Trying to tell myself I didn't lose a head gasket--opinions?

My 57 T-Bird overheated on the way to a cruise-in today. I'm really hoping it's not a head gasket...but wish in one hand and whatnot.

There was definitely water coming out of the heater core, but I'm not sure if that's a symptom or cause of the overheating. Also had what looked to be smoke (not steam) coming out of the air filter and oil fill cap once the car stopped.

The car has a 4.6 DOHC with an electric water pump that was definitely working. The electric fan wasn't coming on when parked, so fan thermostat/fuse is another possibility.

Had to get it towed home. The engine turned over by hand and I gave it some light starter bumps, but didn't let it fire. No problems there. 

 Just pulled the plugs. All of them look great except #2:

I don't want this to be a head gasket issue, but water got on that plug somehow.

The oil on the dipstick looked good, and I changed it semi-recently. Obviously I'll take a look at the oil in the pan to see if I've got the milkshake, but does that plug make the head gasket your instant diagnosis?

Came here to help with Y-block problems. 

Looks like I'm out. Lol.

Troubleshoot issue at a time.

1. Make sure the electric fan is coming on at the right temp. 

2. Check thermostat-pull it out, boil it in water and make sure it opens completely at the correct temp.

3. Pressure test the cooling system and radiator cap (Can probably rent the tester from parts store)

4. Perform a block fluid test-this will check to see if there is exhaust gas in the coolant

I don't think the corrosion on on the plug is related-usually this is from water/coolant getting in the plug well from higher up-maybe from the intake manifold? 

Same deal with the smoke from the oil cap-some is normal, and if it's excessive it's usually worn rings or guides. 

Good luck!

Which intake do you have on it? Does it have the plastic coolant crossover pipe in front? Intake manifold gaskets do go bad in these.

On my '01 Mustang GT (SOCH 4.6L) I could see coolant pooling near the front of the block. I assumed it was the plastic coolant crossover and bought the revised intake with the metal coolant crossover. In the end, it was just a bad intake manifold gasket at 294k.

The rust on the OUTSIDE of the plug is typical at least on the SOHCs when the intake manifold or its gasket starts to leak.  It drools along between the intake and valve cover and pools in the plug wells.  Then the plugs rust, the coil boot turns to jelly, and you get a misfire from the spark arcing across the outside of the plug.

Thanks. This is a DOHC--99/01 Cobra spec motor, so coolant through the intake shouldn't be an issue.

Should be pretty easy to eliminate the heater core and see if that makes a difference. 

No thermostat because wacky DOHC hose layout. 

Will check the oil tomorrow and go from there. Let the engine idle up to temp and see what happens.

Spent more time on the car this morning. I decided to delete the heater core entirely, which basically required just turning one hose fitting 180 degrees, removing one hose and shortening another.

The oil looked great. No signs of coolant or glitter. I replaced all the spark plugs while I was at it. So at that point I topped off the fluids, fired the car and let it run until it got warm.

The electric fan never came on. I turned the car off but left it on accessory so the electric water pump would circulate the coolant a while longer. I jiggled some of the fan wiring, and the fan came on for just a second. But I can't replicate it. I'm not sure if  jiggling the temp sensor wiring or fan power wiring might have done it, but either way it looks as if I've narrowed down the root cause of the overheating. Just need to troubleshoot the wiring more.

FWIW, the 4.6L DOHC, 5.4L DOHC and the 3.9L DOHC engines had issues with the coil pack covers sealing. Ford had TSB's to install new gaskets around the cowl areas and the coil cover seals of some cars to remedy the water ingress. 

Water would drip onto the top of the coil cover(which is at an angle causing pooling on top) then seep into the plug well areas past the coil boots.

May want to see if they have updated coil cover seals that can be installed.