How to tell if my 97 ford Mustang has a blown head gasket?

How to tell if my 97 ford Mustang has a blown head gasket?

Check the oil. If it is a grey colour that indicates water in the oil, leaking past your head gasket. The coolant might also feel oily

Frist, is there white smoke coming out the exhaust? This is a tetlltale sign but it may leak and not enough to produce white smoke. Engine cool, start engine with radiator cap off. When it warms up you will see the coolant racing by inside the radiator. Now look for a string of bubbles especially on acceleration. Don't be confused by random air trapped in the system--the difference will be obvious.
If in normal running your coolant reservoir overflows this is a sign of a head gasket leak.
Water in the oil is a sign. The best way to confirm a small leak of exhaust into the coolant is to have an emissions guy wave his wand over the open radiator cap. This will detect the fumes not matter how small the leak. Another way is to do a pressure test. This will confirm NO head gasket leak but will not distinguish between a head gasket leak or an ordinary leak. Another test which will help is a compression test. Two adjacent cylinders with lower compression means a leak, while all equal means no leak. There are different kinds of head gasket leaks, oil, coolant and compression gas. If you run a pressure test on the coolant system and it holds steady overnight, then you can be sure you have no leak of any kind. Ford heads warp so gasket replacement alone will not work. It may or may not be machinable. This is why there are always guys looking for good used Ford heads.

Water in the oil, oil in the water, water coming out exhaust pipe, engine running like poop, its been extremely overheated lately and now running rough… Etc etc.