Intake coolant leak woes

[wht89reatta]

My car has had a smallish coolant leak for a while that seems to have gotten real big lately. Tonight on my way home my engine hydro locked as I was pulling into my driveway.

None of the hoses had burst and the water pump is only a couple years old. I am fairly certain that the intake manifold gasket is leaking. Are there any good guides to aid in the intake manifold gasket replacement or is this just a dive in and get it done kind of job?

 

Any thoughts or advice would be very helpful and I thank you in advance. 

[DAVES89]

There is a small hose just above the water pump that is often overlooked. Did you check that one as well?

[AZVET]

I recently did mine.  Use a Felpro gasket set as it is a quality product.  Be sure to clean the gasket surface of both the block and manifold  before installing the new ones.  Use a quality sealant such as The Right Stuff where the cork gaskets meet the longer gaskets.

This is a good time to replace the gaskets for the  EGR and the fuel pressure regulator and to flush and fill your radiator.  Take lots of pictures so you will know how to put things back together and be sure to bag and tag the smaller parts that you remove.

 

[wht89reatta]

Dave89 if you are referring to the bypass hoses for the heater core I have checked them and they don't appear to be the source of my leak.

[Dashmaster]

WHT89. You said hydro locked. Do you have coolant in the oil?  This is the only way the engine can hydo lock if the crank case and cylinders are full of fluid. Intake gasket change it not hard. Use felpro caskets and sealant were it says to. 

[Ronnie]

Please describe hydro locked. Have you checked the small hose that connects to the top of the water pump that Dave referred to? It isn't a heater hose.

 

Thanks to Padgett for providing this photo.

 

 

[waltmail]

Hydro lock seemed symptomatic to head gasket leak. As mentioned also coolant in oil and oil in coolant. Intake manifold gasket breakdown leaves a trail of white smoke from exhaust pipe. Just from my perspective and experience.

[Dashmaster]

Walt I agree. If you have been getting heavy white smoke out of the exhaust  that is usually coolant leak into the cylinder. Usually the white smoke or steam will be heaviest when accelerating.  If you have the coolant in the oil and its white milky colored you may have have damaged all the crank bearings. You can use motor flush  and oil change after the repair to see how it works out. It really depends how long the bearings have been subject to the coolant.

 

 

[Ronnie]

I agree with all the above. I was just asking for more information about what happened. When I hear someone say "hydro locked", what it means to me is that enough liquid has got on top of the piston to prevent the engine from turning. Liquid won't compress.  If that happened while the engine was running as he said, he is going to need more than an intake gasket or hose replacement.