Intake Gasket Leak?

[Boost231]

Wondering how tell if your intake gasket is leaking?

Into valley-- Smoke Out Breathers? Pushing out Dipstick?

Into Water Jacket? Pressurizing the coolant system and pushing coolant but not over heating?

Into The Engine Bay- Maybe Unsteady Boost or MAP reading? Sounds?

Just was thinking last night and couldn't find anything under a search. Say one of your back intake bolts came loose or was never torqued down and you never knew.

 

[blackdeathtrap]

Your idel would be shit blm would be out to lunch and you vac would be out to lunch your idel would be surging in most cases

 

[carlsbadGN]

Your idel would be shit blm would be out to lunch and you vac would be out to lunch your idel would be surging in most cases

An then heck u wud ,you know, extra smoke sum but they mite be some earl blowin by the, er that is , you know, downpipe.

 

[turbofabricator]

Well..........if it is a "normal" intercooled Turbo Buick.................You spend a half hour and pull the sucker off and inspect the gasket imprint to verify all the surfaces are making equal contact. In your case.............You spend a week pulling the intake off and check the gasket for proper imprint.
When installing an intake manifold on anything that has been modified i.e. milling the block, heads, thinner gaskets, ect., I always check the alignment of the intake. The hot air cars are more difficult to get the ports perfect (that requires drilled pin holes to align for port match and installation). You need to look down the manifold from the front of the engine to see if there is a tapered gap from the top to the lower edge of the head flange. I have to mill intakes all the time to get them to seal up correctly. Another board member is currently dealing with this very issue right now.
Your initial responses are good way to start, too. Smoke checking the intake tract will also leak smoke out the breather if the intake is leaking into the lifter valley. I've also recently seen a post where the wrong intake gasket was used. Just pressurizing the intake tract will cause an air leak out the valve cover breathers if the intake gasket is leaking inside. Most accurate way is the use of a smoke checker. FInd a local shop that has one and see if they'll rent it to you. They are pretty pricey. Haven't seen one of them at Harbour Freight, yet.

 

[xrunner123]

I had this problem years ago. Idled fine but at high boost dipstick would pop out. It wound up being the intake gasket leaking boost.

 

[blackdeathtrap]

Sorry about that post dint notice how bad it was been in hospital with my wife for 2 days no sleep we just had a boy

 

[Boost231]

just asking. No issues here with my car just a FYI post

 

[precizion818]

The other member would be me! I am currently fighting a problem where boost is leaking inside the engine. I will be checking my intake alignment here soon

 

[Boost231]

^ how do you know?

 

[precizion818]

Did a boost leak test by pressurizing the intake (pcv valve removed and plugged) with compressed air and I can hear it leaking in the valve covers and valley. The intake will not hold more than 9 psi at max and then leaks off through valve covers

 

[YAKO]

Did a boost leak test by pressurizing the intake (pcv valve removed and plugged) with compressed air and I can hear it leaking in the valve covers and valley. The intake will not hold more than 9 psi at max and then leaks off through valve covers

 

[Phoneguy]

Did a boost leak test by pressurizing the intake (pcv valve removed and plugged) with compressed air and I can hear it leaking in the valve covers and valley. The intake will not hold more than 9 psi at max and then leaks off through valve covers

You need to loosen the rockers to perform this test as any opened valves will leak air. Richard Clark almost demanded that I test mine while i was there installing my engine in May, I was hesitant as the valves had been adjusted already on the stand, I have Scorpion individual roller rockers. I went ahead and listened...guess what, mine was leaking very badly. This simple test saved me alot of headaches.

Bryan

 

[precizion818]

What did you find wrong with the intake? Did it require machining or just replacing the gasket and re-torque?

 

[Phoneguy]

My intake was freshly machined at RC's prior to install. A simple realign and even torque on both sides took care of the leak. I would've never guessed that a newly surfaced intake would leak like it did.
Bryan