So I get everything ****oned up to take the "a" banger to work tomorrow and I go to check the oil and noticed that the bottom of the dipstick looks funny. I have been having water from the radiator disapear lately and figured that is was just running out of the over flow tube. Crack the drain plug for the oil pan and about 8 ounces of water comes out before oil does! ****! I have checked all the head bolts when I first noticed the water missing and those are tight, I am figuring a cracked head or block or a blown head gasket. Any suggestions where to start? Should I take the head off? Should I toss the banger out of the garage and start the frame for a v8? I am so pissed. I am going to have another beer and finish the bag of chips and go to bed. This almost feals like I had a fight with the wife and I want to do something to make it better but I don't know what to do.
I suppose if you have the stuff to rig it up you could put a little pressure in the cooling system and see if you can hear where the air escapes.
Watch how much pressure you put into the cooling system if you do the above because you can potentially blow a hole in the radiator. No more pressure than the radiator cap is rated at. My best suggestion would be to pull the head and take it and the head gasket to a good cylinder head shop and get them to pressure test the head and inspect the head gasket that you removed. If the pressure test comes up ok and the head is not cracked and there is no obvious faults seen in the head gasket its time to turn to the block, turn the engine over(mark TDC exactly before hand) and inspect the bores carefully for signs of cracks. Also check the top of the block for flatness-with a straight edge and a feeler gauge. There are numerous repair options for heads and blocks they are best discussed with professional engine guys. When you re***emble the engine use the best quailty head gasket, coat it with copper head gasket sealer, torque the bolts carefully and correctly and dont forget to use anti-seize or at least oil on the threads and heads/washers. Retorque the head as required by the torque settings for the gasket-often this is done after 600miles. Use a quality stopleak product -like Wynns- that does not contain a lot of solids in it as the solids can block up the radiator. The stopleak will just give a nice light seal up of any tiny imperfections of the gasket's sealing capability.
This is on a Banger right? No OHV conversion? So, either the head is warped or possibly...eroded away near a water jacket? DV8 had a similar problem with a flathead 8. Pull the head and check it flat with a square and a feeler guage. Inspect the surface and look at your gasket very carefully. If it's not a head/gasket problem, then you are looking at cracked block. What have you done to it lately? Sounds like a recent problem....? Have you overheated it this year? How often do you drive it? Correct mixture of Coolant and water? How old is the coolant? Aluminum or Iron head?
I'm not sure where you are in the process, but does the engine run? If it does AFTER you remove the water from the oil, run it a short time and use a sniffer in the radiator to detect exhaust gas. This MIGHT get you a little closer to an answer. My neighbor's garage has one, you should be able to borrow one. That should tell if the leak is internal or in the combustion area.
The engine does run and I drive it once to twice a week depending on my schedule, still working out some kinks so I don't stray far from home. It is a stock engine with the steel head and stock intake with a zenith carb, stock exhuast. I just recently put an old mallory dist on it so I didn't have adjust the timing manually. looking back it was lossing water before I changed the dist but figured it was evaporating or boiling off. I just kept it topped off. nothing serious until now. I have a pressure tester but I was worried that I might blow something else since these are low pressure systems. But finding this much water in the oil is a sure sign that something is wrong. I mostly lurk on the banger meetings and have learned a few thing such as the head bolts being checked and such but never chime in. And as for the coolant mix, I was told by a few old timers as well as the parts guys in at vintage ford here in sac that you are not suppose to use coolant in the 4 banger, they said it reacts with the metal or something like that so I use straight water with some water wetter. I never had a problem of over heating. So here I am, any one want to buy a running banger that may or maynot need a head gasket? It will come with the trans. I think it is time to upgrade and this is my sign.
If you are going to put pressure in it put it in the spark plug holes with a leak down tester. Find out which one leaks and listen to where the leak is going. Saves alot of looking around. It's easy to make a adapter for your air hose out of an old sparkplug.
can you pressure test it? of you have a compression tester and a remote starter you can rule out if its the block or the head?
What he says^^^^^!! easyiest way to find your problem without a lot of dissasembly. this will head you in the right direction quickly. Do it with the piston at TDC and also again at BDC. take off the top radiator hose to keep water that high and watch for bubbles. Frank
yea I got a leak down and compression tester so I will make an adapter and see what happens. And the remote start is easy, just push down on the rod on the starter!!
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