How bad?

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It was premix 50/50. Less than 2 months old.

Going to rent a compression tester. I have an old cheap one with the rubber end, but want one with fittings to use.
I did one years ago, but can't remember the exact numbers except the readings seemed good at the time. I have never done a leakdown test. Will have to school myself tonight.
Anybody got recommendations on what tool to rent?
 
Of course, if something has to be cut at this point just get the intake milled. I prefer the intake surfaces of the heads to be cut so intakes don’t have to be cut during a swap but if you don’t have to pull the heads off and don’t plan on swapping out intakes anytime soon, doesn’t make sense to break a good functional seal...
 
Garrett Ellison said:
Of course, if something has to be cut at this point just get the intake milled. I prefer the intake surfaces of the heads to be cut so intakes don’t have to be cut during a swap but if you don’t have to pull the heads off and don’t plan on swapping out intakes anytime soon, doesn’t make sense to break a good functional seal...
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Excellent article on doing leak down in tech!
 
I have had the intake off this engine several times and never leaked before, but it was always reinstalled with fresh gaskets.
I have a brand new set of Felpro 90109 on hand. I was just being a cheap bastard, I guess.
 
KnuckleDuster said:
Ran the car at the track Friday.
No issues. Drove the car Sunday and all was good. No smoke, no overheating, nada.

It was 28° here last night , but warmed up today.
Went to crank it an hour ago and it didn't want to. Acted like the starter was stuck.
Finally cranks and after running for a few I notice white smoke out the passenger bank.
Thinking it was condensation checked the dipstick, and the oil looked fine.
I let it run on fast idle, but it didn't clear up.
Than I looked and saw the temp was about 215° and shut it down.
Felt the radiator and it was stone cold. Opened it and dry pressure escaped, no coolant to be seen.
I think the intake gasket failed. I reused after head porting them because they looked fine. Guess that was a bad idea.
Plugs 6 and 8 are a little wet.
So as far as I know it only ran a few minutes with coolant in it at idle.
My question is how much damage do you think it did? It ran a max of 1500 at idle for 6-8 minutes.
It was running fine other than the smoke. I don't hear any knocking or strange noises.
About to go drain the oil and start pulling the intake.
Could the bearings still be ok?
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When they starter was stuck,sound like it hydro locked ,fuel or antifreeze.
The white smoke is antifreeze.
I do not think you hurt anything.
Do not take it apart till you diagnose the problem.
Pressure test it with a coolant pressure tester.
Radiator full and test cold and if it does leak down find out where ,drain plug out and spark plugs out....
If no leak,put oil in it and pressure test warmed up....just my 2 cents
 
KnuckleDuster said:
Found and was reading it. Thanks!
Only problem is I don't have air.
Click to expand...

You are on the right track with the compression test for the moment, and since most don't have a cooling system pressure tester you might see if your local Auto house has a tool rental.
One can put the cooling system tester on and run the motor to watch for a pressure rise (especially with a couple of revs while watching the gauge on the tester.)
A leak down test would be ok as well, but I'm betting the compression test is going to tell you.

The thing is when 2 cylinders side by side have wet plugs and there is coolant loss it's almost always a head gasket in my experience.
(Excepting any block or head cracks and such)
 
Oh what did it run friday nite.
I got an extra coolant tester,leak down tester,compression gauge and air compressor ....just the long drive too get it.
 
TXDart said:
Oh what did it run friday nite.
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It was a wash. Screwed up the only two runs I got. Three hour cleanup from a Corvette dumping it's guts all over the track...and it was cold. Lot's of people having trouble hooking up, me included.
 
TrailBeast said:
You are on the right track with the compression test for the moment, and since most don't have a cooling system pressure tester you might see if your local Auto house has a tool rental.
One can put the cooling system tester on and run the motor to watch for a pressure rise (especially with a couple of revs while watching the gauge on the tester.)
A leak down test would be ok as well, but I'm betting the compression test is going to tell you.

