Coolant in the exhaust

[92ShoOff]

Hey guys, I've been leaking coolant and oil lately externally from the engine (water pump and probably cam seal) and noticed something new yesterday. I was installing my new Y-Pipe from Mid West SHO and when I looked down my cat-back pipe I saw coolant collected in small specks throughout the pipe. So this pretty much points to a cracked head, right? Anything else it could be? Man, I guess I'm going to be needing a set of heads or a whole motor now to do a head-swap.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[jelloslug]

Or a blown headgasket.

 

[rangerj]

Do a compression test and pressure test the cooling system. Also check the throttle body and its gaskets/hoses. The throttle body has coolant running around it and a bad gasket can allow coolant to be sucked into the intake. Coolant does not burn!

As long as your engine has not been overheated it is unlikely, but not impossible, that you have a cracked head. You do need to investigate the coolant in the exaust ASAP. rangerj

 

[HopefulSHO]

Are you positive it's coolant? One byproduct of the cats is water.