At 10:24 AM 1/21/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>The reason I think it's the head gasket is because there is antifreeze
>shooting out of the radiator cap. Now I know it isn't overheating, and
>there's no oil in the antifreeze, and no antifreeze in the oil. The only
>thing I can think of is that the gasket blew out into the water jacket, and
>it's pressurizing the coolant. I took the pass side head off last night and
>found no obvious evidence of this, but I have still to take off the drivers
>side. Anyone have an Idea of what else this could be??
>
>-Austin
>Vipertruck
If that were the case, you would see a white vapor cloud upon startup after
it has set overnight. And if your coolant is strong enough, you will
actually smell antifreeze in the exhaust upon cold startup. When did the
problem start happening? Did you recently change your coolant? When the
engine is running, does the coolant foam up in the radiator? Oil will
float on top of water, so looking at the dipstick for coolant contamination
will do no good. Drain your oil. If you see water or milky oil coming out
at first, you've definitely got a leak.
Get whatever gasket you want (just about all head gaskets will come with a
metal ring around the piston bores- just so you know - that is how the
combustion chambers get sealed to the block). Then get some Permatex
Copper-Kote. It comes in a little can. It is a real good glue with copper
flakes in it. Use it around the coolant passages on the block and heads,
and put a little around the piston bores on the head deck and around the
combustion chambers on the head itself. Don't let the stuff enter the
piston bores or the combustion chambers. As it will cause hot spots and
will cause pinging and detonation. This cheap insurance against future
blowouts. Also, don't forget to re-torque the head bolts after you've got
the engine up to operating temp and have let it cooled completely.
Mike
__________________________
mschwall@flash.net
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