coolant weeping

[jnkyrdfourd]

is it normal for coolant to weep out of the back side of the head at the head gasket on the drivers side ?
it doesnt seem to be losing much, but i am getting ready to install my turbo on this eng and am concerned about the head gaskets.

 

[Dsl_Dog_Treat]

No sir! You have a failed head gasket!

Time for the heads to come off before you install the turbo.

 

[jnkyrdfourd]

thats what i thought, ive got to do the cooler on it as well think i might just pull the eng out and do the rear main as well.
what else should i do while i have it out ?

 

[gatorman21218]

I would check the heads and replace the valve stem seals. The 7.3 is known to have problems with the exhaust valves due to the seal design. I would also redo the oil cooler as well. Pain in the rear to do the cooler with the engine in the truck.

 

[Kevin 007]

X2 on valve seals. I would go as far as putting 6.9 seals on, but thats just me. Good luck, and stay posted

 

[jnkyrdfourd]

what is the difference between the 6.9 and 7.3 seals ?

 

[DragRag]

You could also try torqueing the heads down again also. You must break the bolt free, and tighten to spec. It does work sometimes, but not every time. Still worth the effort IMO.

 

[Kevin 007]

the 6.9 seals let more oil seep past them, lubricating the valve guides better. But more oil consumption will result...fine by me. Yes, re-torquing is worth a shot but it might only buy you some time; and certainly won't be a proper fix. I always re-torque idi heads when I aquire a new idi, I try to prevent a gasket failure before the decide to leak. My last 7.3 had almost 400,000miles on it and began to seep oil at the ends of the heads, a re-torque did the trick. And as Dragrag said, you must first break each bolt free prior to torquing to get an proper reading

 

[PwrSmoke]

Good advice from all above BUT, if you are going to pull the heads for gaskets, get ARP head studs and you won't have head gasket problems again. Worth the money.

 

[hesutton]

I'm with Jim, if you are turboing the 6.9, go ahead and stud it while you are doing the gaskets. As far as the valve stem seals, I've only seen one type for both the 6.9 and 7.3 available anymore through FP or VR..... The rubber for the intake and the plastic umbrella for the exhaust. When I had my heads rebuilt, I went with a different type of seal that is rubber with a teflon ring at the valve stem.

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Give the heads a good look, especially the valve guide to valve stem clearance. My heads needed new guides. I replaced the springs, rockers, and valves as well. The old 6.9 rockers can be an issue. Mine were worn pretty bad. I bought a set of Melling 7.3 rockers to replace them with. Look at the push rods and lifters as well. If you don't need to replace these parts, be sure to keep track of where they were and put them back in the same spot (valves on the same seat, lifters in the same bore, blah, blah blah).

Definately rebuild the oil cooler while it's out and replace the front and rear main seals. I'd recommend drilling the drain baffle on the bottom of the valley pan when you are adding a turbo. It's just insurance that there is adequate flow of oil out of the turbo (don't wanna loose the seals there) and should also help prevent oil leaks at the rear of the valley pan. Might wanna pull and reseal the oil pan if it is leaking. Plus, doing so will let you have a look at the bottom end. You could pull a few main and rod caps to have a look at bearings and their condition.

Heath

 

[jnkyrdfourd]

does anyone know where to get a set of head studs ? or have a part number ?
i looked on arp website and it list for the 6.9 but not the 7.3, just the powerpoke !

 

[hesutton]

I posted those numbers not too long ago, but I can't find my post with the change in the search function. If I find it, I'll post it up for ya.

Heath

 

[RLDSL]

STOP !
BEfore yanking the heads off, go get a UV dye kit for leak checking ( like the ones used for checking AC systems, but they now have dye for coolant and oil) get the dye for coolant, you will need 2 bottles for thissize engine. and of course the UV light and protective glasses, you can get a cheap set for around $15 at most parts stores ( a better set sure wouldn't hurt , I love my snappy set ) pour that stuff in the rad directly and put a piece of cardboard over the rad and fire it up to get it up to tempwith the cap off so you can see it circulating. fully. let it run for about 15 minutes, then let it cool down and give it time to drip, then crawl in there with the light and look for the bright yellow -green trail and follow it...ALL the way to it's source, you may get a surprise as to where it is actually coming from.
I've run across them before where we were positive it was a head gasket and after thorough checking , we found it was actually coming from the valley pan gasket mating surface
There are things that can happen that can end up with coolant where the heads mate up to the manifold that can get some real nasty leaks going
The older heads had no freeze plugs there the newer ones did , but if a machine shop somewhere along the way replaced them with non stainless plugs, the condensation trapped in there very quickly rusts them through (hint NOBODY uses stainless plugs unless you personally hand the things to them, those two rows of little plugs across the valley pan cost a minor fortune , A full set of stainless plugs for a set of 7.3 heads is around $85

 

[rhkcommander]

I recalled it off the top of my head, not bad

arp 150-4069

 

[rhkcommander]

I recalled it off the top of my head, not bad

arp 150-4069