Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Oh No! Not the head gasket!

[Gizmo 007]

Found the limitations of my stock head gasket today . 42ºF ambient temp, 57psi boost, 2400RPMs, engine at normal operating temp.



Driving along, I caught up to a granny in an oldsmobile. I dropped out of O/D, rolled on the throttle and POP! Like a zit. Crap! It's leaking coolant externally around the #1 and #3 cylinders. It was bound to happen one day, oh well.



What kills me is the fact that the gasket has held well into the mid 80's (boost psi). Suppose it took all it wanted. Guess what I get to do next week! Whoopee



Anyone in the Dallas area want good first hand experience :-laf

 

[BFC]

Kris,



depends when your planning on doing it, never done it but I can turn wrenches and help. Be glad to be slave labor .



Glenn





PM me with the details

 

[rob10858]

me too, 275 injectors, that's it. 2001. 5 ho 3500, 64000 miles. we might want to pay attention to this problem, anyone else? i,ve been looking for another post on this. .

 

[HC]

Originally posted by packman

we might want to pay attention to this problem, anyone else? i,ve been looking for another post on this. .

Serious fueling box, twin turbos, 57 psi boost, and has run up to 80 psi boost before. I respect what Gizmo is doing, but I think "near stock" people like myself don't need to lay awake at night just yet...

 

[Jim Fulmer]

What kills me is the fact that the gasket has held well into the mid 80's (boost psi).



Sorry to hear that Kris! Now you know why I never go high on the boost, don't mess around with stock stuff call PDR and talk to Al monday and he will take care of you. Also remember that backpressure is just as big of a killer, past 75 PSI our setup's get too much back pressure, with a little turbo on top past 60 it gets bad in a hurry.



Jim

 

[Gizmo 007]

Thanks for the replies guys! I was just kinda sad earlier when I posted this. Oh well, I'm over it now.



Jim, that the first thing I thought of . I think a good porting, polishing, and o-ringing is in order . While it's apart, I might as well put in a big cam, a new exhaust manifold, P7100 pump conversion... sheesh, the list NEVER STOPS does it !??!



Like HC said, the guys that are only mildly modified shouldn't worry. I've run the crap outta mine. On a side note, I did re-torque the head. I went about 75 lb. ft. trq over spec with a calibrated torque wrench. That was right after I installed the twins.



packman, how did you blow yours? What was your head torqued to? I ran across a Ram with head gasket problems, and found that his head wasn't torqued to spec. Gotta be careful.



Y'all take care

Kris

 

[777 MECHANIC]

75 lbs. over torqued? A good way to warp your head!

 

[csutton7]

how in the Sam Hill did you torque to 75lbs above spec--that's like torqueing to 170 lbs+--you should've broken every head bolt --I'm not sure even studs can be torqued that much--yikes---



anyway have fun as I just got done with my head work today--lot's of fun and lot's of time---chris

 

[Gizmo 007]

Oops, caused a little confusion... I was half asleep when I wrote my last post. That was supposed to be 45 lbs over. I'm bad about using the keypad on the side for typing numbers. Hit the 7 instead. That's what I get for not proof-reading.



Even so, 45 is overkill i know. I used a John Deere service trick. Engines with head gasket problems get anywhere from 25 - 50 lbs. over spec to attempt to correct the problem. Works 99% of the time.



Bolts are still intact, but I'm gonna change them with the head gasket... don't wanna take any chances. Gonna try to go ahead and have the head checked / ringed while it's off.

 

[csutton7]

whew--that's more like it--had us going there-----chris

 

[Gizmo 007]

Whew! Finally got the new gasket on friday. Not the biggest project I've ever tackled, but still a bear. To make matters worse, it was in the twentys outside, with 15 MPH winds and no heater. We couldn't get in the shop (no one was around), so it was kind of a pain.



After removing the head, the failure was pretty evident. The #1 piston blew out the sealing ring around the combustion chamber, taking out both a water and oil hole in the gasket. What would cause a sealing ring to split? Oh yea, compound turbos . A while back, I sucked something hard through the turbos, and we found where it went through the engine. The #1 piston has a small indention (the size of a pencil tip) next to one of the intake valves. Other than that, the head and engine looked brand new. We couldn't find any wear!



So, we cleaned and recleaned the block and head surface, and reassembled the engine. After bleeding the fuel system, it started and ran like a champ. Oh, BTW the head is torqued to 20 lb. ft. over spec, just to be sure.



I'll try to post pics next week. They're in Corsicana, but I'm in Southest Texas right now.