blown head gasket??

maddux31 · January 20, 2004, 06:37:43 PM

Rebuilt my tgp motor over the past 2 months. Started the car up last Wednesday and no leaks. Drove 120 miles the day after I broke the new cam in, everything normal--no leaks/low coolant lights. Changed the oil at 180 miles--no debris. Drove to Illinois overnight Friday and Changed the oil at 550 miles still no debris. Left my parents driveway Saturday morning and had the top radiator hose blow off and engine went to at least 260 on the guage before I could get water/coolant back into the radiator/block. This amounted to less than 3-4 minutes in the red on the temp guage. Refilled everything and kept getting a low coolant light-- maybe the air bubble thing but then I parked the car overnight Sat and left again Sunday morning only to have another low coolant light and extreme temp spike about 5 minutes into driving, did the fill up the radiator thing and all that shit. Today I drove the car home to Omaha from Illinois stopping every 100 miles to add coolant. It is leaking down through the subframe channels mostly on the passenger side of the car. I'm not positive but the leak seems to be originating from the back(naturally) of the motor( nothing wet in the front of the engine). Where do the head gaskets usually leak(toward the outside of the engine or into the valley pan and mix with oil)?--and would this overheated condition on this aluminum head/cast block cause head warp or gasket failure(fel-pro gaskets torqued and sealed to specs). I'm not sure how much coolant I'm losing but I think that if it is only losing coolant under pressure/circulation that it is most likely a head gasket and not the block. Anyone ever have this happen. Looks like I'm gonna be in the garage a little more before I can really drive my car. GDMFPOS. Thanks in advance. Dale Malcolm, Omaha, NE. :cry: :cry: :cry:

TGPRobNY · January 20, 2004, 06:49:17 PM

I noticed when I redid my moter and pulled/detailed the entire engine bay...I noticed the metal coolant line mounted on the inside fenderwell wass corroding from the bottom edge and leaking under pressure. I replaced the metal line with hose. You may want to inspect yours anyway. Good luck

skalor · January 20, 2004, 07:17:43 PM

yeah, w-bodies are notorious for the metal coolant line that runs to the heater core to corrode and leak. That's actually how I got my Euro Lumina, the kid who owned it before me ran it out of coolant from that line leaking and it overheated and the whole engine was shot. It's kinda funny because the Lumina has one of the cleanest engine/engine bay I've ever seen and that's why the line rusted so fast. Where as my TGP had a very dirty/greasy engine/engine bay and mine was in perfect condition underneath all the dirt. Anyways, I'd check that out first before anything else. On a TGP there is the stupid plastic "firewall" covering that the line is hidden under so it's going to be a pain to get to. It runs from near the water pump down along the bottom of the passenger side front wheel-well and then along the firewall. Good Luck! :)

maddux31 · January 21, 2004, 06:53:28 AM

I will check that line to see if I get off easy, thanks for the input but I'm not counting on such an easy fix--I'm never that lucky. 14 year Texas car, so I doubt if anything is rusting with only 65,000 miles. Anyone else have any input on the head gaskets and what to look for with a failure???

idbeast · January 21, 2004, 12:55:31 PM

Did you replace the head bolts???

maddux31 · January 21, 2004, 03:25:06 PM

Quote from: idbeastDid you replace the head bolts???

yes I replaced everything that I was supposed to that is what has me so upset right now. $3,000 and a few months of work all down the drain because I didn't double check the little things that you take for granted after so much time, money, and energy. I found the leak, it is definitely the head gasket. Now I'm going to try an old product called "bars leak". Hopefully this stuff will work because I just don't have the time to do the head gasket because of other vehicle priorities. The leak was such a small trickle under pressure that I think it might work. The head gasket leak was about 1/16" wide or less coming down the back of the block just to the passenger side of the knock sensor, it was running down into the "cradle" that the front of the engine bolts into and then running out the holes in the bottom of the "cradle". The car is running great save for the temperature wanting to get pretty warm(just about 230) when I first start it probably due to the depressurizing of the system as it cools down(sucks air I assume), I am trying to combat this by using the bleeder valve to purge the air out when I start it up and adding coolant as the air is bleeded off. I will update my PITA as I find out more, thanks for the replies, hope to be back on the road with no leaks for $3.19. FAT CHANCE. HA! HA!

