So after 160k miles... something let go **PICS**

Basically this happened a while ago and i didnt really wanna post about it cause it pissed me off so much but here goes the story of the last 1.5 months. this was taken of my local forum where i did post about the problem:

'Coming home from school today (still no fans BTW) temp never rose above the 3rd line on the stock gauge (all freeway drive from UH). I get on my street and decided to row through the gears That was a mistake. I row 1st through 3rd (car actually does pull alot harder up top w/ the shorties, enough to actually spin em not just chirp on the 2-3 shift). I let off at the top of 3rd cause i start smelling something sweet. Immediately knew i was spewin coolant somewhere, pull over, and by that time water vapor and what looks to be chocalate milk LOL is just BILLOWING from behind the lower intake somewhere. After dealing with this Shiet for the last 2 weeks, i dont even get mad about it. At least she blew up in front of my house and i didnt have to get towed.'

basically i had been having a lot of e-fan problems but i still had to get around town (school/work.. etc) so i decided to drive the car in short bursts basically so that the car never has time to warm up.

beggining :






so i pull of the upper/lower and i dont see any cracks.. etc all the gaskets seem to be in great shape as well. The dipstick is fine.. no coolant in the oil. pull all the plugs and the only one that looked bad was the #2 cylinder here is a pic



i pull the head and the headgaskets looked fine... the freeze plugs in the back of the head seem to in place and not leaking (which was where i thought it was blowin out coolant..). I think all the coolant in the cylinders was coming from the head as i took it off.

The number 2 cylinder looks dirtier/worse than the others.. wonder why.



So i am still wondering where i am billowing coolant from.. ??

Here is another update:

okay ive been keeping myself busy while waiting on parts by cleaning/painting stuff. Its not show quality but it looks a hell of a lot better than it did. I painted the upper/lower, tb, egr spacer, and both Valve covers black. It should look alot better when i put it back together.

On to some important stuff. While painting my lower i noticed this bolt in the back that has a hole through the dome of it.. wtF? is this in one of the coolant passages? because if it is than thats where the coolant has been billowing out of. Someone clue me in on this plug..

sorry bout Shietty quality.. my phone is all i got





I also have some basic re-assembly questions as this is my first time ever tearing into a motor and ive been kinda learning as i go (i have learned ALOT and there has been a lot of this ).

ok some technical questions for people who built their own top ends.
1. torque specs for heads, rockers, headers, & valve covers
2. Proper torque techniques (which bolts first.. cicrle/cross pattern etc)
3. What should i use to clean the piston walls? There is some kind of deposits on the walls ( i think dryed up coolant or something..)
4. What should i use to clean the rockers and the pushrods? (carb cleaner??)
5. Where should i use rtv sealant (lower intake gaskets?? / upper gasket? .. etc)
6. anything else you could possibly think of tips/tricks/ things to watch out for.. mistakes you have learned from. anything that would be benificial to know.

Also.. i have purchased a new felpro gasket kit for the whole top end, arp bolts (waiting on those to come in), about to get a 6G Alt, a taurus e-fan, a kirban AFPR & gauge. I got BBK Shorties right before this happened, and had an MMR Battle box kit installed (Fully bolted, boxed, and welded upper/lower control arms).

Sorry for the life story but you guys like usual are the ones i come to in dire need of answers

thanks alot. the car did get a new ACT and ECT sensors i will look into everything else.

. Get the good Print-o-Seal Fel-Pro gaskets for the intake. You will want to use beads of RTV for the ends of the lower intake in place of the rubber strips provided with gasket kits. The reason here is that the rubber pieces usually slip or blow out of place.

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so dont use the rubber gaskets at all? just use RTV? or use the rtv and the gasket?

Darkwriter77 said:

AHA! That used to be the nipple for one of your EGR spacer coolant lines. It apparently has rotted apart and all that is left is the pipe-threaded portion. You can either replace it with a new nipple (get one at any NAPA or Autozone), or just block it off with a pipe plug and then cap the other outlet end on the heater pipe - same cost either way (less than $5 for a fitting).

Don't know why it would result in chocolate milk or foul the plug - you likely have something else going on with that, maybe the head gasket - but that fitting certainly will spew a bunch of crap underhood when it turns loose. When I first bypassed my EGR spacer coolant lines, I tried capping that with a rubber vacuum cap and a hose clamp; the cap apparently couldn't handle the pressure and split one day when I was doing the same thing (romping on it from 1st through 3rd) and it started spewing a little geyser of green terror all over everything under there.

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thanks for the input. come to think of it there was a capped off line coming from there and i always wondered what it was... it is no longer there obviously. thats why stuff was spewing everywhere

i wish i could afford a full engine rebuild.. id love nothing more in fact. But like usual i have no money. Im nearly broke just buying the necessities to put it all back together. Plus it is MY ONLY mode of transportation to/from work/school. So i've been pretty much bummin rides for a month and am sick and tired of it.