Coolant Leak Between Head and Block

[EightTrackHits]

Do any of you guys know anything about Cylinder Heads International near Dallas?

[EightTrackHits]

Had a few days down time waiting on parts.  Taking advantage of my time off today to do some prep work.  Cleaning out threads on the block for the new head bolts, removing old gasket material etc.  I found a video of a gentleman that cut longitudinal grooves in old head bolts in order to chase threads.  I did that and it worked well.  I vacuumed out the holes,  cleaned them with a rifle brush and paper towel, then chased them.  Also made sure that the old head bolt bottomed out.  Going to Napa in a bit to look for something to clean old gasket material from the block.  I’m very concerned with where the debris will go: I’ll just do my best to cover holes.

[EightTrackHits]

I did get the heads from Cylinder Heads International.  I did not want to go back with 706s due to the TSB and the possibility of getting Castech heads from CHI.  So, they were kind enough to sell me some 802s.  I'll get a photo up soon.

On the subject of the TSB, I think my heads may have been affected in some manner.  There was a lot of oil on some of my head bolts, but no evidence of coolant.  

 

Also have a little mission creep going on.  I mixed up my push rods so I went ahead and got new lifters, rockers and pushrods along with the gaskets, head bolts, and other stuff.  The engine had a little valvetrain noise anyway, so maybe that will clear up some.  I intend to soak the lifters overnight in conventional Pennzoil 5W30. 

 

So, barring any contingencies, all of my parts are in and I may be able to start the truck Sunday if I can carve out enough time to work on it this weekend.  To the best of my knowledge - with the exception of soaking lifters - the prep work is all done, surfaces cleaned, good to go.

 

I am also only 500 miles out from my last oil change.  But, I don't dare not change the oil after opening the block.  I intend to run it 500 to 700 miles on conventional Pennzoil 5W30 and then change back to synthetic.  I don't think I'm going to change the filter during this mini break in period as it doesn't have much time on it.  It may take me a month to put 500 miles on this thing.  Thoughts on the oil change strategy or lifter soaking?  

Edited November 12, 2021 by EightTrackHits
I meant to say I picked up 862 heads, not 802s

[txab]

I always use engine pre-lube on lifters, cam and other parts

[tbarn]

I would not even start it without draining and refilling the oil. You almost certainly got coolant in the oil when pulling the heads. Filter change not necessary. Pre lube is good but not necessary. Especially if you don't have any on hand. Soaking is also good but I never did it. I used an old fashioned oil can and squirted oil into the side hole in the lifter until it comes out the top hole. It's messy though.

[EightTrackHits]

I soaked the lifters, pushrods, and rockers.  Got all that stuff and the heads installed last night to include valve covers.  I am quite pleased at how easy this thing is to work on, but it’s not back on the road yet.  I may get it finished today or tomorrow.

[EightTrackHits]

I got the intake manifold back on tonight and made it through the first torque pass when I noticed that the fuel line was not routed correctly.  I tried to think of any shortcut possible to keep from taking the intake back off, but in the end the best thing to do was just to take it back off and slip the line in properly.  It’s on and torqued down now.  The pic shows the improper routing of the line.  That’s all for tonight.
 

[EightTrackHits]

Finish up last night and took it for a two mile spin after coming up to temp.  There was a bit if white smoke at first due to the coolant that poured into the exhaust when I pulled the heads.  Other than that, everything seems okay.  I drove it 15 miles to work this morning with no problems and it doesn’t sound bad at all. 
My original question was- can this job be done with the engine in the vehicle?  It can, but if I had the room and the means, I would have pulled the engine.  But that might just be because I’m prone to mission creep.

 

I’ll follow up on this thread over time to let everyone know the long term result.  In the meantime, I have a couple of loose ends to tie up.  Attached is a pick of a bracket that holds heater heater hoses.  If anyone could get me a better pic of how and where it is mounted, including the hardware, I would appreciate it.  Mine is mounted loosely.  I would also appreciate it if someone could look at the previous pic I had of a misrouted hose and tell me what it is.  I thought it was the fuel return line.

 

Thanks!

[txab]

Mine is attached to a stud on the valve cover, just behind the 1st coil on passenger side

[EightTrackHits]

On 11/18/2021 at 3:06 PM, txab said:

Mine is attached to a stud on the valve cover, just behind the 1st coil on passenger side

Thanks!!  I'll get that fixed up tomorrow morning.

[EightTrackHits]

I've put a little less than 40 miles on it.  Runs good, but I am still having white smoke at start up.  I was messing with it this evening and let it run for quite some time and the smoke really never went away.  I wasn't able to take it on the road as one of my son's cars had me blocked in the garage.  

I was doing some reading and people mention that it sometimes takes a while to burn everything out of the exhaust after a head gasket repair.  I'm going to run it for a while and watch my fluids.  I also have the tools to do a leak down test, so I may try that this weekend.

[richard wysong]

it may need to be driven to burn the coolant out of the exhaust 

[EightTrackHits]

3 hours ago, richard wysong said:

it may need to be driven to burn the coolant out of the exhaust 

It seems that is what's going on.  I took it for a long drive this morning and tried to judge it's emissions by the other vehicles that I saw on the road and the ones idling in driveways.  It's white smoke seems to be dimensioning.  I'm elected not to do the leak down test this weekend.  I'm just going to watch fluids and see what happens. 

 

For now, the job is done.  I'll post if anything significant happens that was related to this job and reply if anyone has any questions or comments.  I'll also post back in a few weeks to a few months and let everyone know if the fix was long term.   I appreciate the views, comments, and answers I got from everyone.

[CamGTP]

I like to drive the vehicle hard to clear out the exhaust. Not only to get the exhaust really hot but to test the work. Because if it's going to fail it will fail, so I might as well test it under some "slightly extreme" conditions.

[EightTrackHits]

The repair did not take.  I was going to reply back with the follow up after It was fixed so I didn't drag everyone through too many long drawn out posts, but I'd like to see if anyone has anything to add.

 

Basically, the white smoke in the exhaust stayed present.  The coolant keeps getting low.  I have no known external leaks, and an excellent leak down test.  Oil level does not appreciably get higher, but the underside of my oil cap turned orange and I did notice some droplets on the bottom.  So, I believe I have coolant getting in the block.  I've read somewhere that coolant getting in the block can be vented out to the exhaust through the PVC system.  I don't know how this works.

 

I've had it parked until I could carve out the time to look into it and started tearing it down yesterday.  The heads are still on.  When I took the exhaust manifolds off, I noticed on both sides that water was present in the rear most exhaust port, but no others.  The water also had no trace of orange (dexcool) and had no smell.

 

What comes next is I've made a radiator cap that I can pressurize the system with.  I'll do that with coolant in it, and with the coolant drained looking and listening for leaks.  Then it looks as if the heads are coming back off and I'll try again.  I was very careful the first time and do not feel that I cut corners.  I am concerned that I may have been too aggressive cleaning old gasket material.  One thing I am going to look into is the upper head bolts.  A guy with a Suburban described a problem like mine on a different thread, and it was the upper head bolts with improper torque.  If I can find the leak and stop it, I still don't know if I should not just go ahead and change gaskets again.  The liquid being present in both exhaust manifolds throws me.

 

If anyone has anything to add, please chime in.