The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Excessive moisture ...

...out of your tail pipe could be caused by a leaky head gasket or...?

Mugsy: Could be, here in the midwest we have a lot of condesation, heat to cold back to starting it up and blowing droplets out the back of tail pipe. Easiest way to tell is everyday check radiator, with a marked stick, before start and see if its going down. Ben

popcorn The Truth is Out There (Good luck)

You can smell a head gasket leak, especially if it smokes out the tailpipe. It would have a sweet smell to it. It's probably condensation burning out of the exhaust system until it's full hot,
Scott

If all your driving is city driving for short periods your muffler could be full of water. Get it out on the road for an hour or two and see if that helps.

Well, it's official. I got a leaky head gasket. Inspected things today and noticed brown stains running down the forward side cover. Then noticed some green coolant on the dizzy cap closest to head. It's been cold here the last month so I thought maybe that's where the condensation was coming from.
Yesterday, while driving, she was runnin' a little hot. Checked the coolant and it was low. Filled it up.
Checked again today and it's already a little lower.
So, if I'm lucky, I'll just have to change the head gasket. And if I'm not lucky? Thoughts?
-David

You might try re-torquing the head before tearing into it. One caution though. don't rev it up too much until you have it under control. I had a nasty head leak on my Morgan once while on vacation. White smoke out the back and all. Anyway punched it and it caused too much pressure in the cooling system. Puked the radiator and heater.
Dennis

Before you rip it into millions of small bits , remove and inspect the spark plugs as water in the combustion chamber will make the plug squeaky clean .

Is a head gasket just something that goes bad over time like a valve cover gasket? Or is it most likely an affect of an underlying problem such as clogged water passages?
I put a new radiator in last December and haven't had overheating problems since then. It ran a little hot a couple days ago but, the coolant was low.
No water evident in oil. The exhaust smells like exhaust. I'll check plugs tomorrow.

You can put oatmeal down the radiator cap

Hey and it'll cook and be ready for a snack by the time I get to work. I like cinnamon and raisin best. Although the raisins might get hung up here and there.

MUGS

It's the only way I think you could have a bigger mess than now

Is that thing insured?

I love the smell of Glycol in the morning!!!

Mugsy,
have a look at the inside of your tail pipe. If you see orange rusty deposits, that is another sign of a leaking head gasket. When it gets into the oil, it produces a grey colored liquid. A head gasket can go if there is an over heating episode. The only solution is to pull the head and have it checked and reworked. Definitely, the worst thing that you can do is to continue driving it.

Mugs

Go to an auto parts stoe and get a Block check kit

This is a tube you put on the cap bib and fill with a blue stuff.If it turns yellow or green you got a problem

Sounds like yours will turn brown

Kit is about $15-20 It works really well

It could be coming out of a hose when hot and under pressure. Or the thermostat housing. I would keep checking for the things mentioned above before yanking the head off. Warm up the engine and watch it running and see if there is any steam leaks. Do you have a pressure cap on it? You shouldn't.

The tailpipes just look black. Don't see anything else.
The leak on the outside is pretty evident. It's just a few inches aft of distributor. You can see the brown stains there and the brown stains running down the side cover and block.
I went to Napa this afternoon to get the block tester kit and the guy had no idea what I was talking about. Went to CarQuest and they only had the fluid, no kit to go along with it.
I've been thinking for a while now about buying another 292 and rebuilding it. Since this is my daily driver, I'm wondering if retorquing the head and using that block sealer stuff would last temporarily until I got a rebuilt 292 to put in there. The old 292 would then get rebuilt and installed in my Pontiac.
Thoughts on this?
I forgot to mention that yesterday on my way to work I made a pit stop and she didn't want to start again, just cranked. Same thing happened today after stopping at CarQuest. Started fine on the cold starts. Is this another sympton of possible low compression and/or coolant in cylinders?

You can pull the head, clean it up, put on a new head gasket and button it back up in a Saturday afternoon. I would do it sooner than later if you are sure it is leaking. It will damage the engine very fast.

Yeah, I'm not too worried about the labor part of it (although I'm not thrilled about re-installing the headers and intake - wasn't fun the 1st time). I guess I'm just concerned about why it's leaking and trying to get myself prepared. Again, daily driver, so weighing the options.

Make sure you check it and the block for flatness when it's apart and use the best gasket money can buy (you get what you pay for type of thing),
just my thoughts on it,
Scott

If you haven't already, try this. pull all the plugs and check the plug. Maybe you will see a particular cylinder in trouble. While they are out, crank it over. You might see it spit. That is a danger if too much water gets into the cylinder. You can only squish so much before things go boing.

When my head gasket blew the engine would not idle. Had to keep my foot on the gas. Blew between number 4 & 5 and when I did a compression check both cylinders read 0 psi. Don't know what it would read if you blew it out sideways without affecting another cylinder but i presume it would be still 0. Try a compression test first I would suggest.

Muggs

Get on the phone and find a REAL Parts store and get the kit
Try it Torque a cold motor and try again and nothing fancy like
loosening the bolts and then retightening em....that will get you trouble Just pull each one up!

