so what do you guys think

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trudysduster

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Just pulled the head off of the slant 6 in my 76 Dart Sport and I believe the head gasket is blown. What do you think. It has been acting funny since I bought it and hadnt time or place to check it out. I am taking the head to the machine shop Monday to have it checked .

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What is the funny stuff the car is doing? I don’t see anything to tell me the head gasket was or is “blown”.

what do you see that says it is blown?

yes show good photos of the gasket
 
Well what I see is the 4th and 5th cyl from the left to the right the chamers are both cleaner ( washed ) more than the others, BUT as I already stated with out the gasket it's impossible to tell.
 
What is the funny stuff the car is doing? I don’t see anything to tell me the head gasket was or is “blown”.

what do you see that says it is blown?

yes show good photos of the gasket

losing ant freeze, sweet smell out the exhaust,loss of power, rough idle, whiteish smoke out the exhaust after the car is at running temp.
 
I THINK, you should show us the gasket! But from what I can see on the head only it looks possible!

I cant tell by looking at the gasket that it is blown or not but by the way this car is acting, smell out the exhaust, losing coolant, smoke out the exhaust etc. From what I have always seen is that it is either a blown gasket or a cracked head allowing the coolant to get in the wrong passage. Here are pics of both sides of the gasket. First 2 pics are one side and last 2 pics are of the other side.

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If it were getting in the combustion chamber you should be able to see one or two cylinders thats are much cleaner (whiter) than the rest. Yours all look fairly normal except the far right cylinder which appears to be oil fouled.
You are burning oil in all the cylinders which indicates poor ring seal or bad valve guides/seals.
 
If it were getting in the combustion chamber you should be able to see one or two cylinders thats are much cleaner (whiter) than the rest. Yours all look fairly normal except the far right cylinder which appears to be oil fouled.
You are burning oil in all the cylinders which indicates poor ring seal or bad valve guides/seals.

How would you explain coolant loss through the exhaust, whitish smoke after reaching temp. and sweet smell out the exhaust. That is what has me puzzled.
 
ALL of your exhaust ports are "dry", if coolant was being consumed, one or more of those exh. ports should be wet/ discolored/ different. keep looking. I agree with MM74, you need valve guide work/ seals.
 
ALL of your exhaust ports are "dry", if coolant was being consumed, one or more of those exh. ports should be wet/ discolored/ different. keep looking. I agree with MM74, you need valve guide work/ seals.

Yeah, that is going to be done when the head is in the machine shop.
 
Might have had a leak on the intake if /6 has water that runs through or next to a runner.

Or a crack in the head.

I have had 2 blown head gaskets on the same car, the blown gasket was VERY obvious.

Also green rad fluid was dripping from the exhost.
 
Might have had a leak on the intake if /6 has water that runs through or next to a runner.

Or a crack in the head.

I have had 2 blown head gaskets on the same car, the blown gasket was VERY obvious.

Also green rad fluid was dripping from the exhost.

I am leaning towards a crack in head, but will know next week.
 
Well I don't see any obvious signs on the gasket either, based on your symptoms I would maybe lean towards a possible crack BUT again no obvious signs of water in the exhaust through the ports did you have to add fluid to the rad at any time?
 
When coolant or water enters the combustion chamber it basically steam cleans the cylinder and it will be much cleaner. Typically it will leave a white residue behind. If there was enough to be able to smell it in the exhaust, you should see some sign of it in the combustion chamber.
 
the gasket doesn’t look blown from here. As stated, Cylinders and ports don’t look like water has been in there. What does the oil look like? Any milkshake in there?
 
the gasket doesn’t look blown from here. As stated, Cylinders and ports don’t look like water has been in there. What does the oil look like? Any milkshake in there?

oil is clean. no milky stuff
 
Edit.....I just re-read your earlier post you said " loss of coolant" , guess we will see what the machine shop says.

well, I got a call from the machine shop yesterday telling me the head was ready for pickup. They said no cracks. They said the head actually looked really good. I had it milled a little, seats put in and a valve job. So, either the head was a little wharped allowing coolant to escape some, I dont know. Going back with new gaskets, head reworked, we will see what happens. I dont know
 
Well I would think if yhe head had been a bit warped the machine shop would have seen that and said something, so at least you have covered the bases, head done new gaskets I'd put in a new thermostat and put it back together.
 
Well I would think if yhe head had been a bit warped the machine shop would have seen that and said something, so at least you have covered the bases, head done new gaskets I'd put in a new thermostat and put it back together.

exactly what I am going to do.
 
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