This ones got me perplexed... Brought home a 54 chev delray the other night...ran it up, test drove fine, ran sorta rough, its been sitting for years. Coolant was down about three quarts and no i didnt check it first ANYWAYS, along the top edge of the block along the edge of the head gasket its all wet with antifreeze. it also has a moisture mark half way up the head all along the p***enger side. the drivers side of the motor is perfectly dry. I ran a pressure test at 7lbs and 13lbs cold and not a thing came out. I then ran the car up to temp and still no leak!! So what do you think, Torn or pinched head gasket warped or cracked head or incorrectly torqued head?? I am trying to stay on a super low (ok no) budget on this car and i dont want to work myself in circles on it, so if this seems familiar to you let me know which direction i should head in!! Thanks, Bill
A friend of mine kept overfilling the coolant in his 235 and it would leak because of the over filling. I forget where it was leaking from, but it would run along the engine in pool in weird places looking like there were leaks. I would think that if the pressure test turned out ok, your head and gaskets are fine, but you have an external leak, like a thermostat housing or upper radiator hose. Clean up the engine and dry it, tighten the hoses and housing, fill up the radiator and run it, then look for new leaks/wetness
its got a 7lb cap on it and now the fluid is just about full in the top tank. I cannot see a crack in/on the head...pics soon. would the steam pressure from having a low fluid amount push the head from the block?
Do you smell antifreeze? Any white smoke out the exhaust? Have you pulled the plugs (runs rough) & are they clean? Any air bubbles in the radiator while it's running?
smell= nope white smoke= doesnt smoke at all plugs= equally all clean burning air bubbles= not sure, it was low after its initial run so im sure the steam was building up, the temp gauge stayed steady and wasnt hot. I only drove it for about 8 miles round trip, it started idling poorly so i brought it back to the shop.(i figured that was a gas/carb issue)
It is not uncommon for these engines to weep some coolant along that side of the head gasket. I ran several 235's like that for years without any problems. I've had good luck with the current Victor head gaskets (coated with silver paint) at not getting that to happen. If this has an older head gasket that needs re-torquing, they are more prone to doing this. Just check the torque on the head bolts and keep an eye on it. The 7lb cap is fine. always a good idea to do a compression test on a new purchase...
this weekend i am planning the usual...full tune up, carb douching, valve adj, and gasket change. I will re torque the head while i am in there. I was going to do the head gasket too but i guess i will skip it for now. Sunday i will go to church and say my holy holys for good luck!
Like it was sayed keep an eye on it. Does not seam to be a bad leak. Re torque and drive. Good luck with it
Did you run tests cold and then run tests hot? Does the wet mark really have anything to do with the Antifreeze leak? Is it Antifreeze? Is there more than one problem? I think you may find different results when tested hot and tested cold
Tested hot and cold the puddle is antifreeze the wet mark up the head i would need a csi team to test what it is there could be several problems Basically i am trying to get an idea if its possible that the head might be junk or if i am overreacting to something that could have been wd40 sprayed o get the plugs out. Its a pretty funky wet spot,
If you want to find out where a leak is coming from, and the whole area is covered, then you're going to have to clean everything up first, and then keep an eye on it... Get a can of Gunk and a garden hose....
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