gris1949

Thanks for the encouragement -but I must disconnect a bunch of hoses and tubes and stuff from above the intake manifold in order to lift it and clean the old gaskets off Right?

OK - I figured out what it is. Thanks t all who posted. I have a blown intake manifold gasket - it squirts a strong stream of coolant when idling. Good news is no water in the oil. So, next question...what to do. First is there any kind of patch stuff, permatex silicon, bar's leak type stuff that might plug the leak - at least good enough to allow me to drive to a shop (it's now parked in a kinda remote area)? Second, any shortcuts to replace this blown gasket (passenger side) or do I have to strip all above it and lift the manifold out completely to replace it. Kinda a big job for me I think and is it worth doing to an '83 with 217,000 miles and a blown inner CV boot too. thx

OK - I figured out what it is. thanks t all who posted. I have a blown intake manifold gasket - it squirts a strong stream of coolant when idling. Good news is no water in the oil. So, next question...what to do. First is there any kind of patch stuff, permatex silicon, bar's leak type stuff that might plug the leak - at least good enough to allow me to drive to a shop (it's now parked in a kinda remote area)? Second, any shortcuts to replace this blown gasket (passenger side) or do I have to strip all above it and lift the manifold out completely to replace it. Kinda a big job for me I think and is it worth doing to an '83 with 217,000 miles and a blown inner CV boot too. thx

Lastly, don't buy cheap boots; OEM is best but NAPA makes a good one also. Thanks -; kinda what I had heard already. There's one source that I found onthe internest that advertises a lifetime boot - never replace again. Ever tried one o f those? also, the one that fails is the passenger side innner- could be the cat converter heat problem. I thought that it was maybe due to a small high spped shimmy that I have never been able to adjust out - one mechanic said that he thought I needed a different strut - he suggested an original Subaru type, not an alternative brand. I probably got 20000+ miles on this one though.

Thanks for your reply. The steam was all from under the hood - seemed to be on the passenger side of the engine - distributor to carburator and spark plug. all hoses looked good. Could it be a head gasket?

(New poster here - hope I'm doing it right.) I need HELP, gotta figure out what happened. I have an '83 GL 4WD wagon great shape, had it 18 years. Late last night, after driving home, cloud of steam, water, from under the hood. Not the water pump. Hard to pin down but seemed to more from the passenger side of the engine, around the distributor, passenger side of the carb. It idled OK for awhile then stopped and been impossible to barely even start since. What happened? Probably common (I hope) but I don't know where to look what to do. Advice please! Is this another repair that'll cost me more than the old car is worth? Also, what do you all think of the split inner CV axle boots - I'm damned tired of paying to have the axles pulled to replace boots. and where can I get them? Thanks.