Took my engine apart today and found out that I blew a head gasket! Pics.

[RacEoHolic330]

A few weeks before my trans went south on me, I noticed that my engine was running rather hot (230*). I checked the coolant and my radiator was amost half empty. I filled it back up and everything was ok. Then the next time I drove the car, I had the same problem once again...hot temps and missing coolant. My car wasn't making any smoke that I could notice and there were no odd smells. But it did seem a little low on power. I pulled the heads off today, and to my surprise I found this:

The gasket is barely cracked so I guess it allowed a very small amount of coolant to enter the cylinder and burn away slowly. I guess I'll have to retard my timing just a tad bit after I get things back together.

I was running a set of Fel-pro 9333PT-1 head gaskets. I'm wondering if I should just buy another set of those or get a different kind? Does anybody have any suggestions on a different set of head gaskets that will handle a nice amount of boost?

 

[iapexl8r]

I would consider a different set.do your pistons come up out of the hole at all? in the pics it looks like the cylinder bore is smaller than the bore int he gasket. that is good. I have seen head gasket/head locating dowels (those things that hold the gasket in place) be bent or damaged allowing the gasket to hang down into the cylinder and cause the gasket to leak coolant into the cylinder in that exact same place. just my 2 cents chris

 

[fox racer]

I might have blown a headgasket too. But i dont see smoke, smell anything. But my car runs at like 195-205 and it slowly loses coolant. Any other plans while your that deep in the motor bay? Also i sent you a PM.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Replied to your PM fox racer

While the engine is out of the car 'm gonna go all out cleaning everything up. I'm welding up all the holes in the engine bay and will be repainting the whole thing. I'm going to clean up and detail the entire engine as well as repolish everything. I already repainted the entire underside of the car with Rust Encapsulator from Eastwood. It looks like a brand new car under there now. I'm still waiting for my TKO 750 to be shipped. I have my spec stage 3, spec flywheel, lakewood bellhousing, and everything else waiting to be installed. I hope to have the car back up and running by the beginning of September.

 

[tunedin302]

I'm still waiting for my TKO 750 to be shipped.

Scott - where'd you get your TKO from? Good luck with the motor.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I got it from MMR... www.modularmustangracing.com

 

[jimdrechsler]

crap, the more and more i read about this, i think i may have done the same thing. i have a post titled "coolant level", i think, that no one wants to respond to anymore.
my coolant has been slowly getting lower and ive noticed my temp gauge a couple degrees higher than normal when driving. my temp gauge will also jump to 220 or so for the first minute after first starting up, then drop down to 180, then slowly rise to 183ish which isnt normal for me. do my "symptoms" sound like a head gasket, or could it be something else?

don't want to steal your thread, but this is getting me nervous!

 

[tunedin302]

That trans looks like a nice setup. Good luck.

 

[TheBocSez]

Getting ready to do mine here soon. Missing coolant, high and erratic engine temps, exhaust smell in coolant.

No smoke, no fluids mixing, NAPA Block tester shows HC's in coolant so that is good enough for me.

Had the Felpro 1011-1 Going to use the Mr Gasket Ultra Seal head gaskets for mine.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

crap, the more and more i read about this, i think i may have done the same thing. i have a post titled "coolant level", i think, that no one wants to respond to anymore.
my coolant has been slowly getting lower and ive noticed my temp gauge a couple degrees higher than normal when driving. my temp gauge will also jump to 220 or so for the first minute after first starting up, then drop down to 180, then slowly rise to 183ish which isnt normal for me. do my "symptoms" sound like a head gasket, or could it be something else?

don't want to steal your thread, but this is getting me nervous!

Mine was doing the exact same thing. Sometimes my temp would be normal at 180, then it would go up to 230, then settle to 200, then back up again. It was all over the place. You definitely sound like you are having the same problem I did.

 

[jimdrechsler]

was yours going up and down even after it dropped to 180? when mine settled down to 180, it doesnt jumo around anymore.

thanks,

jim

 

[mob]

I might have blown a headgasket too. But i dont see smoke, smell anything. But my car runs at like 195-205 and it slowly loses coolant. Any other plans while your that deep in the motor bay? Also i sent you a PM.

mine does the same exact thing, is it a headgasket?

 

[SamSnyder]

I traced my slow coolant loss to a bad gasket on the EGR spacer, letting coolant get sucked into the intake.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

was yours going up and down even after it dropped to 180? when mine settled down to 180, it doesnt jumo around anymore.

thanks,

jim

Mine would settle to 180* for a while but then out of nowhere it would go back up to 230*

 

[jimdrechsler]

ok, mine stays down when it finally does go down. no jumping around after it settles. i wonder if it could be something else? PLEASE BE

 

[RMODEL65]

230degs isnt overheating

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I never said it was. It's just a lot higher than what my car should be running at.