Does this look like a head gasket failure? There’s a lot of oil behind the alternator bracket, which I removed to remove the lower intake - got all the bolts out, disconnected the injector connectors and the fuel line - a good amount of fuel came out, hope it doesn’t just catch fire tomorrow in this heat wave - but I haven’t removed the lower intake yet. I’ll probably do that tomorrow. I already cleaned up the mess on the driver’s side since the power steering pump (hopefully, since that’s what I replaced - and the o ring) was leaking a lot and I don’t know if there was a lot of oil there too. I’ve heard of people running the engine without the valve covers to be able to check everything, find noises and make adjustments, so I guess it doesn’t just blast oil all over without the valve covers, which is why I’m wondering if the oil leaked from the old valve cover gaskets, valley pan/seal or somewhere else above the head gaskets…

Also, is it normal to see a sort of grey sealant used on the heads? Is that from the factory or was someone else in here? I had to do this… I had to remove the new pulleys anyway since I’d installed them with the o rings and it wasn’t that much more to remove the power steering pump bracket and alternator bracket. I didn’t want to just put it back together without dealing with the valve cover gaskets and valley pan gasket/seals, but I’m wondering if the head gaskets are also bad. It had power and wasn’t overheating other than the other thermostat blowing out, but I don’t think it got too hot.

 

looks like it is coming from the lower intake gasket to me

 

The valley pan gasket/seals? I have replacements I got from AB. I can continue with the plan and replace them along with the valve cover gaskets or I can get way into this and remove the heads but I’ll have to find a way to remove the exhaust and do a bunch of things like probably take the rockers and heads to a shop to clean and prepare everything for me.

 

If it was me I wouldn’t remove the HG’s without a really good reason to. Maybe the leak is worse than what I’m seeing in the photos, but I also wouldn’t tear it apart for the bit of oil that I’m seeing.