Guess I'm looking at head gaskets

[gimpyrobb]

The coolant system will hold pressure for a long time, if my motor is any reference. Sounds normal to me.

 

[patracy]

Yeah, I know it's normal. I'm just trying to figure out where this leak is. It's just the engine oil that is crappy. Coolant looked great. I know I had coolant leaks from the hoses on the manifolds and oil cooler, But I've snugged them up and they stopped. I honestly don't know the oil's condition or age.

I picked up some oil today and have filters on the way. I'm going to hose down the top end of the engine with parts cleaner, then change the oil and filters. Since the coolant looks great, I'm going to filter it and use probably half it. (The other half will be new with SCA) I'm also going to dump some alumiseal in it and see if the problem continues. I'll probably idle it up to temp with the covers loose to see what I can see.

 

[patracy]

Just heard from Chuck about the oil. It was not changed. So that, in a way, makes me feel better. Who knows how long the oil has sat or what has mixed in with it. When I get back next week, I'm going to throw the cooler back on and flush everything out. Add a little sealer and let it run with the covers off so I can watch things better.

 

[tm america]

i would retorque the head gaskets while you have the valve covers off.. i think most don't get properly retorqued after the break in period...might save you some trouble down the road

 

[patracy]

i would retorque the head gaskets while you have the valve covers off.. i think most don't get properly retorqued after the break in period...might save you some trouble down the road

Good point! While it's semi-torn down I'll torque the bolts. Gotta make the wrench though.

 

[patracy]

Does anyone have any pics of where the heads crack at? I know typically a diesel head will crack between the intake and exhaust valves. But is there any other areas prone to cracking at the water passages? When I removed the rockers, I thought maybe I found the source of the coolant leak. But the freeze plugs look fine (no rust) under the rocker mounts. Basically there was a puddle of coolant in the two furthermost from center mounts. It appears those mounts have an oil passage leading to them to lube the rockers.

When I get back home, I'm also going to pressure test the oil cooler by plugging the ends and dropping it in boiling water.

 

[clinto]

I've never seen a multi head crack. I don't think it's terribly common.

 

[patracy]

Maybe it'll turn out to be the oil cooler or those discolored o-rings. We'll see later this week. Thanks for the info Clinto.

 

[Stretch44875]

If you don't run the truck much, or only for short drives, condensation can build up in the valve covers. I had this happen a lot on my jeep engine. A good long drive usually cleared it out.

 

[onegmjack]

Short runs,or around town,keeps the moister from burning off the cylinder wall.I had a BBC with tall Moroso valve cover
inside top of cover looked like brown white crean chesse.I think I will check the oil cooler orins and gasket just to be on the saft side.

 

[patracy]

Just got back home today from Orlando. Not much to report as accomplishments. But a lot of prep work. First off I sneaked the oil cooler into the house to confirm it holds pressure without issue. I picked up two rubber plugs, a cheapo 7/8" wrench, and a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter. My oil filters and cooler gaskets came in while we were gone as well.

First off to test the cooler I took a large pot of water and started it to boil on the counter. I then installed the rubber freeze plugs into the ports of the coolers to seal it off air tight.

* Remote hosted image would be posted here

Then I dropped the entire cooler into the pot and watched for bubbles. Emanating from any edges or surfaces of the cooler. Unfortunately, the cooler was a little larger than the pot I had so I had to flip it to check everything out.

* Remote hosted image would be posted here

After a few minutes and nothing spotted, I pulled the cooler out and loosened up one plug. I listened closely while doing this so I could hear a rush of air. As I hoped, I heard the whoosh meaning it had held up being air tight. Since it was a little cool outside, I put the plugs back in and took it outside to finish cleaning the old gaskets off. Took some effort, but those gaskets are finally off!

* Remote hosted image would be posted here

By then the "hot" cooler had cooled down. I popped the rubber plug off again. And was greeted by another whoosh. Meaning the cooler had pulled down a slight vacuum (going from hot to cold). So it appears that the cooler is in good shape.

Tomorrow I'm going to take the wrench and make my head bolt tool out of it. I was thinking about heating it with the torch and bending it close to the shape of the real tool. But most likely I'll just cut the boxed end off with ~1" of the center remaining and weld the adapter onto it. I'll have to do a little math using it this way though. As 153ft-lbs would be more at the fastener.

Hopefully the "plan" for tomorrow is to make the tool, torque the heads down again as a check, reinstall the cooler, top the coolant back off and add alumiseal, reinstall the rockers, and fire it up. Then watch for any steam from the heads. If I don't see anything, I'll change the oil and see how things go from there. I really want to have the deuce rolling again by Christmas.

 

[doghead]

* additional advise would be posted here, if you were not such a smart azz.

fwiw, Other websites allow hosted images, why don't you find one and use it.

