96 Cobra losing water and steam out of the tail pipes

Nick1996

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Hey guys I recently picked up a 96 cobra the previous owner told me that Ford told him the lower intake manifold gasket was bad the cars put some steam out of the tail pipes and it's using some water I know there's a couple of tests I can do to see if it's a head gasket have you guys heard of a intake manifold gasket on these motors causing this issue it's the cheapest thing to fix was going to pull the intake off and see if there was any breaks any other suggestions or anybody have experience with this on their car
 

yfz162

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The intake does not have any coolant passing through it on these cars so it's not going to cause your problem. You likely have a head gasket leaking if you're losing coolant and visibly see steam rolling from your exhaust. You could possibly have a coolant crossover tube O'ring leaking that is passing by a leaking intake gasket, but that is HIGHLY unlikely.
 

yfz162

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I am not sure, but you could possibly see bubbles in the expansion tank. Best bet is a compression test. If you’re head gasket is leaking i would imagine you could pinpoint it that way or a leakdown test.
 

Nick1996

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So I just talked to the guy that I bought the car from like I said he send it to Ford and they told him it was the lower intake manifold gasket I guess they've already done a pressure test and a leak down and that's how they determined that it was the lower intake gasket I'm going to pull it off and we're going to find out
 

97snakebite

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So I just talked to the guy that I bought the car from like I said he send it to Ford and they told him it was the lower intake manifold gasket I guess they've already done a pressure test and a leak down and that's how they determined that it was the lower intake gasket I'm going to pull it off and we're going to find out

there is no coolant passages on the intake manifold. You are going to remove it just to be frustrated that its not the problem ...Seller is full of it...Ask him for the service work order..I bet he wont produce it.. U have a blown head gasket. YOU need to do a leak down and check your oil..sorry
 
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Nick1996

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Did I post this in the wrong section new obviously the way I look at it is either way the intake manifold got to come off so let's pull it off and see what's up I thought the water inlet hooked into the same place as the lower intake manifold
 

Nick1996

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The way the motor look to me I thought that the water was going into the engine at the same place as the lower intake manifold hooks up to the heads I thought they shared the same gasket I took a second look at the gasket and I see what you guys are saying they're actually not connected at all
 

98 svt

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If you just bought the car, I'd take it back and tell the seller he sold you a car with a bad head gasket. (Which he probably already knew). If he lied about the head gasket, what else is he hiding?
 

Nick1996

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I took a chance on the car I got a really good deal on it so if I got to rebuild the motor no big deal and even though it's sucking a little Cooling in this thing runs strong as hell when my 5 liter sucked a little water in through the intake it detonated the engine and ran like hammered dogshit
 

Martin6107

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If you are happy with the price paid, then all is good. Be aware that the head gasket leak will slowly grow until the the engine cannot burn the liquid off. As liquid accumulates, the rod will start bending from the hydraulic pressure and the piston skirt will get ever closer to the crank.
 

Zemedici

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No point in trying to take the car back. The deal is done and now you have to fix the car. As stated a zillion times it’s not the intake manifold. Do a compression test. Don’t try to take the cheap way out of fixing it or you will be paying double to fix it the right way. The previous owner was a hack, don’t follow in his footsteps
 

ViciousBlack97

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A little oil water mixture is normal on the underside of the cap is normal if temperatures are low and the car isn't driven very much or often. As stated, the only good way to check the engine's health would be to do a combustion gas test on your coolant, or pressure test the cooling system. Good luck, hopefully its a simple fix.
 

Nick1996

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Everybody was right it was the head gasket we did a coolant combustion gas check today going to drop the engine out of the car
 

Nick1996

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Since I'm going to have the engine out of the car the heads are going to the machine shop to get decked and I'll probably have them clean them up to is there anything else that I should do to this for 4.6 DOHC Cobra motor is there any little fixes that anybody knows about that we should do why the engines out of the car
 

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