i just recently started giving my 68 289 some needed attention. it needed a new carb. so while i had it off i took off my intake manifold and repainted it. after reassembling everything its been like 4 months since she last ran. well i got her started today and it sounded rough. there was a little bit of clacking so i decided to take off the valve covers and spray some lube to try to get the valves from sticking. well as im unscrewing the front bolt of the valve cover coolant started to come out of the hole! Im getting freaked out thinking i blew a head gasket or something but theres no coolant in the oil. also it was coming out like it was under a little pressure. i took a shop vac and sucked it out till it stopped. im really confused because i've taken the valve covers off in the past and i don't remember this happening. If any one knows if the bolt hole hits into the cooling system or any other insight on this would be much appreciated.
Coolant leaking out of valve cover hole?
- Thread starter xDaggetx
- Start date
coolant leak
Do you know history of heads? most likely a valve cover bolt broke off in head and whoever drilled it out went throu bolt and into water jacket. All is not lost as you can drain coolant so level is below bottom of bolt hole then clean out with brake clean dry and fill botttom of hole with epoxy if you are carfull or a good silicone sealant. make sure you wait for whichever you use to cure. The bolt will hold it in and as you generally have no more than 13lbs of pressure in cooling system it should be fine just never remove bolt while eng is hot and you will be fine.If you have a crack all bets are off but that would be a strange place for head to crack. good luck.
Do you know history of heads? most likely a valve cover bolt broke off in head and whoever drilled it out went throu bolt and into water jacket. All is not lost as you can drain coolant so level is below bottom of bolt hole then clean out with brake clean dry and fill botttom of hole with epoxy if you are carfull or a good silicone sealant. make sure you wait for whichever you use to cure. The bolt will hold it in and as you generally have no more than 13lbs of pressure in cooling system it should be fine just never remove bolt while eng is hot and you will be fine.If you have a crack all bets are off but that would be a strange place for head to crack. good luck.
well it seems like i might have an even bigger problem. somehow i have gasoline in my oil. changed the oil, ran it again and same result so i guess i really messed up the intake reinstallation. i sealed the gaskets around the head but obviously not well enough. could it be possible that the gaskets i got for it might have had the wrong port openings? idk whats going on, im gonna take the intake manifold off and see whats up tomorrow.
only 2 places for gas to get into the oil.
1. bad fuel pump, it can leak by the diagphram and into the oil.
2.past the rings, if your needle and seat sticks or blown out power valve gas will trickle down the intake onto the pistons and past the rings.
1. bad fuel pump, it can leak by the diagphram and into the oil.
2.past the rings, if your needle and seat sticks or blown out power valve gas will trickle down the intake onto the pistons and past the rings.
yea the diaphragm on the pump busted. i replaced the pump and fixed that. i also replaced the distributor cap and condenser and shes running pretty good. i guess the valve cover bolt does hit the water jacket cause nothing else can explain the coolant coming from the hole. the engine runs good with no water leaking into oil. thanks for the help
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