308 head swap and still have water and steam
Comments
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Not good. if you are certain the head is good and flat with no cracks. I would think you need to consider possibility of a crack in the block allowing water seepage into the combustion chamber.
Will cracked valve seat area do this?0 -
Did you use Copper Coat or Alum paint on the headgasket before installing? These are needed to get good seal.
Was the Headgasket new or an old stock? If it was old it could have failed from age.
Anyway its time to pull the head and ck the head, gasket and the block.0 -
I think before I took it apart I would do some trouble shooting rather than just guess. You need to preasure test each cylinder with air to see wich (if any) are leaking into the water jacket.
Get a fitting from the part store to screw into the sparkplug hole. Adapt that to your air hose and a preasure regulator if you have one -but not nessasary. Turn one cylinder to top of copression stroke (put finger in hole you will feel preasure). Stop it before the valves open ,then put car in gear and set parking brake.
Now if you fill the radiator to the very top and apply air into that sealed cylinder if there is a path to the water jacket you will see the water level move. May even see bubbles if it leaks bad. There are other methods and tools but this can be done easily with simple tools ,
Roger0 -
I get water out the tail pipe also ,but after it warms up it stops. Does yours stop after warming up also?0
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Remember that 9 out of ten times it is some thing simple and one should not jump to conclusions until you have tested as much as you can BEFORE deciding that the engine is bad to the bones.If you have a cracked block and it runs good. enjoy driving it until you are no longer able to run it.0
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If you are pumping water through the combustion chamber you will have a miss. If not you may have a collection of moisture in the exhaust system and just needs to be driven.
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I picked up a leak down tester (as Roger is describing above) from Harbor Freight for about $20. It takes time but you may find something there.0
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Lance, you stated that you get steam out of the exhaust, if you have antifreeze in it, can you smell it in the exhaust? Does the water level in the radiator level go down ?0
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Same thing out of my engine about 4000 miles on it of what hotrodman says. When it warms up all is gone.
Russ is right. Just a collection of water in the exhaust system. It's gotta collect moisture if you let it sit for a couple of days. Bet you don't see it in 90-100 degree weather, do you. If you do, then I guess you do have an issue.0 -
Thanks for all the comments all. When I start it up it is clear coming out of the pipe. As it starts to warm up I start getting the steam and the spitting of water. I have just let it run in the driveway not out on the street yet. And yes I did us copper coat but I did not run my straight edge over the head I picked up, took it that it was good. I know I should have checked first. I will try the pressure check soon. And I do not seem to be getting any missing as its running. After having it run it heat up so I could re-torque the head bolts I turned off the engine. I noticed that I had qute a bit of collant come out of the overflow tube on the raditor.0
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Lance, have you checked the spark plugs for moisture? does the engine miss? you did not say if you can smell antifreeze coming out the tailpipe or if your just running water in the system for now is it using water? If you are losing coolant or water, of course It's either head gasket, cracked head or a crack somewhere in the block. O.K. What to do? take it all apart looking for a sometimes very hard to find coolant to combustion chamber crack or seepage or if it is running to your liking, there is an option that could save you that task. Nothing is fool proof & most of the experts will criticize it & say it won't work, also not my first choice in repair for a problem that you are experiencing. Buy and use the very best ceramic block sealer you find at you auto parts house, next follow the directions to the ( T ). The one that works best is the one that has a flush cleaner first, then add the sealer per directions, next open the system to the air, radiator cap off hoses off, let the system dry out and seal usually overnight, add water, run the car long enough to be sure you sealed the void in your engine. after all that drain it then your ready for your antifreeze. I know I've just opened a pandora's box of criticism but that's O.K. if I've helped you make you car useable again. One last point for all the experts: technology has come a very long way with some pretty awesome products that really work & further unbeknownst to most, many radiator shops add sealers to there re-cored jobs, some transmission rebuilder's add enhancers to there rebuilds,on & on. Remember this is not my first choice of cure, but It's the easiest & most reasonable possibly remedy for a gasoline engine that seems to be running like a Stanley steamer. Good luck, Ron.0
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On the first refill of the radiator it is not uncomon for the drip tube to extract some coolant. After a few warming up cycles this should stop and you will notice that the water level in the radiator is about an inch or so below the top of the cap on reinspection. This happened with my rebuild also. There seems to alway be a clap or some thing that needs to be addressed after breaking into the cooling system. As mentioned keep an eye on if you are loosing coolant which will comfirm if you trully have an internal leak,also keep checking the oil ???0
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I will check the plugs for moisture and I did not try smelling the tail pipe for coolant but will do that also. I checked the oil and did not see any foaming or water in the oil. Before I did the head swap I had been loosing coolant and needed to refil often. And I will also run the engine with the cap off to see if if foams.
