[Weezlexx89]

The first sign I had was my cars temp was high. I felt the block it wasnt as hot. My Thermastat was sticking which cause my water pump to fail. This created pressure and crack one of the expansion plugs. We put a new plug in, and put water and coolent in to radiator. I drove 7 miles and my car smelled like burnt oil,. I openned the hood and found out smoke was coming out of the oil cap on the block.

So far I took apart my engine and found out that the air intake gasket was torn. Could this cause my egine to smoke?

I have the car apart. I just have to take the rocker arms off. How Do I do this? Are they on a time sequance?

[232-K7]

if the upper or lower intake manifold gasket was damaged, it would cause a nasty vacuum leak...it could cause smoke if coolant runs through the lower manifold; im not sure if it does or not.

before you pull the heads off, try a compression test.

[Weezlexx89]

I Should of done a compression check before but I have the engine apart. What tools do I need to take the rocker arms off? Are they on a time sequance?

[BrandKoe]

"My Thermastat was sticking which cause my water pump to fail." Thermostats will open at the temperature they are designed to open at. They close when the engine is not at this temp. If the Thermostat is stuck, they usually stick open is my understanding and take forever to reach operating temp. But lets pretend it stuck closed. The pump would pump coolant through the engine but not to the rad. This is part of how the pump was meant to work. I doubt a stuck thermostat would cause the pump to fail.

"This created pressure and crack one of the expansion plugs" Expansion plugs are to pop out if they experience high coolant pressure (overheating without relieving pressure from the rad cap or not enough anti-freeze in cold and the water expands). I doubt the pump created enough pressure to crack a coolant plug because it is designed to flow coolant not pressurize it and the plug would more than likely have popped out. But it could have corroded and allowed coolant to seep through the crack.

"I openned the hood and found out smoke was coming out of the oil cap on the block." Oil cap on the block? Dipstick tube or oil filler neck on valve cover? I didn't know that my 2.3L or the 5.0L had a filler cast into the block. Lawnmower and some old import engines have places to fill in the block, but not the engines in the foxes. Was smoke billowing out or did you take off the filler cap and there was a slight wisp of smoke or steam? This is normal.

"So far I took apart my engine and found out that the air intake gasket was torn"
We call air intake, the intake manifold, unless it is the air tract before the throttle-body, but that's just a FYI. The torn gasket, could that be from when you separated the upper and lower manifolds or the lower manifold from the head? I have had many gaskets stick to both pieces at once and they end up tearing.

"I just have to take the rocker arms off. How Do I do this? Are they on a time sequance?" Why do you have to take the rockers off? what will removing them do to help pinpoint the overheating issue if you have an overheating issue? On a time sequence? Well they follow the camshaft so yes. If you feel removing them is important, remove the ones that have the valves closed (rocker arms up). then rotate the engine a little until some more have closed until you get them all off for whatever good this will do.

This is a very jerk kind of post but what I am trying to illustrate is that perhaps you should find some one who can do this along with you. I can see you want to learn and that is great, this is what AFM is for, but I don't want you to destroy your car.

First off, is your temp gauge correct? Are there other oil leaks or drips that could have caused this smell?

[Weezlexx89]

So do you think this is a sign of a head gasket leak or do you think that it could be caused from the intake gasket? I've been told it was the head gasket by an auto shop but I have been reading up on it and I think it could be from the intake. Does the water run through the intake manifold as well?

[232-K7]

how does your oil and coolant look ?

[BrandKoe]

Perhaps if you don't know the answer to that question you should have someone give you hand with this one.

But yes, coolant does flow through the lower intake manifold on the older V-8's but this is to warm the air-fuel charge for fuel efficiency (not power efficiency), drivability and exhaust emissions. I don't know if the new modular motors have similar routing or what the V-6 is like.

Lets think this through. Pretend the intake gasket was torn and leaking between the intake port and the coolant passage. The coolant is under some pressure, not from the pump but from the coolant expanding due to temp. increase but nowhere to go. The intake ports naturally suck (I know you aren't running forced induction). Now with the intake ports sucking and the coolant under pressure and leaking the coolant must be traveling into the combustion chamber causing white smoke. Did you have white smoke? This doesn't make sense to cause the engine to overheat unless it loses coolant, but not likely. Lets say it leaks towards the outside, not into the intake passageways. Now you have a puddle of sweet smelling coolant. Did you see greenish liquid or smell something sweet, you would know if you did?

Lets move on to the head gasket. Lets say that between the coolant passages and the cylinder there is a tear. Both the cylinder and coolant are under pressure, but which is Higher? On the compression, power stroke and exhaust stroke the cylinder is. Intake stroke probably will not draw in a measurable amount of coolant so you likely will not get white smoke. The pressure from the compression and power stroke will force the coolant away, possibly pushing it into the overflow tank and even out of the system. Did the coolant level look high while it was running, low when it was cold or even like coolant was leaking from the overflow tube?

Except for your temp. gauge reading high, what other indicator do you have that the engine was indeed overheating?