86 Tercel 4WD wagon Coolant frothy white and going down!?

Can someone tell me if this might just be the head gasket or a cracked
head?
It has the 1.5 3AC engine and I’ve been watching the coolant for some
time. Last time I changed it it was a milky color. There doesn’t
appear to be any coolant in the oil and since I changed the oil it is
staying very fresh looking. The car does seem to smoke or steam when
running. The rear engine cylinder seemed moist and sooty when I
changed the plugs about 6 months ago. I haven’t checked it again
since the coolant is really going down fast. It is idling very low
when first started and stalls at lights but seems to be fine once it
is warmed up. It always ran funny since I bought it three years ago
and seemd to lack proper maintenance. (Removing a plugged convertor a
year and a half ago seemed to solve a lot of the eratic idling with
the car. It actually snapped the exhaust pipe off in front of the
convertor.)

I do have the abilty to change the head gasket and have extra engines
around if the head is cracked but wanted some opinions before I tackle
the job.

Troy

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"cubevandude" <UseLinkToEmail@www.autoforumz.com> wrote in message
news:733828_9fdf0781018c7a9b5c26d4d307d3a06b@autoforumz.com...[color=blue]
> Can someone tell me if this might just be the head gasket or a cracked
> head?
> It has the 1.5 3AC engine and I've been watching the coolant for some
> time. Last time I changed it it was a milky color. There doesn't
> appear to be any coolant in the oil and since I changed the oil it is
> staying very fresh looking. The car does seem to smoke or steam when
> running. The rear engine cylinder seemed moist and sooty when I
> changed the plugs about 6 months ago. I haven't checked it again
> since the coolant is really going down fast. It is idling very low
> when first started and stalls at lights but seems to be fine once it
> is warmed up. It always ran funny since I bought it three years ago
> and seemd to lack proper maintenance. (Removing a plugged convertor a
> year and a half ago seemed to solve a lot of the eratic idling with
> the car. It actually snapped the exhaust pipe off in front of the
> convertor.)
>
> I do have the abilty to change the head gasket and have extra engines
> around if the head is cracked but wanted some opinions before I tackle
> the job.
>
> Troy
>
> --
> Posted using the [url]http://www.autoforumz.com[/url] interface, at author's request
> Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
> Topic URL:
> [url]http://www.autoforumz.com/86-Tercel-4WD-wagon-Coolant-frothy-white-ftopict152852.html[/url]
> Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report abuse:
> [url]http://www.autoforumz.com/eform.php?p=733828[/url][/color]

Does the exhaust have an anti-freeze smell? If one or more of the plugs is
wet with coolant, then the head gasket and/or head is bad.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)