Time to order Headgaskets and Studs

[Agnem]

Sorry if you didn't find what you were looking for in the FAQ. The subject of headgaskets really requires a more in-depth consultation that what a simple FAQ can supply. For a number of years I've been waiting to port over my old TDS article on doing headgaskets. It will happen eventually. In the meantime, I have to keep telling people to click here.

 

[rhkcommander]

Thanks for the info! Gonna order some of this stuff soon.

 

[Tristan]

Sorry if you didn't find what you were looking for in the FAQ. The subject of headgaskets really requires a more in-depth consultation that what a simple FAQ can supply. For a number of years I've been waiting to port over my old TDS article on doing headgaskets. It will happen eventually. In the meantime, I have to keep telling people to click here.

Cool! Thanks Mel.

 

[yotee]

Not sure what you had planned for coolant but you might want to look at Evans Waterless Coolant. I was scoping it out recently because I'd like to switch to it but it's expensive so I'm going to wait until I've got some more $ in the bank. Might be worth it despite the initial cost because then you don't have to maintain SCA's and it provides for better cooling and you don't have to replace it every 5 years or so like you do with conventional coolant.

George

more about this evans stuff. what is it? not a glychol mix obviously. some sort of coolant that IS a liquid but has no h2o in it's mix? and is that really how cavitation happens?

 

[Diesel JD]

My understanding of cavitation is that it happens when air bubbles form in the water on the water jacket side of the piston, since diesels have such a large amount of compression the bore expands and contracts ever so slightly so that the jacket can be eroded away over thousands of miles or hours. Of course SCAs solve the issue by being eroded in a sacrificial manner and Evans solves it by eliminating the water out of the cooling system mix. I don't know what the Evans stuff actually is and have not used it personally. I hear it's some malodorous stuff though!

 

[typ4]

I have corteco gaskets in mine, they are also an oem and they have held for 30k or more and when towing it gets HOT.

 

[THECACKLER]

I studied Cavitation professionally when I worked R&D in the Oil Patch. Cavitation happens when the Shear Strength of a fluid is exceeded. In the situation I researched, it occurred when a valve was shut abruptly. The fluid had velocity as it passed through the orifice, and when the valve shut, the inertia of the fluid would pull the molecules apart creating small pockets of very low pressure akin to vacuum bubbles. This by it's self is not the destructive phase of cavitation. The damage occurs when the bubbles collapse. When we started the research, the first thing we did was to collect all known studies and reports on cavitation. We found that the US NAVY had blocked the release of the known research since their submarine propellers produce cavitation as they screw through the water. Sub searchers drop a microphone into the water and listen for the tell-tale clicking noise that the bubbles make when they collapse. Anyways the shock of the bubbles collapsing creates very localized pressures that are in the 1,000,000 PSI range,(yeah, one million PSI) more than enough to peck away at cast iron and even very hard materials like Tungsten Carbide. I suspect that as the cylinder wall on our 7.3's flexes from the shock of combustion, the coolant is forced away from the water jacket side of the cylinder and when the bubbles collapse we lose material to cavitation. When we tried to prevent the cavitation from occurring by raising back pressure on the valve we the found that the cavitation was worse. So to make some assumptions, we might assume that if the Water-less coolant truly does prevent cavitation, it may be due to the fluid having a higher shear strength than water or the ability to run a Zero Pressure system minimizes the effect of the bubble collapse or both.

 

[RLDSL]

I have corteco gaskets in mine, they are also an oem and they have held for 30k or more and when towing it gets HOT.

Actually, Corteco, while they've been known for making some great problem solving head gaskets for irregular mating surfaces, they don't make original equipment gaskets for anyone that I've been able to find. They say OEM quality, which is what everyone says , and they can say when they follow the basic factory specs. The only thing Corteco has been an original equipment supplier on to vehicle manufacturers is for seals, like wheel seals, and motor , tranny and body mounts ( which were probably limited to the Italian and Japanese vehicle market by their own description and by my experience with European vehicles, I have not seen their brand names pop out at me from the German , Swedish or British vehicles ) and cabin filters