camz28ryan

Ok so I have a head gasket leak after a fresh rebuild. Machine shop long blocked the engine. The first time the leak showed up was after driving the car about 15 miles. Called machine shop they told me to let it idle in driveway for 30 or 40 minutes to see if they seal up. Explaination was the aluminum and cast will move around while heating and cooling. I did that and the leak went away for about 4 days of driving. The car has been runnign like crap and was going to get it tuned on monday. Was checking the plug wires and noticed the head gasket leak is back. It's a bad leak and it is on the left side by the bolt closest to the fire wall.

I'm guessing my builder will tell me to try and tighten the head bolt to see if it stops the leak. Is this good advice? Should I try that and if I tighten one shouldn't I check the rest. Also What are the torque spec's?

dookie454

If all is flat and properly machined, the only thing that could cause a gasket leak is the gasket got nicked, there's some type of crud between the gasket, block, head, or the bolt is leaking coolant for some reason. You could try removing the manifold and sealing the head bolts that you can access, if that doesnt work the head has to come off. Make sure it's not the plug in the side of the head.

Letting the head gasket swell to fix a leak is really just a hope it fixes it type fix.

Ricardo

If it is leaking from a bolt it could be that the shop did not use teflon based sealant on the bolt threads. You could remove the bolt, apply sealant to the thread re torque it and be done with it.
Torque specs will depend on the type of head bolts used.

Injuneer

Since you've already got this on LT1 Based Engine Tech, have had useful replies, and indicated the shop that built the engine has agreed to pick it up, tear it down and repair it, there's really no point in keeping this open.

Please post a topic only on one forum, not multiple forums.