century - intake or head gasket?

[pennermechanical]

hey guys i have a 99 Buick regal and i am trying to decipher whether or not i have a leaking head or intake gasket. the car looses antifreeze when you drive it, the engine oil is milky. the car runs like a top very smooth, i did a compression check to see if i had a cylinder or two down but the compression was all above 135 so then i warmed it up and did the compression check again and still the compression is A-ok. as far as im concerned with the engine oil milky(and passed the add mark substantially), the compression up to par i have an intake gasket that is leaking.

i have the intake gasket ordered. any thoughts on wether or not it could still be the head gasket??

Thanks Tal

[maxwedge]

Which engine, you left out the most important info!

[GTP Dad]

Welcome to AF!!

Regardless of the engine it sounds like you have a lower intake gasket leak. I suggest that you don't drive it very far until you get the leak fixed because you will damage your bearings.

[pennermechanical]

thank you! from what i see on this forum i am guessing i will be spend a bunch of my time here. it's organized well. awesome forum!

it's a 3.1 liter V-6.
would the fact that i did a compression test and the fact that all cylinders are up to par rule out the head gasket??

[maxwedge]

Not really, the odds are high against the hd gaskets unless the engine overheated, there is a test for exhaust gasses in the coolant by sampling the coolant for chemical changes, available at any good parts store.

[pennermechanical]

ok. i know the car did over heat once but not into the red. i just finished putting the car together yesterday when i get it running i will let you know if the intake did the fix. im crossing my fingers it was my problem.

thanks again
Tal

[pennermechanical]

I turned over the engine today and i have a cylinder blowing into my intake. i can hear it when i turn it over consistently on one of the six cylinders, it's coming out of a vacuum line on the plenum. i was positive i had my push rods in order but im second guessing myself. so i have not turned the engine over since, due to my concern for damaging my engine. my next step is going to be recheck my push rods.

does anybody know of a good source that i could find out the push rod orientation? i have been looking for an hour online and have found little information.

Thanks

[Airjer_]

If you mixed up the push rods you may have bent a valve. Best case scenario is the push rod bent and the valve is o.k.

The long pushrods are for the exhaust valves. Remember it this way. "It's been a long, exhausting day".

[pennermechanical]

ok that makes sense to me. i reopened the valvecovers today and all the exhaust valves have the long pushrods and all the intake valves have the short push rods. rrrrg all this time to see that the pushrods we're im place (big releif!!). now im thinking that it was a stuck lifter causing the blowby into my plenem.

if it was a lifter, what could i do to keep it from happening again?? Is there anything you guys suggest i do before i put it together and fire it up again??

thanks

[maxwedge]

Make sure the push rods are seated in the lifter not on the edge, this will definitely cause problems.

[pennermechanical]

Ok so i rechecked the push rods and they were all in there proper locations, so i reinserted them, making sure they were seated in the lifters correctly. i put the rest of the car back together and it runs like a top now so it must have been a stuck lifter.

thanks again everyone for your input and help!
great site!

Tal