cracked head?

[vroom-chirp]

so i pull up to my house and notice a hissing sound and that lovely smell of coolant. pop the hood and find the passenger side of the engine in the front is spewing coolant!!
after searching for the source of the leak, i narrow it down to just behind the alternater brace, right around the head gasket, but still not sure.
i did a compresion test on that side and got this:
..........engine
........left....right
170----O O-----did not test
195----O O-----did not test
165----O O-----did not test
..........front
would a cracked head show in a compresion test?

[ChuckS]

can you pressure test your rad? If you are leaking liquid shouldnt be to hard..how bout a freeze plug, I think that is the likely problem'

[vroom-chirp]

if i blow into the radiator neck it seeps out from behind the alternater but i cant find where...

[Rob Bell]

It's probably just that the headgasket went, allowing coolant to escape through the gasket to the outside. Since you know it's coming from under the head, you have to take the head off anyway. Then you'll know for sure. The headgasket seals, and therefore can fail, in other places besides the cylinders.

When my headgasket was in the early stages of failing, I was getting coolant seepage around the head. When it finally blew, though, it blew between a coolant and oil passage, allowing coolant into the oil. But it probably could have just as easily failed and allowed coolant to escape to the outside.

[vroom-chirp]

^^^
that sounds like the situation i got going on..
welp, guess im gonna start tuggin on wires and beatn on metal.... wish me luck!
is there any special tools that i will need for the job?

[Camaro Dom]

a torque wrench fer sure, and some crazy patience. i changed my plugs the other day and after scratching the hell outta my hands on the #5 plug i just about went into a rage. just be careful doing it and if ya gotta pull the motor, then do it rather than trying to go the easy route and then warp the head or block mating surface.

[BobbyZ72]

it sounds like the head gasket, same thing happend to my company truck.