212 head leaking water

farmermike

Hello,

My 35 Terraplane is leaking water around two of the head bolts. I was planning on pulling the head and replacing the head gasket but before I start going down that road I thought I would upload some photos for you guys to look at so you can give me a heads up in case I have some other more ominus issue going on.

I do not have any water in the oil. In fact the engine is running better than it ever has in the two years I have owned the car.

It has overheated numerous times in the past. I have addressed all those problems so that is no longer an issue.

I would appreciate any insight you might have on what this might be.

Thanks,

Mike

Geoff

Have you checked the head nut torque?   They should all be evenly torqued down to no more than 40 lbs, and the nuts should be the special wide nuts as originally used.   I would recommend  using a proprietary stop-leak compound such as Irontite or Chemi-weld before I went to the trouble of tearing it apart.

Geoff 

Frankvintagefullflowcom

The coolant is likely leaking at the stud-to-block thread interface, coming up around the stud and appearing at the nut. If this is so, it's probably not indicative of a serious issue and not (yet) a head-gasket problem.

Geoffrey's suggested solution is right on the mark.

I have had problems with the head gaskets that use Aluminium sealing rings at the coolant passages instead of Copper. Although my coolant mix was the recommended 50% and not particularly old (about 4 years) it developed a leak internally that appeared as a wisp of "steam" emanating from the tailpipe. Fortunately my wife was behind me and mentioned it (I make her follow me on foot). Upon removing the head, virtually all of the Aluminum rings were partially dissolved and fell into pieces.  

Note to self: periodically check coolant pH.

Frank