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Head Gasket Trouble


TorinWalhood

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Hello all,

 

I have encountered a very strange problem with my '69 510. Its stock L16 had a blown head gasket, So I replaced with one from Rock. I made sure to torque the headbolts to spec, and I had the head resurfaced at a machine shop. I started it for the first time today, and it ran well, but it leaked coolant from everywhere around the head; back and left and right sides. I cant explain it. Can anyone here shed some light on why? 

 

Torin

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Even the cheapest gasket will work, just fail sooner.

 

Obviously the intake was removed for planing... it's easy for the intake to leak from the coolant passages on the left side. Check the manifold bolts for tightness.

Crack missed in head.

Block damaged or not cleaned enough

Foreign object caught between head and block.

Were the two block alignment dowels in place?

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Also chase all the bolt holes with a thread chaser to get them all cleaned out. Dab of oil on the head bolt thread and torque it down in stages using the correct tightening sequence!!! Once it's torqued to 60lbs.... go back once again and double check all head bolts again in the same tightening sequence. Same goes for the intake and exhaust.

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Head bolts not bottomed out in the block?

that is what i was going to say, how much was the head milled the alignment dowels will bottom out too if that is it just trim them down on a grinder but only remove the ammount milled from the head. good luck with your repair! and happy new year

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Even the cheapest gasket will work, just fail sooner.

 

Obviously the intake was removed for planing... it's easy for the intake to leak from the coolant passages on the left side. Check the manifold bolts for tightness.

Crack missed in head.

Block damaged or not cleaned enough

Foreign object caught between head and block.

Were the two block alignment dowels in place?

 

There are no cracks in the head, that was checked at the shop. Also, coolant leaks out of both the left and right sides of the head, all the way along it, so it is certainly not the intake leaking, and I doubt one crack could leak this much water in so many places.  All sealing surfaces were cleaned. The block was also checked for warpage, and was within tolerances. Alignment dowels were in place, and the head went down nicely.

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if the dowels are too long you could have interference causing the head to not properly crush the steel ring and put enough pressure on the outer material this can cause leaks all the way around. Unfortunately the head will need to be removed to find what the problem actually is.

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if the dowels are too long you could have interference causing the head to not properly crush the steel ring and put enough pressure on the outer material this can cause leaks all the way around. Unfortunately the head will need to be removed to find what the problem actually is.

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If water is coming out all sides then something is preventing the head sandwiching the gasket tightly. Could be a foreign object, even the alignment dowels or the bolts bottomed out because the head was milled or dirt and gasket material from the cleaning down in the bolt holes.

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A mm would be a huge shave... about 0.040" maybe as much as one bolt thread. Not near enough to matter. Dirt or old removed gasket material in the bolt holes maybe.

 

You are going to have to remove it and tell us what it was.

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