94 *outward only* head gasket leak?

[goatsauce]

It's my full intention to tear this new baby down to the block in a week or so, as I'm sure I have a lower intake gasket leak. With 175k, while that far down I'll go ahead and do the heads. But I've never seen this before.

See these pics... it appears on both sides I've had a head gasket failure only outwardly, on both heads!

However, (and this is what's new to me), Compressions are good, #3 is 140... all others are 150ish.

Haven't done a block test, but coolant is recently flushed and clear of oil after 3k miles. Oil leaks quite profusely out of the lower intake, but oil seems clear of foam or coolant.

Aside from leaking oil, the engine runs fairly well and gives me about 18mpg. Power *might* be a bit low but I've no frame of reference for comparison.

Has anyone seen head gaskets blow outwardly but otherwise cause no other significant issues?

Just wanted to ask the experts!

 

[adsm08]

I've seen that build up on older engines before. It's usually just a minor seep in the gasket.

 

[Edgefevah]

Is there anything a person can do besides changing the head gaskets?

 

[RonD]

No, not much without new gasket.

It is often a cold seal problem, meaning it's not leaking when engine is warmed up and heads and block metal has expanded, it seeps as heads and block metals cool and contract, and there is still pressure in the cooling system.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

Try retorquing the head bolts. Sometimes that helps.

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