Flush/fill that migrated into blown head gasket and plugged up radiator. Read on

[4402tuff4u]

Machine shop was telling me not to forget to re-torque the head bolts after 1000 miles. Gonna be difficult to get 1000 miles that quickly with winter rolling in.
I'm trying to decided if I want to hold off putting my freshly cleaned up and painted original valve covers back on till them. I have a set of Chrome after market valve covers I could use till that point. What do you guys think? That and a set of crappy valve cover gaskets that I don't really care much about.


and do any of you guys know when torqing the head bolts if the sequence matters from front to back.
The torque diagram I have shows the sequence but doesn't show a fowd to aft or aft to forward direction on the head.
Anyone know the answer to that?

   

I never heard of retorquing bolts after 1,000 miles. My engine builder never mentioned it. Is that standard procedure? Learn something new everyday!

[resq302]

I have heard that also about retorquing the heads.  I don't know if everyone does it or not or if it even matters but I did mine on the el camino after we had it rebuilt.  I don't remember if they torqued down any further or not.

[70charginglizard]

Heads are back on and torqued per spec.
Feel like I just gave birth. Enough for tonight.
Taking your guys advise and taking my time.
I'll tackle the intake tomarrow.

[Steve P.]

Don't forget the header bolt thread jism...   

[70charginglizard]

You guys are not going to frinkin believe this.

It's still doing it. I just spent 8 hours putting everything together EXACTLY to spec, double checking flushnesses on the heads and the block, looked fine so after I got it all together and started it, it's still leakin pressure from the cooling system somewhere and over heating. Got it started and took it out on the highway and about 15-20 minutes in it shoots up to 240-250. Looked all over for any exterior leaking....nothing!

That sure was a waste of money and days of manual labor.

On a lighter note it sure looks pretty.

No idea where to go from this point.

Think it's time to just say...I give up and put the cover over it. It will make a very nice museum piece for my garage that's for sure.

signed.....very distressed.

[Steve P.]

Damn sorry to hear that Kelly.. 

At this point I would park the car inside the garage on a very clean, dry floor and put the pressure tester on it, ( pumped up), and watch for a leak.. It has to be going somewhere.. If nothing there, it's time to go back and recheck everything we have gone over before in this thread.

Quick question: DID you change the t-stat?

If so, did you drill a 1/8" hole in the new one?  The 1/8" bleed hole will release any trapped air in the pump to the rad.

[70charginglizard]

Yep.
Brand new 180 degree thermo. and I drilled the little 1/8 dia hole in the sucker myself.

Still wouldn't answer the question of why the cooling system is not holding pressure though there are no external leaks anywhere and wouldnt answer the question of where that pressure is escaping from. It's certainly not coming from the heads. I know that now for sure. And the block was showing no visable cracks on it either and theres no water in the oil what so ever.

I redecked the heads, Checked for a crack in the heads. Double checked the decked surfaces of the head and the block. Was extra EXTRA careful installing the head not to damage the gasket, assured that all surfaces were spotless (using acetone) before installing the new head gaskets, assuring and double asurring that all bolts to the head were installed in proper sequence and in foot pound on the torque.   

This is just about the most frustrating thing I've ever had happen to me in my life. 

That bars leak stuff is looking better and better the more I think about it. What do I have to loose?

[Steve P.]

How fast or slow is the pressure going down on the pump gauge??

At this point I would keep pressure up on the system. It HAS to be going somewhere!!  Look closely at the rad. The more water it pumps out the easier it will be to find the leak. Just don't take it up into the red.. You could CAUSE a leak at that high of pressure..

[70charginglizard]

Now it seems to be holding.

Maybe it just needed a heat up for everything to expand?

I'm not holding my breath. I'll see if it holds 16psi all night and take er for another test ride tomarrow.

Cross your fingers.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Check your transmission fluid. I had the trans cooler inside the radiator spring a leak and wound up with a tranny full of anti-freeze. The damned thing still shifted just fine   It's a long shot, but it would explain a "mystery" pressure loss...

[70charginglizard]

Check your transmission fluid. I had the trans cooler inside the radiator spring a leak and wound up with a tranny full of anti-freeze. The damned thing still shifted just fine   It's a long shot, but it would explain a "mystery" pressure loss...

My tranny cooler is completely seperate from the radiator. It's a seperate little tranny cooler mounted in front of the radiator with it's own lines to the tranny. No tie in to my 22 inch radiator what so ever so I'd have a hard time seeing that being a problem but I looked at the dipstick for the transmission anyhow just to be sure and it's just normal looking red transmission fluid.

