Coolant leaks on the heads

[dgr]

It appears I might have two coolant leaks. Parked the truck and went out the next morning and saw moisture under the driver's side. Taste test says it's coolant. Crawling under the truck it appears that the coolant is coming from the top of the rear of the head where it mates to the block. A pretty common place to develop a coolant leak as I understand it.

While climbing on top of the engine trying to see if there was any coolant leaking from the top, I noticed that the passenger rear glow plug area was full of coolant. From the swirling of the dirt particles in it, it looks like it is leaking from between the head and the intake manifold. I haven't heard about this one before. I swabbed the coolant out and it filled back up with coolant.

So, can coolant leak from the passenger rear of the engine and make it to the back of the head on the driver's side? This is assuming it isn't being blown around at 65 mph. Just idling in the driveway with the hood up. Or do I infact have two separate leaks?

My truck uses way more oil than I want it too, especially for ~150k miles on it so I was entertaining rebuilding the heads anyway. CDR is new so that isn't the issue. I found a guy locally that has a pair of 6.9 heads that he said came from an IH factory engine that blew the bottom end with only around 10k miles on it. He asked $350 for the pair. As cores, that seems pretty high but if they are as fresh as he says, that didn't seem like a bad price to me. Any thoughts on that?

Anyone in the Sacramento area have a good diesel machine shop? I won't be taking parts anywhere that thinks the only engine worth working on is a SB chevy.

 

[swervyjoe]

I dont have any advice, but both of mine are leaking from the passenger rear head so I'll be watching this thread.

 

[TahoeTom]

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There are coolant ports in the heads that are sealed by the valley pan/intake gasket. On the 6.9 the use of gasket eliminator sealant was required around these ports. The 7.3 heads added small freeze plugs to these ports to eliminate possible leakage, so this must have been a problem. I had my machine shop tap and install pipe plugs in those ports. Hopefully this won't cause an unforeseen problem.
I was told Dell's machine shop was a good one. I talked to them and they seemed to know about these engines, but went with shop in Reno as it would be closer.

 

[dgr]

Tom,
Thank you for the picture. If I may steal it, it appears that mine is leaking where the red circle is. Except it's the rear cylinder on the passenger side.

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You mind me asking about costs on rebuilding your heads? I have to decide to try some supposedly low mileage used heads or go for rebuilt. If the guy with the spare heads calls me back, I think I'll head over there with some mineral spirits and pour it into each valve seat area. If it leaks into the runners, the heads are probably more used that he thought. I don't know how else to check heads except by tearing them down.

 

[TahoeTom]

I'm afraid to add up the numbers, but I have somewhere around $1K in the heads. I used new stainless intake and stellite exhaust, and Comp 910 springs. None really necessary. My heads weren't cracked, so were rebuildable. That would be the first consideration.