Floated head and Broken head stud..

[madmanmanick]

One of my buddies contacted me that he had “floated” the head on his 12 valve Cummins and broken a stud and has noticed oil coming out the driver side and coolant coming out the passenger side between the block and head. He has done mods to the engine but didn’t put the correct strength head studs in. He is under the impression that he can just replace the studs one for one and torque them down to specs and he will be fine. He is also worried that if he has to replace the head gasket(which I have told him needs to happen no matter what) that he will have to have the top of the block and the bottom of the head shaved to get a good clean seal. I have told him that he needs to pull the head, replace the gasket, and put the new higher strength studs in. I have also told him that he doesn’t have to shave the block and head and that he just needs to ensure it is extremely clean before reassembly. I have been working on these engines for almost 20 years but he doesn’t feel I know what I’m talking about. I figured you all might be able to convince him of the correct way forward.

 

[BigPapa]

Sounds like your buddy’s one of those that won’t listen to anybody.

 

[bcbender]

Well just tell him the words a wise man once told be. "you always have time to do it right the second time"

 

[BigPapa]

My grandfather used to tell me something similar:

You never have time to do it right, but you’ve always got time to do it over.

 

[AH64ID]

New HG and studs.

Probably worth his time to have the head tanked, cleansed, and checked for true. It’s probably not warped unless he’s been driving it that way long, or hard.

You said he broke a stud, what studs are in it now.

Not common to break a bolt or stud, but HG failures do happen.

 

[Tuesdak]

First off he is referring to a "hack job" done on throwaway GM 6.5 diesels with GOOD head gaskets to replace TTY head bolts with ARP head studs. Further the GM diesels are known to snap a head bolt around 200k miles (or otherwise loose clamping force due to TTY bolt stretch) and blow the head gasket(s). The accepted procedure for a broken head bolt is to pull the head and replace the gasket and all TTY bolts. Generally the heads are cracked so you throw them away. If you get lucky the short block is still usable.

So I would tell 'em he is referring to the wrong engine and wrong repair.

The Head Gasket is blown, period. Coolant debris stuck in the gasket will keep it blown. Further the flame rings may be compromised allowing a flame to "flame cut" the block and head ruining both. Further coolant leaking into the engine oil is the quickest way to kill engine bearings known.

End up telling him doing it right "later" may include yanking the blown engine. This kind of repair expense can total an old truck.

There may be warranty on the studs just because it's rare to break one. Worth a call to the company as maybe they will send a new set for free. We need pics of this...

Well just tell him the words a wise man once told be. "you always have time to do it right the second time"

Why is there never enough time to do it right, but, always time to do it over?