[Daytona R/T SE]

Well, it was worth a shot, anyway....good luck...

[firefighter3931]

Geez Kelly, this thing is fighting you tooth and nail. Hopefully it's just the head gaskets trying to seal themselves. Check the rad very closely....it might have a pinhole where the core is welded to the tank up top. I've seen that once before.

Keep us posted.


Ron

[resq302]

just out of curiousity, I know you totally drained the cooling system again.  It might be possible that you got air in the system.  Its still worth a shot to dry the burping method again with the car on the ramps.  It seems like you have checked everything.  I highly doubt that you have a cracked block but at this point anything is possible.

Did you have the radiator flow tested at a radiator shop?

[charger Downunder]

Check for leaks inside car from heater core look under the carpet at the front you may have a slow leak.

[70charginglizard]

Did you have the radiator flow tested at a radiator shop?

That is one thing that I have not done yet. I assumed since the radiator didn't have any cold spots and wasn't showing any drips. Even with the tester on the system all night that the radiator must be fine. It's about one of the only things I haven't tried yet so I'll start working on getting that thing out today and bringing it to a good radiator shop I know of around here locally. It just seems weird that it wouldn't show a drip somewhere on the floor from the radiator if it had a leak. Even a slow one.

BTY- I pumped the cooling pressure tester up to 16psi last night and left it on all night and it did drop but not all the way to zero. It only dropped to 13.5 psi over night. I did this after it substancially cooled down to luke warm/almost cold.

[70charginglizard]

Check for leaks inside car from heater core look under the carpet at the front you may have a slow leak.

Ive checked that area a number of times.
Bone dry.

Oh, and another thing to note. I dumped the oil out last night and replaced it with fresh oil and upon inspection of the old oil. It looks totally normal as well. Absolutely no water contamination. Just thought I'd mension that.

[resq302]

Did you have the radiator flow tested at a radiator shop?

That is one thing that I have not done yet. I assumed since the radiator didn't have any cold spots and wasn't showing any drips. Even with the tester on the system all night that the radiator must be fine. It's about one of the only things I haven't tried yet so I'll start working on getting that thing out today and bringing it to a good radiator shop I know of around here locally. It just seems weird that it wouldn't show a drip somewhere on the floor from the radiator if it had a leak. Even a slow one.

BTY- I pumped the cooling pressure tester up to 16psi last night and left it on all night and it did drop but not all the way to zero. It only dropped to 13.5 psi over night. I did this after it substancially cooled down to luke warm/almost cold.

Just because a radiator doesnt have cold spots doesn't mean it is somewhat restricted and not causing it to cool properly.  Also, a radiator could be leak free but be blocked internally causing a lack of coolant movement.  My guess is you have a restriction somewhere or air in the system still.  Just curious, but did you pull the water pump housing off where it bolts up the the front of the block?  Im just thinking something could have gotten stuck in there and restricting the water flow in or out of the block.

[70charginglizard]

I'll let you know about the waterpump. I'm going to pull that off when I get the radiator out. Midas well sonce I have all these new extra gaskets. Give me a good chance to look at the inlet and outlet hose lines to the engine as well.

The on going overheat saga continues......

[resq302]

Hopefully between your work and some of the heads put together here on this board you should be able to fix it.  I would love to know what is causing this problem as it is starting to preplex me.

[70charginglizard]

Just dropped the radiator off at the shop but there mechanics won't be in till Monday. I should hear something after then.

Both the inlet and the outlet hoses looked terrific. No clogging debris what so ever. Very clean. Still have to get the water pump off.

[70charginglizard]

Well I pulled the water pump off and it all looks good in there.
The waterpump had all of it's fins and the bearings were all good and strong.
The water pump housing looked teriffic inside. No debris or cloging going on anywhere.
Another elimination in the overheating saga....

[resq302]

Did you pull the water pump housing off of the block?  There are two holes that connect the water pump housing to the water jacket of the block.  If I remeber right, they are about the size of a quarter or a half dollar hole in diameter.  Just thinking that something inside there might be blocking your flow. 

[70charginglizard]

Did you pull the water pump housing off of the block?  There are two holes that connect the water pump housing to the water jacket of the block.  If I remeber right, they are about the size of a quarter or a half dollar hole in diameter.  Just thinking that something inside there might be blocking your flow. 

Not yet,
I'm wating to see what the radiator shop has to say about the radiator.
If they can give me a difinative answer of what it's doing then I'm going to go from there.

[4402tuff4u]

That really blows!! I can just picture something like that happening, just stay focus!!!