Need serious help . . . Cylinder # 3 taking on water!

[S_Beaudry]

Carrying on from my last post, I pulled all spark plugs and checked them, all were dry and clean except for cylinder #3.

The plug was pretty well wet so I took a long screwdriver, taped up the end real good, and put her in and spun her around cylinder # 3, she came out "dripping" wet!

So, my coolant pressure problem is found, leaking into #3 right?

Please look at the pics attached and give me some advice here as to why coolant is getting into the cylinder.

Is it just the head gasket or maybe a bad block?

What the heak is all the gook on the top of block and the bottom of the head gasket?

What is the small crack-like circle in the block in the bottom right corner of the second picture here? There is also one of these on the top of the block between #3 & 4.

Is it leaking due to all that stuff caked on the block and head?












Please help.........

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Hi,
Looks like a blown head gasket,you need to find the cause.
- did you check the torque of the head bolts as you took it apart?
should have been 70 ft/lbs.
- take the heads to a machine shop and mill 3 thou off to make sure they are straight.
- if you are using aluminum heads, then get a graphite head gasket ,it will let the head move a bit. also warm engine up to operating temp BEFORE you stand on the gas if you have aluminum heads.
- put thread sealer on the short [lower] head bolt threads as they are into the water passage.
Good Luck,
Perry.

[Excaliber]

The picture is not clear enough for me to determine if the gasket is blown or not. The "residue" left of the gasket/block surface does really tell me much. There will be some residue left on these surfaces after running the engine and tearing down.

Clearly the water is getting in there!! I'd have the head checked out by a machine shop looking for possible cracks. You might not be able to "see" them, the machine shop may have to use a special process to find them/it.

Cheaper alternative: Assume it IS the head gasket. Use a new one, assemble correctly and try it again!

[trularin]

How safe do you want to be?

It does not look like you broke anything, so you could risk it and say, "leaking head gasket" or you could pull the engine and rebuild from the ground up, testing the block for cracks before you assemble it.

It is a matter of budget and time. I think you should be able to get an overhaul gasket set ( without bearings ) around $150.00.

Testing may cost you up to $200.00, but if I found this I would be suspect. I might want to rebuild and make sure.

Just a thought.

[S_Beaudry]

Checked the torque before removing them, all were set to the right torque.....

What is all the caked up stuff on the block surface and the head?

[Excaliber]

Cacked up "stuff" is just gasket material, some stuck to the the block, some to the head, perfectly normal.

[427sharpe]

That is the permaseal from the head gasket, and it should be there. It is mfg onto the gasket to help seal small imperfections in the sealing faces. Clean it before installing a new gasket. Before re-assembly, take a GOOD metal straightedge and lay in across the block both across each cylinder and transversely acroos the entire head surface and check for gaps between the block and straightedge. No more than .003-.004 should be there. Do the same on the head, which is easier to see because you can do it on a bench. If you find a gap, a machine shop is in your future! If it all looks ok, take the head and have it magnafluxed and pressure tested...should cost about 75 bucks total...if is passes these, it should be fine to reassemble. If you run the car hot, you might consider head studs instead of bolts, try ARP. Also, some gasket mfgs require you to RETORQUE the head bolts after break in....ck with your supplier, or better yet, use FelPro Permaseals and forget it.