.I can't see any antifreeze in the radiator,I'm sure its gone cause steam comes out of.the overflow & radiator, but when I let it run for bout 10 minutes a few days ago with the radiator cap on it didn't run hot,even before I realized any serious problem was going on and gave it a test run (that's after the starter and radiator install) and it didn't over heat.Oh I forgot to mention that this car sat on ramps for a little over a month, could this have caused a problem? I'm lost,need to be found.

 

[USMC]

I would trace the problem for a solid solution. If the coolant is coming from the exhaust bolts then something is wrong like a cracked in the head. Pressure test your cooling system and do not start your engine till you have figured out where the coolant is coming from. Also change the oil, you do not want the oil in that condition just sitting in your engine. Let us know what your results are.

 

[darbell]

Thanks for the help I'll keep ya'll posted.