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I had a total rebuild done on my '63 340 hp last year. After initial start up, there was an oil leak from the oil gallery plug - drivers side. Repair meant removal of the head for access to block. I failed to drain all of the antifreeze and was reminded of my mistake when I removed the horizonal head bolts - antifreeze flowed freely as I pulled out the bolts. After removal of head, there were nice pools of antifreeze atop each piston. The engine builder cleaned the head and bolts and reassembled my engine in the driveway. I failed to change the oil and fired up the engine for a short time. It ran fine. I pulled the valve covers to clean them and noticed clear pools of antifreeze on top of both heads, pooled near the firewall. I quickly changed the oil, assumed all is well and drove the car without incident for maybe 100 miles. Today I pulled the valve covers to see a pool of antifreeze on the drivers side only. I am guessing that the head bolt or bolts on the drivers side head are leaking antifreeze, due to improper or missing sealant on bolts. The clarity of the antifreeze leads me to believe that the source of the leak must be the bolts - the antifreeze has not mixed with any oil. Can I pull the head bolts under the valve cover one at a time, apply sealant and retorque? Or should I pull all of these bolts at the same time, seal and torque in the proper order ? Does the coolant need to be lowered more completely than simply emptying the rad? None of the above? Thanks.
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Re: Antifreeze Under Valve Cover
Not knowing what is really going on since you left anti-freeze in the engine, you could remove your green anti-freeze, flush with water to clean all the green color. Install water and drive it and check for water where you are finding anti-freeze. You could also install the DEX-COOL orange-red anti-freeze and see what leakes. You could read the posts about the Bars-Leake that is put in cars at the factory to help with leaks in new cars. -
Re: Antifreeze Under Valve Cover
Peter - I think your thought process is right on track, coolant is seeping past one or more of the headbolts. I don't recall offhand which headbolt holes are blind, and which go through to the block cooling passages. If you do decide to remove the headbolts to reseal, I would also change that head gasket, and both remove and retorque all in sequence, in steps of 20-30 lb/ft. My guess is that with all the bolts tightly clamping the head in place, there is little concern for removing and retorquing the bolts one at a time, as long as all other bolts remain in place at full torque. I would also follow the torque sequence charts for this operation, and, I would use ARP's thread sealer, a non hardening teflon product..I have had great luck with it, it looks similar to the teflon plumbing sealer you buy at ACE hardware but I suspect there carrier paste for the teflon is specific for automotive application. It also is designed as a torque promoter like the ARP assembly lube, I would call ARP (they are great with questions) to inquire if the final torque value should be modified using their product...I know this is the case versus using oil on the threads versus their lube and sealant. Make sure you clean each fastener with brake cleaner to remove all old contaminants and sealer. All of this said, I have no clue what sealer your mechanic used in the threads before, so it may be better to match that if it works...seems like you are having trouble. If the head doesn't come off, you can't clean the threads in the block. Hopefully he used a non-hardening sealer. If you opt for doing the bolts, one at a time, use his sealer, if you opt for the head removal, carefully clean everything with brake cleaner and use the ARP sealer. To drain the block correctly to remove the heads, you must pull the small pipe plugs on each side of the lower cylinder case, to drain the coolant out of the water jackets below the deck surfaces. This also means draining the radiator at least halfway down as well. Personally, I have always both untorqued and torqued heads in steps following he torque sequence, and have not attempted your suggesting process. I don't know if there is much risk of warping a head by going one bolt at a time, probably not, but it is not the preferred process. If it were me, I would probably pull the head again, and replace the gasket....Best of luck!...CraigComment
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Re: Antifreeze Under Valve Cover
if the engine never got to 210 plus temp it will take a while to get the anti freeze boiled out of the engine. if the head bolts are leaking you should see bubbles around the bolt heads with the cooling system pressuredized. you can pressureize the system with a pump the attaches to the rad cap flange. large auto parts will loan or rent you this pump.Comment
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