idbeast · January 21, 2004, 06:22:08 PM

If you do the bar's leak DON'T tighten the radiator cap down all the way, leave it at the first notch, I used bar leak once to stop a head gasket leak and it worked for about a day, but the cooling system pressure of 12lbs blew a 1/4" of head gasket out when it built up some pressure. FWIW...

Chris A · January 21, 2004, 08:16:52 PM

When you did the head gaskets what was the original problem?

Did you get the heads checked? Did you check the block? There really shouldn't be any reason for them to leak, head gasket failure is pretty rare on a 3.1, even with a turbo.

maddux31 · January 21, 2004, 10:28:57 PM

Quote from: idbeastIf you do the bar's leak DON'T tighten the radiator cap down all the way, leave it at the first notch, I used bar leak once to stop a head gasket leak and it worked for about a day, but the cooling system pressure of 12lbs blew a 1/4" of head gasket out when it built up some pressure. FWIW...

thanks for the heads up idbeast, I will take your advice and only tighten to the first notch on the cap. I will also do what a mechanic told me to do and that is to pour the stuff out in a glass and seperate the liquid from the pellets then use a razor blade to "cut" the pellets into small pieces, remix with the liquid so they will dissolve much easier, this is supposed to reduce the chance of a "blowout" and reduce wear on the water pump. Wish me luck!!

maddux31 · January 21, 2004, 10:37:11 PM

Quote from: Chris AWhen you did the head gaskets what was the original problem?

Did you get the heads checked? Did you check the block? There really shouldn't be any reason for them to leak, head gasket failure is pretty rare on a 3.1, even with a turbo.

the camshaft failure that I've discussed with you was the original problem, I took the thing down to the block and had new bearings put in for the crank and cam, new rings/block honed, polished the crank, new camshaft, new valve springs and valve seals, all new gaskets and seals throughout. Had everything blueprinted for tolerance and all was well, so I'm 99% sure that everything is flat and true. someday soon I hope to be getting our business finished up and paid in full. Take a deep breath and say a prayer for the effectiveness of this stuff, I will be trying it in the morning.

maddux31 · January 22, 2004, 02:55:42 PM

First of all I must say that my head gasket was "leaking" not "blown". The "bars leak" appears to have worked for the time being and thank God it did, my wife was ready to evict me if I had to tear that motor apart again. I crushed the pellets up with a spoon to ease the entry of the stuff into the cooling system. Sprayed the engine bay off (didn't want to see coolant from before) with water after I had the system full enough to prevent the low coolant light. Then you just let the engine idle or go for a drive(15--30 minutes). Have had the stuff in the system for about 6 hours and went for a drive 2 times to dry the water off the engine bay. Cardboard under the car so I know if anything is still leaking and so far there is no sign of anything. If this stuff holds for any duration I will have to change my signature to "home of the $3.19 head gasket".....give an update in about 2 or 3 days. Dale

maddux31 · January 27, 2004, 09:24:40 AM

wWell I won't be changing my signature because the damn thing is still leaking. It did slow the leak to a managable amount though. I have a puddle of coolant on my garage floor in the morning about 5" in diameter, not enough for me to be that worried about when it is below freezing. Low coolant light has not been on for 5 days so it must not be leaking to much under normal driving conditions. Will have to replace the rear head gasket as soon as the weather warms up. I'm thinking that this "bars leak" would do pretty well on a small radiator leak but I just have my doubts about it being a permanent fix for anything. I should have known better but not that big of a deal because I didn't inflate my hopes on a $3.19 product. Using fel-pro gaskets, does anyone know anything that might be better?? Thanks in advance, Dale Malcolm.