Well if you guys remember I posted about a week ago that I was loosing antifreeze somewhere and not outside of the engine...well i finally got to taking off the valve covers to check out if im getting any into the oil...here are the pics:











And here is a shot of my finger after I swept it through the valley of he one head to see what the oil looked like...



Idk what you guys can tell from that but on the valve cover gasket it looked like antifreeze liquid (yellow tint) on it but I use orange dexcool so idk if mixing with the oil turned the color ot the blue gasket making it look different. Im about to tear off the heads and intake and just re-gasket everything so that im sure its sealed up. Also I did notice my rockers making a lot of noise before...some of them i can wiggle back and forth pretty good...how do I go about tightening them up or whats the ft-lbs they should be tighened too. Thanks a lot for all your help guys...just hope i can get it running before winter hits and get acouple more cruises

 

Sorry I messed up the links once again...here is the final post with them...sorry again

-Chris

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/554208825ceGoai

 

if its not a head gasket it could be your block it cracked right?

 

Im not sure yet...everyone said it was a head gasket but I didnt want to tear into it if it wasnt...I didnt take off the oil pan to see if there is chocolate milk in there but that might be my next step cause i really cant tell from the valve covers...if anyone could tell me what im looking at or what they would do first it owuld be a great help...im at a stand still right now...should I just pull the heads for the heck of it and replace it just to make sure or take out the engine and have ot looked over for a crack??? Thanks

Chris

 

Am I missing something but why don't you just drain the oil?

 

I did drain the oil and it looked normal...not chololate looking or overfilled cause of coolant so idk what to think...i think im going to drain it again and take the oil pan off but i didnt want too if i didnt need too but i guess thats my only choice to see what the pan looks like and see if there is any coolant in there...just wanted to get some opinions before i did.

 

You can't always tell by draining the oil, especially if it's leaking coolant slowly. My car leaked for almost 6months before things really were noticable. The oil looked regular, untill I pulled the pan and found the yogurt sitting there. It wasn't allot but enough to let me know what had been going on. Honestly it's hard to tell from just looking at those pics. Oil doesn't usually collect and rest in the head area in large abundances. You can send the oil out to get tested and play it safe, or you can dig into the engine further. If your lucky you probably didn't have a severe leak, so your engine might not be as bad as you think.

 

Did you put a Cooling System Pressure tester on it?????? I mentioned this in your last thread. Under normal conditions, your cooling system will hold your cap pressure for a certain amount of time(air that is....liquid it should hold all the time at the rated pressure). The directions in the pressure tester will explain this....

The directions in mine says that your cooling system should hold your rated cap pressure for at least 2 minutes(after you pump up the pressure...). If the pressure drops slowly within this time you may have a small leak. If it drops quickly, you absolutely have a leak.

If the cooling system has fluid and if you have a leak.....when you pressurize it, the coolant will start coming out of the spot where the leak is....if you suspect water in the oil....pull the oil pan then pressurize it...you will find the leak....if it's leaking into the pan.

Here is what my tester looks like.....

http://www.ace1252.com/DSCN1558.JPG

The attachments allow for cap pressure testing also....

It didn't take anywhere near the rated cap pressure to find my brother's leak in his engine....only 7psi. There was a steady stream of water out the bottom and front of the engine(he had two leaks).

 

Well I have solved part of the problem...the missing coolant...so I rigged up a fitting with a gauge and screwed it into the bleeder valve on the thermostat housing...put some air into the system via a compressor and BAM coolant comes flying out of the front of the radiator about 4 inches down from the cap. Took out the radiator and sure enough there is a small hairline crack in the front. I never had any coolant coming out of it on the ground or anywhere that I could see so before when i was loosing it so im guessing once it warmed up it would leak out of that crack.

So now its time to find a good radiator...any suggestions???

Once I replace this im going to do another pressure test and see if the coolant is coming out of anywhere else in the engine just to make sure.

Thanks ACE1252 for the pressure test idea...worked like a charm Im going to test again once I put in the new radiator just to be safe. Thanks again everyone for the help and I will keep you updated on what happens.

-Chris

 

I'm glad that you found what seems to be the problem.

I read that you did have a gauge rigged up. Good. Just be careful with the air pressure from your source. Anything above your cap rated pressure could actually cause a problem.

From my tester instructions.....

"Important:
A. The arrow points of the recommeded pressure should never be exceeded! This can rupture the radiator cap and/or hoses.

B. Never exceed the 30 pound limit, for this may cause serious damage."

I'm not sure if they were trying to say that the damage will occur the the tester or the cooling system....but I'm assuming it's the cooling system.

What I'll try to do for, future reference, is scan my tester instructions. It describes how to use the tester to find a leak in a combustion chamber as well.

Edit: After thinking about it...the way you are pressurizing the system, with the cap on.....as soon as you exceed the cap pressure. I think you would start dumping coolant into the overflow reservoir.

 

What I had inline from my compressor was just a normal shop blower for like cleaning off the work bench and what not...I just hit the air for about a half of a second and the pressure didnt get above 10psi and already coolant flew out of the crack and the pressure dropped back down.

After I get the new radiator in I saw that Autozone loans out that tool so im going to get that to make sure that everything is sealed up good before I test for leaks in the engine. If you could though, im not sure if this kit will come with instructions so would you be able to scan and post the instructions for me? I will be going to pick up the tool after work and will let you know if it came with them or not. Cause my next plan is to check the combustion chamber like you said and see if water leaks out of my drained oil pan. Thanks again ACE

-Chris

 

Autozone is exactly where I got this tool. As a matter of fact, they told me I could keep the one I rented if I wanted. Since it was in good condition, I kept it.
There should be instructions with it, if not, just let me know. I'll make sure and scan mine.

Edit: You can't check the combustion chamber by pulling the pan. However, you can check see if the system is somehow leaking into the pan that way.

To check for a combustion chamber leak, with the engine running...(I mistakenly left this part out) basically, what you do is put the gauge on the cooling system(lol, before you run the engine...lol sorry for my horrible instructions). If the there is a leak from the chamber into the cooling system, the pressure gauge needle will "vibrate" wildly. By pulling the plug wires(one at a time...replacing after checking each one) the needle will stop vibrating as wildly, because of the pressure drop from inhibiting combustion.

 

Yea I know what you mean...what I was going to try to do is see if coolant is leaking into the chamber or out of the head/intake somewhere just to make sure I dont have a leaking head gasket...cause Im sure that if I have my cooling system all leak proof and sealed up right that I should be able to see water coming from the engine if there is in fact a leak. I was going to try and pull the pan but Im in my driveway and not in the garage where the Hoist is so I cant lift the engine up to get the pan off. Any thoughts on how to take the pan off with just a jack and stands??? haha I was just going to leave my drain plug out and pump up the system...im sure if water is getting through its just going to run out of the drain plug...I hope. Thanks again ACE and hopefully they give me a good deal on the tester

-Chris

 

hope that's your problem too, I had a busted rad that caused a busted gasket... go figure... good luck man.

 

The way I pulled the pan was to use my engine hoist, pull the engine mouting bolts, jack up the engine with hoist, then pull the pan.

Actually, leaving the pan on may work too...because if it is quiet...I suspect that you will hear the coolant hitting the bottom of the pan.

Around $80 for the tester; if I recall correctly.