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Ok so firstly I would like to say thank you to all you guys, i’ve posted a lot of questions on here regarding my 1994 plymouth acclaim v6 and they’ve all been answered promptly…onto the task at hand,
in a previous post i mentioned how i had a head gasket leak, combustion to coolant, did a block test and it tested positive for gases in the coolant… so for the last 2 weeks i’ve painstakingly torn apart the whole top end and eventually found a definitive split fire ring on my no1 cylinder head gasket…so i cleaned everything thoroughly, all new top end gaskets, new water pump and t-belt, cleaned heads and block, lightly sanded with high grit sandpaper, checked for warp of head and block with a feeler gauge to .2 mm, installed new fel-pro head gaskets and torqued the heads to 70 ftlbs in the proper rotation, clean bolt holes, even torque.
i got everything back together last night, and to my delight it started right up! (no external leaks either) but the bubbling in the coolant lines i originally had was back, checked with a block tester, and it sure enough turned yellow…
a couple weird things about when i was putting the gaskets on.. 1: the guides i watched said to put the fire ring connected side down, with the manufacturer prints facing up, however when i got the gaskets, i found that they would only fit the other way around, so since that was the only way they fat, i figured it was the proper orientation
2. the heads passed the feeler test, but the spot where the ring blew out in the block allowed my gauge to slide under it barely, very snugly, but i could only do it once and couldn’t repeat the result, leading me to believe it was my error (plus the block is steel and the heads are aluminum so i cant see any reason why the block would be warped but the heads fine)I’m at my wits end here and am seriously considering buying a new car unless this is an easy fix… so should i just drive it for a bit and see if the gaskets kinda seal themselves or should i try to torque the bolts down more? so confused… so irritated:/
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Hey,
I’m not at the point where I feel comfortable with changing a head gasket but could it be possible the coolant is still contaminated? Did you change the coolant and bleed the system completely of air?
Just my 2 cents, sometimes the easy stuff is simply overlooked on the bigger projects.
Good luck!
first off I would redo a compestion test… you want to check which head it is and the values on the head… you will also be testing where the leak is
did you have a machine shop check it while it was off?? for cracks and if the valuves are good?
did you replace the bolts or did you reuse the old bolts? aka you should always replace with new bolts bc the bolts can strech making the old ones bad and causeing the head to leak again….
what was the torc you did them too and what order did you do them in…
also did you titen them like 15 ft-lbs then like 30, then like 40 ect…. ??? because if you go one by one tighnting them down with the first bolt all the way down then just put in the 2nd bolt you will cause the head to shift causing the head gasket to go bad…
I would fist off do the compression test and lets us know what it says and we can explore more optionsKenzo, that would be wishful thinking, but i think any gases that would have been in there would have been removed in the cleaning processes.
Rob781, no i didn’t have the machine shop check it because i am a cheap bastardXD i did check for warp with a feeler multiple times and the heads passed through and through, i checked thoroughly for cracks too and cleaned all the valves as well. My head gasket didn’t blow due to an overheat situation though, i know that much, i think the ring blew out due to expansion and contraction shear exhibited on the gasket over the many years.
I torqued the bolts slowly and gradually, hand tightened all, torqued to prolly 40, a little more, then 70, then snugged them all at 70. oddly enough i just found the freaking instructions for my gaskets that were hidden in the bottom of the box… THEY say to torque to 80 ft/lbs as of 1995… while my manual says 70… perhaps i should re-torque?
I also just took her for a 2 mile spin to get food, its hard to say at this point, but it seems like the leak may be slowing? i know its wishful thinking, but perhaps through a couple heating and cooling cycles the gasket may seat itself properly in place? maybe that combined with another torque to 80 ft/lbs will fix the problem? at this point…its not gonna hurt any lol
Bear in mind, other than this, the thing runs perfect! it started right up after everything was put back, it seems to have a lot more power too, the slight oil burn it had previously is gone as well, and even after being under pressure i couldn’t find one leak of any kind coming from anywhere on the engine…its just this stinking combustion leak ugh
Oh also, as far as the compression test goes, i have a tester, but it seems moot at this point, because i’m not taking this damn engine apart again, even if i know where the leak is, the most i’m honestly going to do is torque the bolts more or maybe put some gasket repair in it…beyond that, i’m just gonna sell it to someone who’s still full of motivation lol.
Also yeah i bought new head bolts
good luck…. ya try the head gasket repair and see if it works… also remember sometimes they clogg up your thermistat… so after awhile you might want to replace it, after you think it good and sealed strong
If our looking at trying headgasket in a bottle I reccomend blue devil pour n go. Pour it in, run it let it cool and forget about it. No removing the thermostat and flushing afterwards.
