Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

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James
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by James »

You probably have some electrolysis (old antifreeze speeds this up), and your water passages have been eaten away. I had this happen on the head I have on my car now. I blew the gasket since there was not enough material between the combustion chamber and the water passage. I had the head welded and resurfaced - and have been good to go ever since....
Seeing the pics will help. If you can compare the surface of the head to a good gasket you can see if there is any material missing.
I have used felpro gaskets with good success (not a built motor).
Finished is better than perfect......
goatee
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by goatee »

Here is the gasket pic, I couldn't get the underside of the head at that moment because I was afraid of dripping oil in the wifes highlander (no reason to loose a nut!) so I'll get one tonight after the machinist takes a look. I'll mention all you guys have said. If there was any old antifreeze run it would have to have been from the PO since I drained it all when I replaced the head. I do however worry that I might have over heated the engine on my dusty drive with the gasket blown. The po had an aftermarket temp gauge that isn't working which was of course next on the list. Too late my friend!
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Oh and sorry my replies always take so long, no matter what I do I cannot get the 510 realm to stop going into my spam box! lol
Is my dime pretty rough? yep Could it use an owner with a little more mechanical expertise? yeah probably. Does it look like every other beige sedan in the parking lot? No sir it doesnt.
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James
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by James »

What did the bottom of the head look like? Do the holes and passages match the configuration of the gasket, or is there material missing from the head. It looks like the gasket failed next to the water passage, but its hard to tell as they tend to leave material on the metal - and can look worse after being removed than they were in place.....
Finished is better than perfect......
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hang_510
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by hang_510 »

from the pic, it looks like the ring failed(old HG?), then the loss of material. same area that cracks on the block?
byron wrote:I'd be all over that like a fat kid on a smartie.
okayfine wrote:Sense doesn't always have everything to do with it, and I speak from experience.
goatee
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by goatee »

Ok I took it to our local machine shop guy and he looked the head and gasket over. He was about to give up and say that he couldn't see what was up and that the new gasket would probably fix it but then he got to feeling the head around that area and he said it felt lower there. SOOOOOOOOOO, I'm taking it to someone he suggested that has a machinists edge and can surface the head assuming it isn't warped or something else sucky.
Is my dime pretty rough? yep Could it use an owner with a little more mechanical expertise? yeah probably. Does it look like every other beige sedan in the parking lot? No sir it doesnt.
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James
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by James »

That would make sense. Let us know what you find out. I hope all you need is a surfacing and then you can keep your head on and together (car and body) for a good long time.
Finished is better than perfect......
goatee
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by goatee »

I'm pretty worried that maybe it is warped now from possibly overheating and that he is going to surface it and make it worse but I'm going to explain all that too him and see what he says. If I have to go through a lot of explanation I'll get even more worried! :lol:
Is my dime pretty rough? yep Could it use an owner with a little more mechanical expertise? yeah probably. Does it look like every other beige sedan in the parking lot? No sir it doesnt.
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James
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by James »

It may not have overheated - hopefully it was just a low spot. Even if it warped a bit - a surfacing will take care of it....
Finished is better than perfect......
510Martinez
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by 510Martinez »

goatee wrote:I'm pretty worried that maybe it is warped now from possibly overheating and that he is going to surface it and make it worse but I'm going to explain all that too him and see what he says. If I have to go through a lot of explanation I'll get even more worried! :lol:
Why would resurfacing make it worse? Resurfacing it is what you do to fix a warped head. Of course if your block is the issue, it may only be a band aid solution (but sometimes you'd be surprised how well band aids work).
goatee
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by goatee »

Ok latest update for anyone folowing the saga of the poor kansas newb with the 3 piece cam shaft. :D

Ok the surface guy says we are good to go. Just off the top of his head he though it looked like 7-8 thousanths. He wanted me to take it home, clean it up, and take the cam off. Should I work on sliding the cam OUT or go ahead and take the cam towers off. I read several things while trying to figure out my snapped cam that made me think the towers probably isn't a good idea???
Other than that it's 40 bucks and he can do it while I wait.
Is my dime pretty rough? yep Could it use an owner with a little more mechanical expertise? yeah probably. Does it look like every other beige sedan in the parking lot? No sir it doesnt.
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James
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by James »

Slide the cam out - the cam towers may have been the culprit for your issue before. (Odd that he won't do it for you, my machine shop does - but whatever)
Get that thing surfaced and running again - I bet you'll be happy when that day is here! Keep us posted....
Finished is better than perfect......
goatee
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by goatee »

Well he said he WOULD do it for me if I wanted. Surfacing a head is 40 bucks. Anything extra is 75 an hour.
Is my dime pretty rough? yep Could it use an owner with a little more mechanical expertise? yeah probably. Does it look like every other beige sedan in the parking lot? No sir it doesnt.
goatee
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Re: Possibly blown gasket, couple questions

Post by goatee »

Continuing this post back on my original thread to keep all the info in the same place.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10701
Is my dime pretty rough? yep Could it use an owner with a little more mechanical expertise? yeah probably. Does it look like every other beige sedan in the parking lot? No sir it doesnt.
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