[96pushrod]

Do you have an egr plate on the car still?

Pull the spark plugs and see which ones are clean. If it’s 1,4,5, or 8 it’s seeping water past the intake gasket still.

When you torqued the lower intake on, did you run through the torque sequence a bunch of times, until no bolts would budge at all when performing the final torque value?

 

[Gingervitis]

Do you have an egr plate on the car still?

Pull the spark plugs and see which ones are clean. If it’s 1,4,5, or 8 it’s seeping water past the intake gasket still.

When you torqued the lower intake on, did you run through the torque sequence a bunch of times, until no bolts would budge at all when performing the final torque value?

EGR plate - not sure, I am very new to these cars/engines. Is that the center void on the gaskets? Here’s a photo of the lower intake gaskets before install. I added rtv around water jackets and on silicone oil seals

I’ll check the spark plugs shortly. I did not run through the torque sequence multiple times, I’m guessing at this point I might need to pull the upper and do that…

 

[96pushrod]

EGR plate - not sure, I am very new to these cars/engines. Is that the center void on the gaskets? Here’s a photo of the lower intake gaskets before install. I added rtv around water jackets and on silicone oil seals
View attachment 1096242

I’ll check the spark plugs shortly. I did not run through the torque sequence multiple times, I’m guessing at this point I might need to pull the upper and do that…

Post a picture of the engine bay, I’ll tell you if it’s there.

You need to run through the final torque on the intake several times because the gasket will compress as you’re torquing it down. I bet some of the bolts are loose.

 

[Gingervitis]

Post a picture of the engine bay, I’ll tell you if it’s there.

You need to run through the final torque on the intake several times because the gasket will compress as you’re torquing it down. I bet some of the bolts are loose.

 

[Gingervitis]

So I pulled the upper intake and started retorquing the lower intake bolts. One of the bolts backed out the previously installed helicoil. Once the bolt started spinning, I pulled the lower intake to find this out. Looks like gaskets round two are on order. I’ll order the 1250s3 you guys suggested this time.

Related question: what’s the consensus around here on rtv around the water jackets? Necessary or not? Depends on which gasket?

 

[strokeme]

So I pulled the upper intake and started retorquing the lower intake bolts. One of the bolts backed out the previously installed helicoil. Once the bolt started spinning, I pulled the lower intake to find this out. Looks like gaskets round two are on order. I’ll order the 1250s3 you guys suggested this time.

Related question: what’s the consensus around here on rtv around the water jackets? Necessary or not? Depends on which gasket? View attachment 1096259

That gasket is supposed to act just like you see. The composition of it is to seal any minor imperfections. That gasket did not fail. It disintegrates just like a 9333 head gasket when removed. I always use ultra black around the water ports, thin layer is all I need. I believe you chased a ghost on this round.

 

[Gingervitis]

That gasket is supposed to act just like you see. The composition of it is to seal any minor imperfections. That gasket did not fail. It disintegrates just like a 9333 head gasket when removed. I always use ultra black around the water ports, thin layer is all I need. I believe you chased a ghost on this round.

I’ll be getting around to putting things back together with a 1250s3 this weekend. I installed a new helicoil with some jb weld for good measure.


Can you elaborate on your “chasing a ghost” comment? I was getting 1/8+ turn of the torque wrench when I retorqued the lower intake bolts before the helicoil pulled out. I assume that indicates the gasket hadn’t compressed fully and wasn’t sealing 100%. Other than a leak in the intake gasket, is there another failure point that could lead to that much coolant being burned up and spit out the exhaust?

 

[Gingervitis]

Fired it up tonight after giving the RTV ~36 hours to cure. Looks like strokeme was right, it’s still burning coolant out of the exhaust.

What do we think? Next step? I’m at a complete loss.

 

[Killer95GT302]

Leak down test

 

[Ilusivefox]

Fired it up tonight after giving the RTV ~36 hours to cure. Looks like strokeme was right, it’s still burning coolant out of the exhaust.

What do we think? Next step? I’m at a complete loss.

I tried to tell you this the first go around changing the intake gaskets. But if your trying to just let it sit there idling it is not going to burn the coolant out of the exhaust quickly doing that. The car needs to be driven. A mile or two down the highway to burn that residual coolant out of the exhaust. Get on it get more engine load and more heat and see if it clears up.

 

[Gingervitis]

I tried to tell you this the first go around changing the intake gaskets. But if your trying to just let it sit there idling it is not going to burn the coolant out of the exhaust quickly doing that. The car needs to be driven. A mile or two down the highway to burn that residual coolant out of the exhaust. Get on it get more engine load and more heat and see if it clears up.

I wasn't trying to ignore you - unfortunately my car is blocked in the garage by a bunch of pallets of landscaping stone; we're redoing our patio. The driveway won't be cleared for takeoff until this weekend at the earliest. In the meantime, I'll pickup a leakdown tester and see what that tells me. If I'm understanding this correctly, if the leakdown test comes back without any failures - either I'm good and I just need to drive it to burn off the residual coolant or I have a leak in the intake somewhere - maybe a crack in the lower intake?

 

[Gingervitis]

Just finished up my leakdown test. I was hopeful until cyl 6 gave me coolant bubbles and overflow. Head gasket time?

 

[Killer95GT302]

Sounds like a head gasket. Curious what pressure did you test with, and what was % leakdown?

 

[Gingervitis]

Sounds like a head gasket. Curious what pressure did you test with, and what was % leakdown?

Tested with around 95psi. Not sure how accurate the cheapo tester I used is (bought it on Amazon) but percent lost was consistent across the board between 12-18% including cyl 6 at 14%. Not sure I trust the percentage on the gauge but it was very clear that bubbles/coolant were being pushed through to the radiator when cyl 6 was pressurized.

 

[Killer95GT302]

Yea it sounds like that head needs to come off, hopefully as simple as a gasket. Inspect the head and block too while youre in there.

 

[Gingervitis]

This looks fine, right? Lol.

Trying to get to the root cause of this - is this fire ring damage seen here what can be expected from pre-detonation due to using 87 octane when this motor really needs 91 octane?

 

[strokeme]

This looks fine, right? Lol.
View attachment 1096687

Trying to get to the root cause of this - is this fire ring damage seen here what can be expected from pre-detonation due to using 87 octane when this motor really needs 91 octane?

Those 1011 gaskets suck, use a 9333 next time.

 

[GlennSullivan]

This looks fine, right? Lol.

Trying to get to the root cause of this - is this fire ring damage seen here what can be expected from pre-detonation due to using 87 octane when this motor really needs 91 octane?

That's not "pre" anything, it is detonation. What does the block, head and piston look like?, hopefully fine after a little cleanup.

I assume you are going to pull the other head and change both gaskets, that is what you need to do.

 

[Gingervitis]

Those 1011 gaskets suck, use a 9333 next time.

9333 is the plan 👍

That's not "Pre" detonation. What does the block, head look and piston look like?

I assume you are going to pull the other head and change both gaskets, that is what you need to do.

Block, piston, and head all look pretty good to me at first glance. Here are some photos. Yep, both heads are off now.

 

[Ilusivefox]

The Helicoil sticking up out of the head deck for the intake cannot be like that needs to be flush. And make sure those are the right length of head dowels while it's apart.