[George Bongert]

I might be putting my neck on the chopping block here, but I personally doubt that you have a cracked block due to freezing, although it is possible for it to happen. From overheating? Possible, but not very likely. From extreme overheating? More likely, but in order for that to happen, the engine would have to be run without any coolant at all. Warped head or cracked head(s)? Again possible, and again from extreme overheating. Bad head gasket? Possible, and at that it would have to be extremely bad, and the only way to determine that is to remove the head from the engine. I have worked on many engines, and have seen some very strange occurrences, such as a head gasket bad enough to leak water into the combustion chamber of an engine. The head of said engine was checked for cracks and warpage, and found to be OK, and the block also was checked and found to be OK. Replacing the head gasket in this particular situation cured the problem. As others here have suggested, remove the exhaust manifold so you can get a better view of what is going on with your engine, and that would be where I would start, and with a mechanics inspection mirror, you can then inspect the freeze plugs for any unusual appearance, such as rusting, or obvious rust pitting or pin holes. A bad freeze plug (with a small hole rusted in it) will produce the stream you describe. I would be extremely surprised if your leak has anything to do with either cylinder head or block. From what I know of the big block V-6's, and the experience I've had with them, block and head cracking would be very rare, unless it would have come from freezing, or very extreme overheating. And in the event of freezing, your block would be leaking from more than just one side or area of the block, and the same would hold true in the case of extreme overheating, warping, or cracking the heads, and in the latter case, overheated heads more often than not crack internally, usually in the combustion chambers. Best of luck to you on this one, Jon. I'd be interested in knowing what you find out about your engine.