The thing is when 2 cylinders side by side have wet plugs and there is coolant loss it's almost always a head gasket in my experience.
(Excepting any block or head cracks and such)
Click to expand...

I hear ya.
Gonna run compression test first. If it comes out good I'll go from there.

Tried to get better pics of the plugs but my phone camera doesn't like me today, either.

20181114_170024_HDR.jpg


20181114_165614.jpg
 
One of my fans went out on the 74 dart and I have not replaced,running a little hot.
Fixing to fix steering column and then drive it...
Got some race gas from a neighbor,been beating around the hood,fm1626...
Holler if you need the tools above.
 
KnuckleDuster said:
I hear ya.
Gonna run compression test first. If it comes out good I'll go from there.

Tried to get better pics of the plugs but my phone camera doesn't like me today, either.
Click to expand...

Those two don't look wet or steam cleaned either one in the pic.
Did they dry off, or what kind of wet were they?
 
Camera is screwed up. Top couple of threads look a little wet.

Rented a compression tester. Will test in the morning.
Already took the carb off, and oil out, so not running it.

20181114_201723.jpg


20181114_201736.jpg
 
TXDart said:
I would not do a compression test without oil in it.
And why are you taking it apart.
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Damn it Martin! I was so wound up thinking it was going to be pissing antifreeze out the oil pan, after the relief, I wasn't thinking straight. I'm gonna put new oil in it. I was gonna pull the intake last night, thinking I was sure what was wrong, but I stopped at pulling the carb.
Thanks for being the voice of logic, lol!
 
Plugs are not telling you anything one way or the other. Slow coolant burning won't change the plug color. I was hoping for something obvious.... I've seen actual green tinting on a plug before.

I hope your heads were milled true, and not canted off at an angle. Just one other possibility.

I'll have to take exception to the idea that the block is warped if the heads are warped. It may or may not be the case. With AL heads, it is my experience for the heads to warp easily and the block to not do so. (This is from 4 bangers.)

If it gets down to it, then borrow a known accurate straight edge to check the block. Anything under .002" on the block is OK, and perhaps a hair more. (If you know anyone with a good lathe with new beds, you can check your straight edge on that to see how good it is. I have an old aluminum level that happens to be extremely straight; I borrowed a straight edge used to true up lathe beds to check it against)
 
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You ported the heads? I guess there is no chance there was a thin wall near a water passage?
 
I honestly THINK the intake gaskets are gonna be the culprit. Either they are too crushed, or they are leaking around the coolant port on that end due to RTV. I had a leak in the front corner last time around and pulled the intake to reseal. The gaskets stayed stuck to the intake and so I left them on, and touched up the RTV on the head side. Probably the RTV dried out too much around the ports in the process.
I will do a compression test here in a little and we will see.
 
IQ52 said:
You ported the heads? I guess there is no chance there was a thin wall near a water passage?
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Of course it's possible. Larry Smith ported the heads, as many Mopar heads as he has done, I consider that an outside chance. I will definitely take a VERY close look at the ports when the intake comes off after the compression test.

THANK YOU guys!

I really appreciate all the help and ideas! I will update here in a bit.
 
Do guys think it is safe to warm it up for the compression check, or should I do it cold?
 
KnuckleDuster said:
I honestly THINK the intake gaskets are gonna be the culprit. Either they are too crushed, or they are leaking around the coolant port on that end due to RTV. I had a leak in the front corner last time around and pulled the intake to reseal. The gaskets stayed stuck to the intake and so I left them on, and touched up the RTV on the head side. Probably the RTV dried out too much around the ports in the process.
I will do a compression test here in a little and we will see.
Click to expand...

The main problem I have with it being the intake gaskets is that the coolant port is so far from the intake ports it would be a total freak accident for the coolant to go all the way across from the coolant port over to the two intake ports enough to cause hydro lock and not go the 1/2 inch into the lifter valley and oil.
 
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