Coolant Problem - Coolant Level Rising

there is a line that runs in the engine valley underneath the intake manifold that was a PITA on my kenne bell install, i dont know if needed to be replaced with the tork tech, but im assuming it did. if that came loose it could be leaking / taking in air at that location. I had to put a little bit of silicone sealant on mine and im wondering if they did at big shot. I was just going to suggest taking your car down there and talk to kyle, he probably did most of the work. Im sure he wouldnt mind taking a few minutes to look it over and throw in his 2 cents / or fix it if it was a result of the install.

Kilgore Trout is correct when he says these engines do not blow head gaskets, or rarely do. When they do there is always an underlying problem rather than a material failure of the gasket itself. Nearly every time it is due to one of three things.

1. A coolant system failure that draws a steam void in the upper block. When this happens, a cylinder head warps (famous in aluminum cylinder heads), causing a gap between either the gasket, and the head or the deck. When that happens it is just a matter of time before the gasket gets worn away in that location. Fluids can mix or enter the cylinder, cylinder gases can enter the coolant, and very low cylinder pressure is typically seen in the affected cylinders.

2. Cylinder pressure goes up to the point the head bolts are stretched and the heads lift. This is most often seen in supercharged motors that don't use cylinder head studs or are running very high boost and not using lockwire o-rings. This problem is like problem one only much worse because the more cycles that occur, the more the bolts stretch, the more the gap widens. Fluids eventually start leaking past the gasket, even mixing sometimes (If you find antifreeze in your oil you get to replace every bearing in your rotating assembly - yippee!). Also cylinder gases are forced into the cooling system, displacing coolant, which causes overheating and a high probability of causing problem #1 all on its own. Due to the inconsistent pressures seen in the affected cylinder, detonation is much more likely to occur which can lead to catostrophic engine failure.

3. Another possibility for failure is improper torquing or torque sequencing, but then that's not really the fault of the gasket is it?

Technically none of these failures is a head gasket blowing out anyway. It has been repeatedly demonstrated in teardowns that these gaskets are extremely durable. I have seen several occasions where even under detonation severe enough to cause a forged piston or rod to fail, the head gasket will be completely unharmed.

So yes, Kilgore Trout is absolutly right, these cars don't blow gaskets just because of bad gaskets. It is a failure somewhere else in the system that leads up to a gasket failure. But in any case the situation is never good and always expensive. It nearly always results in a complete teardown, and mandotory decking and thorough inspection of the cylinder heads. Fortunately gasket failures are easy to spot by the many symptoms already mentioned elsewhere in this thread.

jeebus...im so sorry you havent been able to track down this issue

since the car was on ramps..would it be safe to assume that the leak is from the rear of the block?

no sign of leaking at the firewall into the heatercore?


---for clarification....now its is NOT spilling over at the reservoir like in your original posts?

bakos24 said:

Also, when the car was sitting on the ground, the coolant in the reservoir would stay where ever it was at. Now on ramps, it drained and is almost empty now.

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this strikes me as odd as if your t stat is stuck open and everything in the reservoir is rushing into the block

when was the last time it was driven? are you having any driving issues?

bakos24 said:

Last drove it Oct I believe, this in when the coolant first spewed out everywhere from the reservoir(it did this while driving around town).

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did you have your coolant changed around that time?

i was trying to rule out #4 in the98stang's post above by attributing the coolant coming out of the reservoir to one epic air pocket problem.

the weird thing is that you dont have that 'white smoke out the tailpipes' problem that most others have with a gasket issue. strange.

My car did the samething 3 years ago and left me strandled in a bad neighborhood @ night ... so i said **** it and drove it home very slow in the middle of the winter no barely in coolant.

I got a compression test and everything was fine.

Fast forward 2 years later. The car overheats in the summer if the heat is not on and dosent warm up enough in the winter.


Fast forward to some months ago: Only thing i found wrong was my heads are pitted and allowing coolant to seep under the gaskets....

Dont know.. maybe this could be your problem... i had a coolant leak under the car showing @ that place also. Take off your intake manifold and see if your head surfaces are smooth or are they pitting

Twista said:

Fast forward to some months ago: Only thing i found wrong was my heads are pitted and allowing coolant to seep under the gaskets....

Dont know.. maybe this could be your problem... i had a coolant leak under the car showing @ that place also. Take off your intake manifold and see if your head surfaces are smooth or are they pitting

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yikes! how does this sort of thing happen? how did you resolve the problem?