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Whoopsie

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I started to take off my headers today and when I took off the first bolt, water started pouring out. At first I thought it was gas, which was also puzzling... but it was definitely water. When I took off the valve covers I didn't notice any water in there. The head gaskets are bad, but there's no peanut butter in the coolant. Granted, the motor has probably only been run for 15 minutes total since I've owned it (a couple months).
Is this something that might be catastrophic or just pull the heads, replace the gaskets and keep rolling?
 
Whoopsie said:
I started to take off my headers today and when I took off the first bolt, water started pouring out. At first I thought it was gas, which was also puzzling... but it was definitely water. When I took off the valve covers I didn't notice any water in there. The head gaskets are bad, but there's no peanut butter in the coolant. Granted, the motor has probably only been run for 15 minutes total since I've owned it (a couple months).
Is this something that might be catastrophic or just pull the heads, replace the gaskets and keep rolling?
Click to expand...


Yep, the end bolt holes are into the water jacket, it's normal for them to leak antifreeze when you remove them....

Put a little sealer on them when you put them back in so they don't leak....
 
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You're lucky you got the bolt to come out and not snap off in the hole. Which is more the norm.
 
Blind Squirrel said:
You're lucky you got the bolt to come out and not snap off in the hole. Which is more the norm.
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing...the other 3 will probably break off then they will leak when he puts it back together!!:mad::mob::poke::soapbox:
 
I knew it had to be too easy. Engine swap is looking better every day
 
Whoa there turbo, slow down. It's suppose to work that way when you take those four bolts out. Did you do any diagnostics? Compression test? Any thing? You might only have a bad head gasket. Normally there is more wrong. But anything at this point will be nothing but a guess.
 
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There's an unholy amount of oil leaking where the heads attach to the block. You're right though, I just assumed. I'll try to grab some pics this week and see what yall think. Thanks.
 
What I meant by the swap is looking better every day is that the more I learn about the 318 and it's strengths and limitations, the more I think it might be more cost effective to start looking for a 360 (been kind of looking for one out of a motor home) to achieve what I want with this build. This project all together is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. Whether or not I keep the 318 in the project, it's still going to be a motor that I keep and rebuild, even if it's just to learn more about working on engines.
 
There is two pipe plugs, one on each side of your block about in the middle above the oil pan rail. Pulls those out and it will drain the water out of you block and make it a much cleaner job. If you remove then and nothing comes out, just unplug it with a screw driver.
 
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