Author Topic: Head Leak  (Read 7518 times)

Offline tch38

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Head Leak
« on: April 11, 2008, 12:39:12 am »
Hi all I got a used car a few weeks ago and the motor has a small head gasket leak. It is a older sealed motor. The motor makes a little noise at start up but seems to go away. BTY I am in sol.CA and have not even had the car on the track!!!(the season is almost 3 weeks old )
1. Do I retorque the head bolts
2. Let it ride.... will this wreck the motor ?
3. Break the seals and install a new head gasket
4. Take it to a motor guy (out of money for this) or 600
(not sure if the guy in NV is still doing sealed work)


                                              Thanks Todd


Unlike most sports racing takes two balls!!!


Offline justfreaky

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2008, 03:23:13 am »
Hi Todd,
 You certainly can try to retorque the head. What could it hurt?
If you let it ride; You stand a chance of damaging the engine. How long would it last??? I don't much like surprises!
 If YOU break the seals; I think you violate the rules on sealed engines. I'll leave that to people who are more in the know of what Can or Can Not be done.
What about changing to an unsealed engine???
 "The motor makes a little noise at start up but seems to go away".
Here again, I don't like surprises. How many races on the engine? Could be the valves need adjusted. Could be that it takes a  minute to get the oil circulating. Is the oil pressure good? I Used to have an old Ford high performance 289 that at start up, the valves would rattle like crazy; Then the noise would go away. I got 200,000 well earned miles out of that engine. Would I take the risk had the engine been in the race car? NO. !!!
 Unfortunately, used engines are what they are.  If you don't have a reliable answer to your questions about the engine.......... Then I would rebuild.  JMHO
 I know that a rebuild is not cheap, and that you don't want to hear that. Sorry!
I DO hope that others here will be able to give you better answers

 Best Of Luck,

 Steve
Better to be hated for who you are, Than to be loved for who you are not.


Offline MegaMang

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2008, 12:44:44 am »
You could try to re-torque the head, but make sure you use the right torque setting...  (Sorry, don't know what it is)  If you over torque the head, you could warp it and create more of a leak amongst other things.  You could also strip a bolt, or crack the head if you just try to tighten it more without having a specific torque to aim for.

If you break the seal, the only way you can use that motor again is by sending it to 600 racing to be re sealed.  That is only happening if they rebuild it, unless you send it to them to repair and open it.  If you break the seal, they have no idea what you've done inside it without a full inspection.  So at that point, you might just as well send it to them to rebuild, and be done with it.

You can't turn a sealed into an unsealed.  Not permitted by Inex.

Could you race it like it is?  What side is it leaking on, and how much?  If it just seeps oil a little bit (just enough to make the motor a little dirty, but not creating a slick on the track) and it's on the intake side, you'll probably get away with it.  Keep an eye on the oil level every time you run it.  If it's on the exhaust you could end up with an oil fire under the hood....  Not good.

If it's more than seeping a little, time for a rebuild, so you might just as well try tightening the head bolts a little.  Overtorque by a smidgeon if needed.  If that's not curing it, you need to rebuild for sure.

Just my opinion, but I'm someone else will have some other ideas!

Good luck,
Mike
If it isn't fun, why are you doing it?

Offline tch38

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2008, 12:03:29 pm »
Ok all a re-torque is all it needed. the leak was not that bad only heard it after starting 4 or 5 times on diff. days.
The motor had been sitting for 2+years. BTW I did loosen all bolts before the re-torque.

                             Thanks Todd
Unlike most sports racing takes two balls!!!

Offline MegaMang

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2008, 08:40:05 am »
Good on you for loosening before torquing the bolts.  Should have mentioned that myself...  Glad to see that did the trick, so now you've got yourself a race car!  Have fun.

Mike
If it isn't fun, why are you doing it?


Offline tch38

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2008, 10:25:12 am »
Thanks guys
Unlike most sports racing takes two balls!!!


Offline Tom Cole

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2008, 09:10:20 am »
The head gasket on these engines is coated metal and it is quite thin.  If the gasket is blown, retorquing won't seal it, and a compression check should reveal it to you.  If retoquing does work, then the gasket is not blown.

Offline tch38

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2008, 01:08:54 am »
Head leak is back !!! It comes and goes at this point it is getting a new head gasket before the next time out
Unlike most sports racing takes two balls!!!


Offline justfreaky

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Re: Head Leak
« Reply #8 on: April 21, 2008, 05:41:19 am »
GOOD CHOICE!!!

They "Do" make some spray on stuff that will get you by.......................
But it is only a temporary fix.

Steve
Better to be hated for who you are, Than to be loved for who you are not.

 

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