After I get these head studs redone, I'd like to pressurize the cooling system to see if I have any leaks, BEFORE putting everything back togother and bolting it all up...I guess I'm thinking I don't really have a choice though, as I'll have to drop the car down anyways to hook up all the hoses, but I can still do that w/o hooking the headers up and all the chassis bolts...

Thanks,
Dave

 

there is a hand held pump that i know snap on makes, it hooks up like the radiator cap and you can pump it up to whatever psi you'd like, and you can watch the gauges for leakdown.

might go to a local car repair place and ask if you can borrow one.

 

yes you can use coolant pressure tester. They sell or loan them at autozone and they are easy to use. Follow directions and pump the system up to about 15 psi and watch the guage. If it holds pressure you ethier have no leak or a really slow one. If it drops at a decent rate then look for the leak. Your leak may also be internal. If it drops quick and you can't see the leak check your oil and make sure is not getting in there. If it is not start the engine and see if puff of smoke comes out. If it does it may be a possible head gasket.

Kevin
96 stroker Z

 

did you pressurize the oil system before firing the motor?

 

Yeah I pressurized it.

Does the thermostat being in the engine have an effect on the way this pressurizing works? I mean, will it still get by the t-stat to pressurize? I'm not exactly sure how this cooling system works.

 

The pressure tester should work ok. Just FYI, the 4th gen is an 18 psi system.

 

Oh what fun. Time to get to dropping this K-member for the 17 millionth time. I think that will be easier than trying to cram myself under the dashboard?

 

Picked one up at O'Reilly's, $120! But, with my military discount it was like $80 still.

I got lazy, I think what I'm going to do is just get some lint free paper towels, soak up all the oil under the valve covers, pressurize the cooling system, see which studs are leaking reseal THOSE ones, let it set 24hrs or whatever it is, repressurize it, and check again to see if any are leaking. Screw taking this thing all apart again.

I really hope neither the front or rear head studs under the valve covers are leaking, no way in hell I can get a socket on those, well, unless I grind one down, is that what you guys do?!