Head gasket question - leak?

[Andy74tii]

Hey all, I am rehabbing my tii; it's been about 66K miles since my total rebuild and I thought I would go in this spring and refresh hoses, linkages, and so on. In the process of cleaning up, I noticed there seems to be a slow leak right at the head gasket on the intake side, sort of between #1 and #2. What do I need to do in this situation? Is it a matter of taking the head off and replacing the head gasket? Advice is welcomed!

Thanks

Andy74tii

[TobyB]

Water?

I had this happen once- I retorqued a gasket that was so old it crumbled.

Yeah, if you see water coming out of the gasket line, it's new gasket time.

Age happens to all of us.

t

[Collinster742002]

Slow leak of water or oil? If it's between 1 and 2, likely water, right? If it was oil between 3 or 4 I'd tell you exhaust stud... but in your case (if it's water) sounds like a head gasket. If it's oil from there, it's possible that it's your valve cover gasket (mine leaked there pretty good) or front timing cover maybe. Does it drip down on the exhaust and smoke like mad?

The way I troubleshooted mine was cleaning down the engine to sterility and then running the engine. The oil dripped right out and I saw exactly what was my culprit.

[Andy74tii]

Thanks guys, yes, it is water, not oil, from between 1 and 2, closer to 1. I guess it's head gasket time....

Andy74tii

[Collinster742002]

Get on that If it's already showing signs of failure, that's not something to be neglected. My family did just that and it resulted in the death of an 80k matching # M10 to my 76. Water apparently loved finding it's way into #3 through the water jacket.

[Andy74tii]

OK, so after a considerable bit more fact finding, I have come to this conclusion, and I feel a little dense because I shouldnt really be a newbie. I don't actually have a head gasket leak. Actually, on the tii there is a water pipe that shares a bolt with an intake pipe. I see now that when I took the intake pipe off, it has somewhat loosened the water pipe, and given that I have not yet drained the coolant, it's seeping out of that, following the gasket for the intake down to the junction of the head and block, and looking like a very reasonable facsimile of a head gasket leak. This makes sense because I can look in the valves and see no sign of water there, there's no sign of water in the oil, and it's never overheated or blown white smoke.

Big relief, at least one thing I wont have to redo now!

Thanks

Andy74tii

[TobyB]

Yeah, that's more likely.

BUT I took the intake off on the one I had that failed, SURE it was a leak

from one of the hoses or summat- but sure enough, it was seeping

right out of the head gasket. It didn't go anywhere else, not into the

cylinder, the oil, anywhere- just out of the gasket.

When I took it off, there was a visible, crumbled trail where the

water had been escaping.

But that was unique in my umpteen- odd years with these cars.

So fix the external leaks, but do check the head gasket again just to

be sure.

t