Leaking head gasket

[cahner]

I noticed a coolant leak and tracked it down. It is at the back corner of the driver side head. It is a very small leak, but a leak just the same.

There is only 78,000 miles on this build. There is no mixing of coolant and oil. My first attempt will be to retourqe bolts. I dont expect any luck there and will need to replace gasket.

I have always used victor reinz gaskets.

Any other suggestions?

 

[icanfixall]

Did you clean out the block head bolt threads ALL THE WAY DOWN??? If not you might remove a head bolt and grind down 1 thread. Then it wont possibly bottom on dirty threads. If you used studs on the rebuild forget what I posted. How are you ablr to tell us the mileage on this build?

 

[cahner]

I can give you mileage because I am the one that built it. I finished it and put the first mile on it January 1 2008.

I did clean out all the way to bottom and used bolts not studs. This truck is my daily driver but is also used to drag welder around. It is pretty heavy, 7k, and is used to pull a lot.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Something must have went wrong during installation IMO.
Did you clean deck surfaces very well & use some type of thread lube on both headbolt threads and washers? Did you use a calibrated torque wrench? Did you re-surface the cylinder heads? Lots of ?'s.
VR & Felpro headgaskets are goodins for these engines. I've always gone with FP and haven't had a problem.

 

[79jasper]

I would think installation error would have shown up sooner.


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[cahner]

I agree with install error, but I am very biased. This truck has run flawlessly. I was never able to exceed 10lbs boost and a couple months ago added the junior moose and moose misters and can easily make 14 lbs. my first guess is fatigued and stretched bolts.

when I built it everything was done, vatted, cleaned etc.

 

[Hydro-idi]

I agree with install error, but I am very biased. This truck has run flawlessly. I was never able to exceed 10lbs boost and a couple months ago added the junior moose and moose misters and can easily make 14 lbs. my first guess is fatigued and stretched bolts.

when I built it everything was done, vatted, cleaned etc.

Now that you mention that, stretched bolts makes sense, especially if they were re-used. It no longer sounds like installation error.
Definitely go with ARP's or at least new headbolts when you pull the heads off.

 

[tbrumm]

I also had a very small leak in the same location as yours - rear of driver's side head. Russ (typ4) suggested a product called Irontite (bottle with blue cap)to stop the leak. While I was reluctant to use a "sealer", I used it and it worked great. This stuff has very fine particles in it and does not clog up coolant passages or the heater core. I guess it uses the pressure of the cooling system to "push" the fine particles into the very small gap between the sealing surfaces and eventually builds up enough to stop the leak. I eventually pulled the heads on my truck and installed new HG's and ARP head studs. The leak at the head was completely sealed and the truck ran great. The water pump started weeping (unrelated to the Irontite), so since I was going to have the whole front of the motor torn down (serp belt), and the coolant system drained anyway, I decides to do the HG's.

 

[no mufflers]

same thing happened to mine a few years ago. the engine was N/A its whole life with unknown mileage and when I put a turbo on it, it held together fine for a while. over time coolant did start to leak in the back corner but only if I was on the highway for a while.