No please listen....If you replace the gasket Torque and then don't put any water in Wait over night and torque again then add coolent and run to over your operating temp USE a little cardboads to part block the rad and torque

Drive it a couple hundred mile and check the whole mess

Get some KW coppercoat spray for the gasket You'll find it at the same auto parts story you get the kit at AND follw ther directions on the can

There no need to check the block for straight just get buildin your new engine quickly OK?

Alrighty, now I'm really confused. I used the block tester kit today. The liquid stayed blue. Followed the directions and ran the test twice with no color change noted. I checked the #2 plug which is closest to the leak and it looked normal. So it appears the leak is only external, yes? Then why do I have the constant condensation out of tailpipes? And why am I having the hard starts with a warm engine?
I didn't have time to check compression but will do in morning.

Blue means little bolts on the way?

Just because a head gasket leaks externally doesn't mean it will leak into a cylinder. If it leaks to both, you have a major failure like the head warped or cracked. Usually when a gasket leaks externally the gasket is deteriorating and will only get worse. A temporary fix would be to get some GM cooling system pellets that they use on all of the aluminum block engines. I've seen them stop a pretty major leaks. If you were running coolant through the engine, it would be fairly obvious. The smell and the over pressurized radiator would be dead give aways.
Good luck,
Scott

Yeah, that's what I'm confused about. I've got the obvious external leak AND constant water with very light steam/smoke out of exhaust so I figured the block test kit would confirm suspicions but, it didn't.
When I run the compression test tomorrow, should I disconnect the fuel line so that when the throttle is wide open I don't have cylinder washdown by the time I get to 4, 5 and 6?

Oh and Dennis, it better not! Two is plenty for me!

A compression test won't tell you much about a head gaskets' condition unless there's something obvious, like compression coming from the radiator or a dead cylinder from blowing between two cylinders. A cylinder leakdown test would be better suited. Compressed air pumped into the cylinder (with valves closed) would show a smaller problem like a small gasket leak. Most people don't have access to tools like that but if you already checked it with that "block check" stuff, you probably aren't getting compression into your coolant. The condensation that's coming from your tailpipe, whether it's clear or black, is normal. If your headgasket was bad and was actually burning antifreeze, it would smoke only and would smell funny and be very obvious. If I were you, I would confirm that the headgasket was leaking extenally, put some GM pellets in it and drive it until the new engine was ready or something more obvious happens. Carry some extra antifreeze with you incase the gasket does go while away from home. Usually, when a headgasket goes bad, it's still able to be driven for a short while. When doing a compression test you can pinch off the fuel line with some needlenose vise grips to prevent flooding.
Good luck,
Scott

Scott, I'm kinda leaning towards your thinking at this point. I want to check compression for a little more peace of mind (or un-peace). If it indicates problematic areas then I'll do a leak down. The hard starts with warm engine also trouble me. Two days this week she didn't want to start after making a pit stop. Cold starts are fine.
I came across another complete 292 here in town so think I'll rebuild for more H.P. and hopefully better mileage. Gotta call the machine shop and get estimates and turn-around time to see if it's feasible right now.

Well Muggso we are back to puttin oakmeal in the rad

Be sure to keep the checking fluid cap tight and don't leave it in the garage OR NEAR THE KIDS!!

Oh one more thing......you could have more water pressure that compression....then the block check wouldbe neg with busted gasket

My 302 PUSHES WATER A LOT....Is condensation or a blown gasket for 14 years

Are you confused more?????

OK, here are the results from the compression test this morning. I had 0 across the board!!
Ha! Just kidding.
1 2 3 4 5 6
155 160 160 155 115 150

With tbsp. oil in cyl. #5, compression increased to 130. So that ring's probably bad.
Was surprised by the numbers. Probably safe to say head gasket is external leak, for now.
The other thing that surprised me and I'm not sure what to make of it, 1-4 sparkplugs were very dark with a hint of reddish brown. 5 and 6 were light tan. Looked like this: sparkplugs
The last time I pulled all the plugs out at once, about a month ago, they were uniformly sooty black. Had suspected running rich and vacuum gauge proved that. But, what's up now?
So yes Jim, we are back to re-torquing head bolts and cooking some oatmeal. I'll ignore the condensation.
I think I'll still snag that other 292 and work on it at my leisure. Mmmmmm horsepower.

Did you try to pressure test the cooling system to see if you find the leak?

FWIW , the oat meal thing is for UNPRESSURIZED cooling systems _ONLY_ ! .

I'd only do it in a Thermosyphon cooling system and not any one that had a water pump , just my .02 , worthless I know .

Nate

Oatmeal is good for you

AND I thinks Muggs knows what I mean

BigT, didn't try pressure testing 'cause the external leak is fairly obvious as to the location.
Think I'll re-torque head bolts before trying the cinnamon & raisin. If it's same, then will start cookin'. Now that I think about it, the apple one is good too.
Thank you all for the advice and help.
-David