my 53 merc with e-heads decided to start seeping anti-freeze out of the head studs. the studs were sealed in the block...and torqued to 60# short of pulling the heads off can i give the radiator a drink of some kind of sealant?
I would re-torque in sequence to the recommended specs. Then give it a dose of a good block sealer product. I haven't seen it in years, but Solder Seal had a product called Block Saver that pulled me out of the fire a couple of times with block freeze-cracks. I added it to any stock car engine I builtl, just to ward off evil spirits. Bob
i have always wondered what is in that block sealer. i have always been a little afraid to use it, seen stop leak abused in my younger days.
I think that at 60 Ft Lbs, those bolts are tight enough. Try the radiator sealer that is in pellet form. Three big brown pellets dried my flatty right up.
Had the same problem with my big block in the `55 chevy. Coolant seep at the head bolts that would get better as it warmed to operating temp. I have never been a believer of stop leak products but one of the techs at work said use GM pellets in it so rather than pull the heads to seal it up I dropped three pellets in the radiator and ran it thru a heat cycle. Worked like a charm and have never had any isses since. Sure beats tearing the heads off again.
Retorque as said and I use Bars stop leak, its no longer in pellet form but more like a paste, it works, I've had good luck with it and no plugged heater cores, the other one to use is a product called Irontite, but I believe you have to have no antifreeze in the system to put this in, follow the directions well with it, I used it years ago on jeep engines for that same purpose.
I use this in every overhaul I do, sure takes the pain of wicking around headbolts away on Chevies. I read "somewhere" (that's really documenting things, huh) that every car coming down the assembly line gets/used to get the GM pellets. It's ground up Ginger root. Larry T
Had the same problem in our 50 merc motor, used "Seal Well" look like rat bait cubes that you mash up and add to the system these are great and dont clog things up at all. Way better than the old stand by of bars leaks.
Since the head bolt holes go directly into the water jackets, how about sealer on the head bolt threads. Some use RTV but that is hard to remove for future tear downs. I've been using this non hardening plumbers seal, purchased at ACE Hardware stores. It is not cheap but a little goes a long way. It is formulated for water systems and higher temps. With out completely removing the head, I have drained the coolant, loosened (leaving some tension) all the head bolts in reverse order of the torque sequence, then removed one head bolt in the reverse torque sequence, applied the sealer, installed the bolt with partial tension, repeating for all head bolts. Then go through the proper torque sequence. So far so good.
Blue Devil Head Gasket Sealant has worked for me on three different engines. Very good results, no overheating or any other problems. One of the engines definitely needed a head gasket, but I just couldn't take the time to mess with it. Blue Devil sealed it and the engine has been fine over several years. We even put some of this in an old 1950's road grader that was leaking profusely just to seal it up enough to get through one job. It has been running fine for several years now. I also like the aluminum dust type dry powder that comes in a small clear tube. A couple of those will seal up almost anything and I have used it for years with zero ill effects. Not too crazy about the other products out there, but everyone will have their own opinions on this.
thanks for all the input, seems like the GM pellets has been used by a lot of you guys out there....give it a shot tommorrow and see what happens. thanks again
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