Another rough idle/power loss question except...
 

Yeah I found the other posts about what to do when you have extreme power loss....

My friend was on the highway doing about 60 when suddenly it started to misfire. Then it became to weak to hold that gear.

Uhm... He also has smoke coming out of this spot on his engine.

Attachment 19515

And on his hood

Attachment 19516


It's sitting on the side of the highway right now. We're going to try and move it tonight.
Could this black smoke be part of his problem?

Welcome to ZDriver! :006:

That is a burnt exhaust manifold gasket... which is shared with the intake manifold. If the intake / exhaust studs are loose, it will burn the gasket & cause leaks. If the intake part of the gasket starts to leak, it will run poorly. :D

Now you guys get to pull the manifolds. Lucky! :D

HAHAHAHA!!! Lucky...
Yeah. Well... Can the exhaust part flow into the intake part? If the gasket breaks in the right spot?

Edit: Also, even without the leak... Wouldn't the hot exhaust coming out of the same manifold cause the intake's air to heat up a good amount? = power loss?

It's "sixes" really... Any vacuum leak on the intake is going to kill the power, so it doesn't really matter what type of atmospheric gas it's sucking in.

Also, did the motor get HOT or overheat? I have a feeling there's more to the problem than JUST the burnt gasket.

No, he said his car didn't overheat he checked.

It was weird though... His battery terminals were VERY hot. Like hotter than his engine. I could rest the soft part of my forearm on this engine's valve cover to lean over it and the engine wasn't even that hot... But his battery terminals I could barely touch with my hands.

It could just be nothing - but I've never seen it like this before.