Thanks everyone.0 -
This is what I use to verify a suspected leak.
amazon.com/Lisle-75500-Combustion-Leak-Detector/dp/B0007ZDRUI/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=10 -
Interesting concept , sounds like a good system,
Roger0 -
If there is a leak allowing water to pass to the cylinder oil back to water, it will show up on the dip stick as a frothy milky mix of oil and water, like explained above in the radiator. In cool weather, my engine's exhaust is very steamy as there is a lot of condensation occurring in the pipes. Water is commonly forming and dripping out.0
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I am just speculating here ,but since you seem to have no complaint other than steam and condensation when cold. And knowing how quickly the fuel we have now turns to something other than gas (starts to degrade in 2 weeks).
Could this just be some 6 month old fuel that is not burning "Hot" enough ? ?
Roger0 -
If you have not actually run the car any distance, what you are getting is quite normal. Water will come out the exhaust, then turn to vapor as the system heats up, and then stop. This is quite normal. If you are not getting water in the oil or vie-versa, you may just be panicking over something that is quite normal. You follow behind any car that has just been started and accelerate away with a cold motor and water will come out the tail pipe.0
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If you have not actually run the car any distance, what you are getting is quite normal. Water will come out the exhaust, then turn to vapor as the system heats up, and then stop. This is quite normal. If you are not getting water in the oil or vie-versa, you may just be panicking over something that is quite normal. You follow behind any car that has just been started and accelerate away with a cold motor and water will come out the tail pipe.0
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Use it or loose it,as we get older you have to run and drive to keep the car and driver in working order. Even if I do not need to drive one of my OLD cars.I try to run it up to the store at least once a week. Unless you have other issues than water coming out of the tail pipe, Drive it and see what happens? Geoff C. ,NZ is thinking just what I am?0
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As you say very few guys do proper maintenance on thier vehicles. As far as the pan cleaning every so often ,silly as it sound now . Had a valid reason ,and thats why most of the old ones are easy to remove.
In the time before detergent and other modern additives came along. The idea was the dirt and metal particals would end up in the bottom of the pan. Generaly no filter was there to catch them ,They were an option but designers had to figure on thier absence.
With modern oil the idea is they keep the contaminants in suspention so the filter will catch them. Much better Idea for sure .
Roger0 -
Modern oils assume an oil filter is part of the system. I have wire gauze, open enough to to drop a pin through but I do an oil change every 1000 miles.0
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I did check the oil and did not see any signs of water in the oil. I was running it for a while to allow the thermostate to open ti circulate the coolant and the setam did not go away. Could there be a build up of water in the muffler that is working it's way out? I have not had a chance to drive it as of yet so I can not tell you if it does clear up, I hope to this weekend. Thanks again everyone.0
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Lance , I would not be concerned at this point. You need to drive it to get the exhaust hot.
Most cars I've done heads on take about three miles to clean out the exhaust.
Any Hudson will have exhaust vapors in cold or damp weather. Drive it 3-5 miles , watch your
temp gauge . If it runs normal temp after the thermostat opens , and your coolant level is normal after it cools down , your good to go , and you'll need something else to worry about. Good luck0
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