85 cj7 2.5 intake coolant leak??

[scottm874]

Hello everyone,
Picked up my first jeep on 1/01/14. It is a 85 CJ7 with a 2.5 engine. I have a question or 2 and thought i could get some help here. I had a leaking head gasket and was getting coolant into one of the cylinders. I pulled the head and had it checked. When I pulled it I noticed #4 cylinder was the one getting coolant into it. The cracks in the head were around 1&2 cyl. I began wondering if the intake could be leaking coolant and letting it run into #4. The exhaust would blow steam and miss after shutting it off while hot and letting it sit, then clear up and run fine after the cylinder cleared out. Take the pressure off the radiator and it would be fine.
Any ideas, and how important is it for coolant to circulate through the intake manifold?

 

[Saddle Tramp]

Coolant doesn’t run through the intake. The intake would just bolt to the side on a 2.5. Not sure what is going on for sure but I would check the head for cracks and square; if good reinstall.

 

[scottm874]

This one does have coolant running through the intake on the way to/or from the heater core. I had the head checked and it was cracked between the exhaust and intake on #1 and had a small crack around a valve seat on #2. Have a new one coming I was just trying to decide what to do about the intake before I put it back on. I"ll try to put some air pressure in it and check for a leak before I install it.

 

[stockCJ7]

Hey Scott - I may have a similar problem and trying to figure my problem out. Was your oil milky looking when you discovered the head was cracked?

 

[scottm874]

No the oil looked good. Mine would miss when you first started it and smoke until the cyl cleared up. when I pulled the head #4 piston was white so I'm thinking that is where it was leaking.
If the oil is milky looking it is a very good chance you have a bad head or head gasket.

Hope this helps

 

[Dan77CJ7]

I would do a pressure test on the intake see if holds.

 

[Dan77CJ7]

if it holds then the head/gasket how many miles? maybe a rebuild is order?

 

[stockCJ7]

Jeep has 200K miles but original owner pulled behind an RV so don't know how many engine miles it has. Right on the pressure test. That's my next step. Thanks