Do I have a blown head gasket?

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When you pressurize it, get some soap spray to look for leaks.

Just take some liquid dish soap (Dawn, Palmolive, Ajax, etc.) Put 6 - 10 drops in a spray bottle and fill it with water. Then spray it along where you think you may have a leak, and you will see bubbles where it's leaking. (Plus it helps clean the oil off your engine if nothing else.)


Another point: Leaks only go down, they never go up (try kicking water up hill). It has to be coming from just above near where you are seeing it leaking, and dripping down.
 
I thought I read where he said plain as DAY it was leaking between the head and block. That kinda narrows it down a tad. But what do I know?
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
Have you checked the oil level on the dip stick since you pressurized the system to make sure you don't have a water leak to the inside? Make sure the level is not increasing on the stick.
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Yes, I have done this, the oil level is staying very consistent. So to me it does not appear to be going into the engine.

krazykuda said:
When you pressurize it, get some soap spray to look for leaks.

Just take some liquid dish soap (Dawn, Palmolive, Ajax, etc.) Put 6 - 10 drops in a spray bottle and fill it with water. Then spray it along where you think you may have a leak, and you will see bubbles where it's leaking. (Plus it helps clean the oil off your engine if nothing else.)


Another point: Leaks only go down, they never go up (try kicking water up hill). It has to be coming from just above near where you are seeing it leaking, and dripping down.
Click to expand...

I can give this a try as well.
 
Cracked head. this is left side . coolent appears to be coming from the head gasket but its not. MT:burnout:
 

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Well, I honestly cant tell on the oil level. I checked it this morning after leaving the pressure on it overnight. When the oil drains back after sitting, its normally above the full mark and just starting to touch the letter U. This morning I checked and it was almost touching the far side of the U.

I also noticed the pressure was down on the gauge. I left it close to 18-19 lbs last night. This morning it was around 16lbs. So I pulled the tester off and looked at the coolant. It went down in the radiator. I looked under the car and I had a nice puddle under it. I cleaned up the block really well as suggested and tried it again. Put around 18-19 lbs on it and let it sit. I went back about a hour later and checked. It looks like it starts getting wet about half way between the intake and exhaust on the block side. So I tried the soap bubbles in that area. It didnt bubble at all.

So I thought the hell with it. Its coming out somewhere to leave a puddle on the ground I might as well pull it apart and look. When I pulled the intake there was a lot of moisture inside the engine. You can see it on the gaskets, and the back of the engine on the RTV, I had laid down (hard to see but there is a lot). I also have what appears to be some water sitting in the valley, but its hard to tell how much.

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View attachment IMG_20150528_101336168.jpg
 
This water you see could have came from the intake as you took it apart. MT
 
Mopar Tim said:
This water you see could have came from the intake as you took it apart. MT
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I dont think it is, I've pulled the intake well, 5 times now. I've never seen this much moisture inside the engine. I've been finding more and more water droplets thru the engine.

I did get the head gasket off, and there are no obvious signs of any damage, but there sure was a lot of oily water from #2 past the #4 cylinder, between the head and block. I must have gotten most of the water out when I drained it, just a few drips of water when I pulled the head. The #4 piston was also wet and shiny, like what I saw last night, but no standing water in it.

I also pulled the timing cover. I looked into the oil pan and that has a white milky sludge as far as I can see. I should probably pull the damn pan off and clean that out as well, but not sure I can do that with it in the car.

Thoughts?
 
Take the head to a machine shop and have it magnafluxed for a crack while it is off.
 
I would pull both heads at this point. Milky sludge is a sure sign of something other than intake gaskets leaking IMO.
 
Just wanted to revist this thread for a update. Sorry for the long delay getting back to you. Life got busy.

So I decided to say hell with it and throw some new gaskets in it just to see. Only out the cost of the gaskets at this point. I buttoned it up and ran it up to temp. I had what appeared to be a slight leak right behind the dipstick tube. By slight I mean this, I took a paper towel and a flat bladed screw driver. Basically, the tip of the screwdriver blade on the paper towel was all that was wet, it soaked up what was there. So it was dry now at this point.

Hanging my head because I thought it didnt work. I decided to abuse my car in the garage. It was raining so I had to simulate driving it the best I could. I ran the RPM's up to 2500 up and down for about 25 minutes. Yes I know there was no load on the engine, but it was all I could do. After I was done I shut it down for the night to let it cool. Since that was when the leak usually developed.

The next morning I was to take it to Mopars in the Park car show. I woke up early and went to the garage. First thing I did was look under the car. The floor and k-member were dry. I looked on the block where it was pooling before, that was dry. I looked where that water was the night before, dry as well. Awesome!!! Moved on to check the oil, that was at the normal level!!!! Im on a roll!!!! Last thing was to check the radiator, pulled the cap and there was coolant right at the bottom of the cap! Hell ya!!!

So I called up my buddy Doug (mobilecustoms) and told him I would be me meeting him at his house and we would drive down together. Got to his place, popped the hood and all was good! The leak was gone! Drove about 90 miles round trip and its still not leaking!

So I do believe the head gasket was the problem in this case. I dont know why it started leaking, I couldnt see anything wrong with it. Im just glad it fixed it. Thank you everyone for your comments! Each and everyone was appreciated!
 
Cool! Are you going to re-torque the head bolts now after a few heat cycles? I would.....
 
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