164 Consuming Coolant - Further Diagnosis Strategy?

[Brad Anesi <brad.anesi@xxxxxxxxx>]

	My engine has developed a "thirst" for coolant lately - it's
disappearing at a rate of about a pint every 1000 miles or so.  There is no
evidence of external leaks, and there is zero evidence of "dirty mayo" under
the oil cap, so I can only assume it's leaking into either the intake or
combustion chamber and burning off.  One additional recent development is
that on cold starts, the motor sputters a bit, but then runs absolutely fine
after 5-10 seconds.

	I'm guessing that it's a head gasket leak, but I was thinking I'd
first eliminate a TB gasket failure as the cause, and cap off the coolant
in/outlet lines and see if the problem still persists.  Assuming it does,
it's gotta be the head gasket(s), right?  Think a re-torque might be worth a
try?  The new heads only have ~15,000 miles on them, and they were
re-torqued after the first 1000.  Is there any way to isolate which side is
leaking?  I won't even think about doing the RH side head with the motor in
the car again - I'll just pull the whole motor - need to replace the rear
main seal and do some other things any way.

	Lastly, and I hesitate to even ask this, what about some of those
magic elixirs that promise to "fix" head gasket leaks?   I seem to recall
seeing an ad for one called "Liquid Metal" or some such.  It goes against my
nature to use stuff like this, but if I can get away without pulling the
engine right now, that would be my preference.

	Brad   
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