I'm done. You win. I suck.

If you continue to complain about image hosting in this thread or any others, you will be banned.

You have also been placed into "moderated" status. We will manually approve your threads, one at a time now, until you show that you do not want to waste our time on this subject any more. You should expect some delay in your posts being approved and posted.

 

[Phansm72]

* additional advise would be posted here, if you were not such a smart azz.

fwiw, Other websites allow hosted images, why don't you find one and use it.



If you continue to complain about image hosting in this thread or any others, you will be banned.

You have also been placed into "moderated" status. We will manually approve your threads, one at a time now, until you show that you do not want to waste our time on this subject any more. You should expect some delay in your posts being approved and posted.

Ruh roh!

 

[patracy]

* additional advise would be posted here, if you were not such a smart azz.

fwiw, Other websites allow hosted images, why don't you find one and use it.



If you continue to complain about image hosting in this thread or any others, you will be banned.

You have also been placed into "moderated" status. We will manually approve your threads, one at a time now, until you show that you do not want to waste our time on this subject any more. You should expect some delay in your posts being approved and posted.

Didn't know that typing placeholders for images would bring down such hostility. I told ya'll I'm done with the image thing. I just don't see the point in uploading images that no one sees. (Didn't you [doghead] yourself also state you don't click on the image links?) If someone wants the images listed, I'd be more than happy to email it to them. I'd add "email me for any pics that might not be in my posts" to my sig, but I'd have to assume I'd incur further rapture of the staff.

You're absolutely right about other sites having remote hosted images. I run several of them.

That's fine being placed into moderated status. I've only made factual statements. I'm not a troll, nor do I spew vulgar statements. If it pleases the staff, so be it.

I would like clarification on how to proceed with images? Would adding the email me for pics in my sig be acceptable? Or would it be permittable in certain posts to add that members may email me for pics?


Now, on another note, but along the same lines....

I did report a post I noticed the other night. It was a youtube video. Why would remote hosted youtube videos be permitted when images are not? Those can also be deleted/made private. And I'm certain that the youtube.com domain would be blocked by many businesses internet filtering. If images aren't allowed for that reason, it stands to reason the same logic should be placed on the youtube videos. But what's worse is, someone installed the vB hack to auto embed them. So they worked hard to break image auto embed just as much as they worked hard to enable auto embed youtube video (HTML).

 

[patracy]

BTW, could an admin please up the stored PM allowed for the moderated group. My PM ability has now been crippled due to being place in this group. I was trying to help a few members out on wheels and tires (giving them John and Bobby's number) but can't now. I'll try whiddling through my PMs to see what I can toss out though in the mean time.

 

[patracy]

Well, an update, Got the oil cooler reinstalled and topped off the coolant. I did have a slight dribble of coolant when I had everything bolted back up. But I just needed to snug the bolts slightly more to make it stop. Oil pressure is at 55-60psi at idle. I brought the engine up to 165-170F (it's only 35F here) with the valve covers off. I can see blowby, but I don't see any coolant leaking near the pushrods. I looked more closely at the o-rings from the cooler, they were flattened. I also dumped a bottle of alumaseal in the coolant too.

If I have time tomorrow, I'm going to adjust the valves since the valve covers are still off. Then I'll dump the oil and filters and install new.

On a side note, I'm very impressed at how easy the multi-fuel started up after all this. I had 3 injector lines disconnected. It fired back up like I hadn't touched a thing. My cummins or VW diesels would have had me bleeding injector lines for a while... And that's with a 60/40 blend of WMO and diesel!

I'm really eager to get this thing back on the road. Then it's the next hurdle of getting the 395's on! I need to figure out adding heat too...

 

[patracy]

Got the valves adjusted and the oil changed. So far so good....

 

[patracy]

BTW Oil changes are very messy on multifuels.

I think I'm going to switch over to a spin on setup next time around. I did my oil change in the snow, so I couldn't make out the valley for the canister. I assume the first time I tried I got the housing sideways and it POURED oil out when I started it up. Anyway, I got the can lined up and back on. Back up to 60psi of oil pressure at idle.

There's probably 3" of snow around here now, so I'm not going to bother driving. I might take it for a spin tomorrow. Hopefully I've got everything in working order now on the deuce and I can focus on the wheels and tires.

 

[patracy]

Drove it today in the ice and snow. Everything did fine. No leaks or anything. Power is still fine. Temp only got up to 170F. Driving in the snow/ice stinks with no heat. I'm thinking about taking my infrared propane/bbq tank heater and tossing it in the cab next time I drive in this kind of weather. I just came back home and parked it due to the ice freezing. Need to find a heater setup.

 

[dabtl]

I got caught up with work today and decided it was time to check the oil since the o-rings change on the oil cooler. Nothing but oil. Those o-rings were the problem apparently.