how do i tell if i have a cracked head?

[86GT5speed]

i think its cracked inside some place!
i did a headgasket on both sides cus my drivers side was steamy, it as bad or worse now and theres kinda like oil wet spots around the back 3 lower head bolts and a fair amount of steam out the drivers side pipe. i have the stinkn e6 heads, what other for has a head i can use ? keep in mind 86 gt has flat top pistons. will and 86 lincoln have the heart shaped chamber heads too?

 

[FSTNG]

if your brains are leaking out... lol

did you check the heads for warp?

 

[86GT5speed]

if your brains are leaking out... lol

did you check the heads for warp?

yep, they were perfect

 

[Daggar]

Your description doesn't tell me much that might help a cause to jump out at me.

Please re-explain the symptoms. Are you saying that oil and water are being expelled from the rear outboard side of the driver's side cylinder head?

If so, then I'd suggest that you didn't get the new head gaskets sealed properly. Are you reusing your old head bolts? Did you follow the proper torque pattern? Did you retorque after a good heat cycle? Did you seal up the small spaces between the heads and the lower intake at rear and on each side of the heads? Did you run a bead of head gasket maker (sealant) around each of the water jackets? Did you allow the sealant to cure until it was tacky before installing the heads and/or lower intake?

As for head swapping:
You should be able to pick up a set of E6 heads for CHEAP! You'll pay more for shipping than the heads. hehe

You could attmept to run E7 heads but you'll need to check the P2V clearance before final installation. For aftermarket, the TrickFlow Twisted Wedge heads will give you the clearance you need.

As for warped heads... It's possible but very unlikey considering that they're cast iron and weigh more than your TV set.

It certainly couldn't hurt to pull the heads back off and take them to a machine shop for a good look-over.

 

[86GT5speed]

do 86 lincolns and mercs have the same heads?
i put the gasket on dry like i was told, re used old blots like the machine shop said to do, new felpro gaskets. ran a bead of rtv on the intake coolant port though. didnt retorque anything. didnt think i should. will do that asap. but im geussing it wont help. i cleaned up the head and block pretty good so i don think thats why its leaking coolant into the exaust. i think theres oil around my lower back thre headbolts too

 

[Daggar]

do 86 lincolns and mercs have the same heads?
i put the gasket on dry like i was told, re used old blots like the machine shop said to do, new felpro gaskets. ran a bead of rtv on the intake coolant port though. didnt retorque anything. didnt think i should. will do that asap. but im geussing it wont help. i cleaned up the head and block pretty good so i don think thats why its leaking coolant into the exaust. i think theres oil around my lower back thre headbolts too

This sounds like a lower intake leak to me.

I don't know about the specifics of the heads you're referring to although I've heard of folks using the heads from a Lincoln before. I don't recall what the specific application/years were though.

 

[86GT5speed]

This sounds like a lower intake leak to me.

I don't know about the specifics of the heads you're referring to although I've heard of folks using the heads from a Lincoln before. I don't recall what the specific application/years were though.

why lower???

 

[Daggar]

The lower doesn't account for the coolant, only the oil.

Regardless, you're going to need to pull it all apart again. Might as well check the block and have the heads gone over by a machine shop to see they're any good. Shouldn't cost you much just to have them looked over.

When you put it all back together, make sure you're sealing up all the nooks and crannies.

 

[86GT5speed]

The lower doesn't account for the coolant, only the oil.

Regardless, you're going to need to pull it all apart again. Might as well check the block and have the heads gone over by a machine shop to see they're any good. Shouldn't cost you much just to have them looked over.

When you put it all back together, make sure you're sealing up all the nooks and crannies.

coolant runs thru the lower though, and the ports were kinda rough on the lower thats why i used some black rtv. do u suppose retorquing the head will solve it... funny thing when i first ran the motor it made a ton of wierd creeky noises after i shut it off!!

 

[Daggar]

Nope... once water has started through a pathway, retorquing won't help. It will likely need to be resealed.

 

[86GT5speed]

so can i just use some kinda sealant on this new gasket? what kind if so?

 

[Daggar]

You'll need to use a new gasket and appropriate sealant depending on whether it's the intake or heads gaskets that are leaking.

Pull out your handy dandy Hanes manual (or equivalent engine build manual) for torque and installation proceedure.

I can't (obviously) tell you exactly where things went wrong sitting on this side of the interweb without being able to see what's going on. For all I know, the water passage through your throttle body spacer could be leaking and you could be getting water that way. It's hard to say.

 

[86GT5speed]

You'll need to use a new gasket and appropriate sealant depending on whether it's the intake or heads gaskets that are leaking.

Pull out your handy dandy Hanes manual (or equivalent engine build manual) for torque and installation proceedure.

