22r, weber 38, big valves, rv cam, mild porting.

so it all started with running a little hot, and realizing i was a low on coolant. refilled ~ 1/2 gallon. checked oil. not milky.

About 500 miles later i got a miss that progressively got worse over 3 days. at first it would only miss for about a block and only when cold. then today it missed all the way to work,~20miles. 3 spark plugs looked good, one looked wet and smelled like gas, not coolant...

went to autozone, changed plugs and fuel filter. ran hot on the way home (not too hot), but no miss, and good power. when i got home i was already suspecting the head gasket leaking into a cylinder. that would explain both a fouled plug, and my missing coolant.

parked at home. turned off engine. the top rad hose had good pressure, and when i squeezed it, i couldn't hear/feel anything like squirting into a cylinder. (i only assume that when a HG is leaking into a cylinder, when you turn the motor off and squeeze a hose you can feel/hear it squirt) i think it would pass a coolant pressure test. i poured around 1/2 gallon of coolant in to fill her up.

my question is, what about the intake mani gasket where it bolts to the head?? it was my #1 plug that fouled, and there is a coolant passage right there next to the #1 intake runner where coolant goes from the mani to the head. Soooo... how/can i tell if its the intake mani gasket, or the HG? AND, do yall agree with my diagnoses so far?

 

If it was to run hot then cool down your cylinder would have filled with coolant since that's it's only escape root before 16 psi.