help i found my leak

[88beast]

well been busy and away from the site lately but now its back to finishing the truck.

i found my leak, i think. right behind the vacumme pump between the head and block you can feel a rush of luke warm air. i was thinking head gasket but have a few questions before buying a compression tester.

first shouldnt this be hot if a headgasket? there is no water or oil leaking, but there is a good bit of soot in that area, i cleaned the area 200 miles ago and now the soot is back, but its under the alternator bracket area. it is about 1/4 inch away from the exhaust manifold. also the headgasket area is full of soot. so i assume this is a broken fire ring, but it should be combustion hot shouldnt it?

next some more info, i have had a chuffing sound, with a slight knock coming from around the vac pump area, i have removed the vac pump and it is still there so that is not the issue. it is rpm related, but it goes up slower than the rpms. at about 2500 rpm its almost gone and hard to hear, but when at idle it is louder than the exhaust.

tomorrow i plan to tear off the alt and vac pump with brackets and see waht i can find. and i will report after that is done.

also i have done other tests,

its not an injector, the engine stumbles on each cylinder when cracked, however the noise got a lot quieter when i cracked the injector on the pass front ( one where the suspected leak is)

no coolant and oil mixing. so if a headgasket its only the firering thats bad.

this started before the turbo went on and was a lot quieter. it has since gotten louder. there were no obvious reasons for it to start, but i was test fitting the turbo and assumed an exhaust leak before going any further.


any input is appreciated since i have not seen such a large casket surface leak like this before.

 

[david85]

I'd say exhaust manifold gasket.

A head gasket would show as lost coolant, or coolant overflowing in the recovery tank, sometimes as foam under moderate load.

Lost power, or rough idle, steam in the exhaust, and so on.

most likely just the exhaust gasket. Get in there with a flash light and mirror to have a closer look.

Going by this photo, the forward manifold connection is right at the alternator bracket.

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[BDCarrillo]

Can you snap a photo of where the soot is?

 

[icanfixall]

Soot and blowing air really sounds like an exhaust gasket or cracked exhaust manifold to me. The location of the soot usually tells where the leak is.

 

[IDIoit]

i third that. soot is exhaust gases, could be a gasket, could be a cracked manifold.
if its a cracked manifold, i have a set in the classifieds.

 

[88beast]

it is the head gasket, i was on the same logic as everyone else, though it does not show any symptoms of a head gasket. i have pics on the phone but need to get them over to the comp, well see if they go through and if so i will post them.

between the head and block, right by the thermostat housing, you can see a line where the gasket is blown out. iput my hand there and the gas is hotter, but not burning and its coming out with some good force.

pics next

 

[88beast]

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you can see the gap in 2 of them. also the exhaust manifold does not have any soot on it. i cleaned the manifold and the area around it before, then put a new gasket on. you can see that there is no soot on the gasket or within 1/4 inch of the manifold.

so now to the plan, if doing head studs, new gaskets, the cam will finally go in, psd springs, and some other misc stuff at the same time.

i know victor reins is oem, but are they the best? does it even matter? after this i will pushing the boost up to 20 psi or so with this setup and i will probally install the ic at the same time.

wheres the best place to get arp studs?

the diesel specific haynes manual says turn the engine to 11 o clock then torque the rockers down. nothing about adjusting lash etc. is this because every valve is closed at this point? or should i toss that section and do the rockers somehow else? what does ford reccomend?

also is there anything else you can think of that im missing when doing this?

heres the parts list.
head gaskets
studs
cam
assembly lube
psd springs,
valve stem seals
tstat gasket
thermostat
fuel pump block off (because its still there)
coolant

finally is there any special tools needed? if i recall the head bolts take a 12 pt and ill need a puller for the harmoni, but can i keep the front cover on and just rotate it? the last engine i tore down years ago had some issues with getting the balancer off, just a throught,

 

[argve]

hydraulic lifters - no adjustment needed.

 

[88beast]

ok sounds good if she blows up your coming over to kill the rest f the beer right?