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[quote=”Defcon” post=171971]How exactly do you check for a warped head with a feeler gauge :dry:[/quote]
you do it with a known strat edge… and feel the gap on the bottem of it…. feeling it untill you can no langer get the feeling gauge under it…HOW TO RESURFACE A WARPED CYLINDER HEAD AT HOME WITH SAND PAPER
oldskool funk does a really good job at explaing it
here is an other one where he test it[quote=”Cammed 05″ post=171966]If our looking at trying headgasket in a bottle I reccomend blue devil pour n go. Pour it in, run it let it cool and forget about it. No removing the thermostat and flushing afterwards.
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ya you dont have to remove it… but how they work is by gumming up the hole… what I find is all of them will get a small film on the parts inside of the system… dont get me wrong its doing its job whats what you want it to do… but the down isde is the thermistat has a small whole in the center for it to slide on… wich it will start to clogg up… thats why I was recomanding to afer awhile replace it… maybe like 3k miles or so just to be safe buts that me[quote=”Evil-i” post=172019][quote=”Rob781″ post=172011]…buts that me[/quote]
Yes it is.
for you any time, butty 😉 😉 😉 😉 😉[quote=”Rob781″ post=172011][quote=”Cammed 05″ post=171966]If our looking at trying headgasket in a bottle I reccomend blue devil pour n go. Pour it in, run it let it cool and forget about it. No removing the thermostat and flushing afterwards.
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ya you dont have to remove it… but how they work is by gumming up the hole… what I find is all of them will get a small film on the parts inside of the system… dont get me wrong its doing its job whats what you want it to do… but the down isde is the thermistat has a small whole in the center for it to slide on… wich it will start to clogg up… thats why I was recomanding to afer awhile replace it… maybe like 3k miles or so just to be safe buts that me[/quote]Correct sir. It is a band aid fix, not meant for permanant repair IMO. We just dumped a bottle in an accord we have as a quick fix for now. Who knows how long it will last
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Howdy guys, i’m following up because I figured that this warranted an update. I did infact re-torque the head bolts from 70 ft/lbs to 80, which appeared to stop the leak entirely until the car got nice and warmed up, then the bubbles began again. after seeing this i decided to get the blue devil pour-n-go (the smaller 30ish dollar bottle). my process was: removed t-stat and a bit of antifreeze. let the car get completely cool, added the blue devil slowly. let the car idle for the whole 50 minute duration with the heater on high. about 20 minutes into the process the bubbles in the resivoir subsided. its been about 3 weeks and i’ve put a good 300 miles on the car now, and all seems good! i babied the hell out of it for the first 100 miles but i can give it some juice now and it hasn’t given me any noticeable signs. since its summer here i figured id just leave the t-stat out for a few weeks and leave the blue devil in (the can says you can actually just leave this stuff in your coolant lines forever with the t-stat and all…which i think is kinda bogus). regardless, today i’m gonna put the t-stat back in and just keep an eye on the temp from now on incase it ends up gumming up from the blue devil…logic tells me that if the blue devil isnt causing any harm, i may as well leave it in to act as a recurrent seal aid should the gasket blow again…
with that being said, i know this stuff gets alot of mixed results…for my car though it appears to have worked, atleast temporarily(no bubbles, no coolant usage, perfectly clear exhaust). I think it worked for me due to a few factors…1: i cleaned the whole top end and gave it new head gaskets… 2: i also retorqued the bolts, farther sandwiching the gasket material
so i think in my case where the blue devil simply had to fill a tiny tiny inperfection in the head that the new gasket wasn’t quite able to sandwich, it worked quite well…
now if i had decided to use the stuff before i did the engine teardown, i doubt it would have worked, because the original head gaskets had actually blown a fire ring in the no1 cylinder, resulting in DAMAGE to the gasket, not a slight imperfection.
I guess what i’m saying is…i think this stuff will do a really good job as a sealant…but not as a replacement…just like how you wouldn’t use RTV silicone in place of a valve cap…but you would use it to seal that valve cap in place… ya dig?
anyway, thats my experience, wish me luck with the old gal! she’s gotta get me through as much college as possible!
ya if you had a fire ring your cylinder could of warped… if you do a compression test you can test that but I would probly leave it allone for now…. was you head really warped a lot??
ya I agree with you keep and eye on your coolent that stuff job is to clogg thats what its ment to do, but it can clog the theristat too… but you would want to give it some time to fully set in
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