Over heating problem

My 96 mustang keeps over heating....i guess its leaking water out of some where but i cant see where it is....now when i put water in it, it stays cool for a short time then so i put more water in it and it starts to smoke real bad out of the exhaust.....someone told me i had to replace the intake seal....its that true??? and how would i do that???  

There are several potential issues here. Start at one point and work through possibilities to identify what is most likely the problem. For starters, do you know if the engine has ever overheated to the point where the engine stalls? My 350 chev van engine over heated because I forgot to crank down the radiator cap tight enough and a head cracked causing it to continually loose water. Not only did I have to add water every day to keep it cool, but over time I got water in the engine oil through a cylinder. If enough water gets into a cylinder your exhaust can smoke with the increased water vapor.  Based upon what you have described, my first thought is that this could be your problem. About the only good solution to this problem is replacing the heads - not the cheapest repair. If you suspect this, have a trusted technician look at it and give you their diagnosis.

Beyond that, is there a leak at the radiator cap or is the cap old and the seal is no longer there? Is the radiator or are the hoses leaking fluid when their cold? When it's hot do you see steam or hear a pressure leak coming out at the radiator or hoses? Check the hose connections carefully especially at the intake manifold. Use a good flashlight and carefully check every area around the water seal at the manifold to see if you can see any radiator fluid. It's common to have to replace a water inlet seal at the manifold because it leaks. You shouldn't have to replace the complete intake manifold seal unless you have oil leaking from the seal. That is a different issue from the radiator fluid.

If you know or don't think the head(s) are cracked and you can't find any evidence that you have a fluid leak (either hot or cold) then try replacing the radiator cap, hoses, and intake manifold seal and see if that makes a difference. If not then another option is to take the radiator in and have them pressure test it to see if it holds pressure.

Best of luck! Let us know what you find.  

Yeah it over heated where it stalled and when it did the oil meter started going crazy after it stalled it did not want to stat but after the 3rd try it did.....now i just took the engine oil cap off and it has a creamy looking color to it... so yeah there is water in it....so im guessing it what u say it is the cylinder....but it also leaks a little oil at the manifold....Now the next question is it best just to take it and get it fix or is it harder than i think it is to do it myself  

You may have a serious engine issue (cracked head or block) or at minimum a blown head or intake manifold gasket. Creamy oil is not a good thing. Do not run the car any more than you have to unles you wan to sieze it up.  

Well c_mac - how good of a mechanic are you? The easy answer is take it in and have the shop work on it. That is going to cost you $ and it will be your part of the stimulus package. The hard answer is if you have the skills (don't kid yourself - a fuel injected 96 is not that easy if your not skilled enough and don't really know what your doing) you could take the top end of the engine apart, remove the heads and have a shop tell you if you have a cracked head. If it's not a head but the block you better look for a new engine. if it is a head then get them where you can and reinstall. Then you have all the gaskets, seals, etc. to reinstall. You better take it to the dealer and have them give it the once over to make sure it's running correctly.  I took the top end off a 91 3.4L EFI v6 chevy and the only thing I didn't get completely right was pushing in one of my injectors all the way that caused a rough idle. The dealer charged me $35 and was amassed after hearing what I had done that it even ran.  So think it through - if your unsure - have someone else do it!