I can't (obviously) tell you exactly where things went wrong sitting on this side of the interweb without being able to see what's going on. For all I know, the water passage through your throttle body spacer could be leaking and you could be getting water that way. It's hard to say.

right but im only getting steam on my drivers side a lil now and then on the other cus of the h pipe i assume, both gaskets call for dry intallation

 

[skunk21]

I'm with daggar, very hard to help you out over the e-net w/o looking at what you've got or did. the ? about a crack, the shop would have seen a obvious crack, a hairline crack can be missed and would open itself up once the head got hot, doesn't sound like what you got, but I could be wrong. when you say a shop told you, did they go through the head? deck them etc.

when you pulled of the heads the first time did you notice a blowout spot on the old head gasket? something isn't sealing right and that most likley is the problem. either the intake, or the heads. hopfully the shop did a good job on them. The suck part is you need to start from step 1 which may include new head gaskets, clean everything up, veryify the heads are flat, take your time mating everything up and go by all the tourqe specs. good luck. keep us updated.

 

[86GT5speed]

I'm with daggar, very hard to help you out over the e-net w/o looking at what you've got or did. the ? about a crack, the shop would have seen a obvious crack, a hairline crack can be missed and would open itself up once the head got hot, doesn't sound like what you got, but I could be wrong. when you say a shop told you, did they go through the head? deck them etc.

when you pulled of the heads the first time did you notice a blowout spot on the old head gasket? something isn't sealing right and that most likley is the problem. either the intake, or the heads. hopfully the shop did a good job on them. The suck part is you need to start from step 1 which may include new head gaskets, clean everything up, veryify the heads are flat, take your time mating everything up and go by all the tourqe specs. good luck. keep us updated.

yeah it bothered me that i didnt find a obvious blow out spot like i normally have on other heads. intake looked fishy on the coolant ports with corrosion and stuff and gasket was stuck, but no signs of a leak there.
shop just checked for warpage, free. thats it

 

[skunk21]

seeing how the drivers side got "steamy" again does this happen when the car gets hot? did you over heat the motor? it may have a hairline crack that opens up once it gets hot since it's happening to the same head. I have seen this happen to cast iron heads. I would have had the shop look into your suspicion of a crack, and go through the heads anways since they where off, always a good idea. you really need to get the heads checked out to make sure they are sound before moving on. I would also have your lower intake dipped to clean it all out, get all your surfaces clean and smooth, rule everyhting out so you don't keep wasting your time.

the heads can be checked out and redone for short money, the intake cleaning the same. I still would have had the heads surfaced, running a feeler gage under them is okay but they aren't going to scratch the surface if they are doing the job, if they where they start running down the face I bet they would find some high and low spots that a feeler gage won't pickup.

 

[86GT5speed]

seeing how the drivers side got "steamy" again does this happen when the car gets hot? did you over heat the motor? it may have a hairline crack that opens up once it gets hot since it's happening to the same head. I have seen this happen to cast iron heads. I would have had the shop look into your suspicion of a crack, and go through the heads anways since they where off, always a good idea. you really need to get the heads checked out to make sure they are sound before moving on. I would also have your lower intake dipped to clean it all out, get all your surfaces clean and smooth, rule everyhting out so you don't keep wasting your time.

the heads can be checked out and redone for short money, the intake cleaning the same. I still would have had the heads surfaced, running a feeler gage under them is okay but they aren't going to scratch the surface if they are doing the job, if they where they start running down the face I bet they would find some high and low spots that a feeler gage won't pickup.

steam almost right away when starting it, never goes away or really gets worse. car has never overheated so thats interesting. plenty of power still, drives fine. so i have no clue

 

[91 foxbody]

Maybe you should tell them how you tried to port the heads with them still on. Post the pics of your work. Be up front about everything and maybe some one can give you a diagnosis.

 

[86GT5speed]

Maybe you should tell them how you tried to port the heads with them still on. Post the pics of your work. Be up front about everything and maybe some one can give you a diagnosis.

i posted that on here sum place to but yeah ur right buy however this is the same thing the car was doing before i started all this so thats why i didnt mention that and plus im tired of feeling reeeeeealy dumb. the car has always made some steam since i first got it, but it had cats when i first got it, it didnt seem like it had a bad gasket just condinsation....anyways one day it just got really bad and i noticed bubbles in the radiator when i was running it with the cap off. never had any coolant in the oil or vice a versa...porting the heads on i vacumed with a industrial shop vac and blew it with airhose several times till i was sure all was gone, it wasnt. car ran like crap, made steam as soon as i started it, made funny creeky noises when i shut it off, sounded like the head contracting. changed my oil 3 times and ran motor flush that seemed to have clean up stuff my oil pressure whent back to normal.
but like i said the car did this same thing proir to all my stupidity

 

[Daggar]

Replace the heads.

That is all.