install on gt40ps

[natestang5.0]

losing coolant with install of gt40ps and its not dripping

so i put my gt40ps on 5.0 and for a little while 30 mins it ran like crap would i be correct in saying that i needed to reset the ecu. When you guys removed your smog pump tubing did you just plug the two vaccum lines together or did u huys plug them off. Another prob is that water is disapearing from my radiator. I put like half a gallon in there every so often. I checked my dipstick and it doesn't seem like there is oil in there. Or should i drain the oil to check that. I don'tthink i blew a head gasket. I didn't hear a pop or loss in power at any time. Please someone help i am pissed off and tired, it took all weekend to swap the heads and i have a few coolent problems. Thank you God bless.

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

I don't totally follow with the checking the dipstick for oil and not seeming that there's any in there? I'm just assuming that you meant it doesn't seem there's any coolant in the oil, so I'm going to answer based upon that assumption. The first thing you need to do is check your compression to be sure you don't have a leaky headgasket. A quick search on here will probably give you a couple dozen threads on how to do one correctly, if you've never done one before. The next step (you could actually reverse these, as the second step is easier) is to check for leaking intake gaskets. Spray some starting fluid around the mating surface between the intake and heads and check if the idle speed raises any. If it does, congratulations, you've found your problem. You may want to keep a fire extinguisher handy for this step because starting fluid is quite flammable, and you don't want your hard work to go up in flames. The car running like crap could also be attributed to a vacuum leak, so at the moment, I'd be leaning toward that being the problem, trying to be optimistic of course. Resetting the ECU probably isn't going to help much, as the car is trying to learn the new combination, just like it would if you were to disconnect the battery. Good luck, let us know how it goes!

 

[natestang5.0]

yeah i ment to say coolant and not oil. i will give both your ideas a try

 

[RYC CUKR]

Plug up the vacuum hoses that went to the smog equipment.

If it still is acting like a vacuum leak get a can of TB cleaner or carb cleaner and spray it around all of the gaskets and hose connections on the intake manifold and intake system. If the engine idles up then that is where it is leaking at.

Did you put thread sealing compound on the lower head bolts? if not then that might be where you are losing some coolant from. The lower head bolts run into the water jackets in the block.

 

[natestang5.0]

i didn't

no i did not use thread sealer. In my haynes it did not mention any but i did not use it and it very well could be the pro. But would it be leaking out on the ground or into somewhere?

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

Without sealant on the headbolts, your oil probably looks like a milkshake right now. Unfortunately, the only fix is to take it back apart at this point. You may be able to get away with doing one head bolt at a time, but you're running the risk of having to replace head gaskets anyway. You're probably just best off to do it all at once. I suspect you may still have a vacuum leak though if you didn't plug the hoses that went to the smog stuff like RYC CUKR mentioned.

 

[natestang5.0]

there is absolutely no water in my oil. my oil level has not risen no milk in there nothing. I had someone tell me that if i can't find where the water is going it could be leaking straight into my exhaust port and he said you can't tell because it all gets evaporated by the time it gets out of the pipes. he told me to take off my headers and look at the ports and if one of them is very clean he said it is leaking into the e port, and he said i would be able to tell if the water is goin into my intake port because it would run bad.

 

[RYC CUKR]

Like stanggt said you might be able to pull the bolts one at a time and get them to seal up with the thread compound but sometimes they won't seal up cause they threads are wet.

Don't worry I made the same mistake and ended up having to pull the heads back off and redo everything and put all new gaskets in. So your not the first and won't be the last to make that mistake. My car exhibited the same type of symptoms that yours is. I was loosing coolant and couldn't find where it was going.

Good luck

 

[natestang5.0]

it seems as thought the loss of coolant is slowing down. I am think the gaskets are sealing up or the threads are sealing or getting sortof cloged. I am watching it closely to see but i haven't had to add water in a day and a half so i will see thanks for the help. What type of timing do you guys recomend with my setup i have it on 18* thanks oh and it kinda lunges or surges at 2 to 3 thousand rpms do you know what that could be. it feels like turbo lag.