fun times & coolant fumes

[thesameguy]

You probably can't hurt anything by putting a little additional torque on the head bolts, but by the same token if it is having a problem under the proper torque more torque is very unlikely to cure anything. Obviously do not go and throw a half turn on a bolt - you do not want to break a head bolt!

When I have pulled the engine I leave the transmission. Lots of people recommend pulling them together. It's a matter of preference. For me a handful of bolts in weird places is less of a headache than wrangling the powertrain out at a 45 degree angle, but go with what suits you. I remove the radiator because it's stupid easy and it mitigates risk, but it's not even remotely necessary. Do lay a piece of thick cardboard over it to prevent damage if you leave it. Any decent cherry picker will get an engine onto a pickup, no problem. You might consider replacing pistons, but assuming there is no damage it's certainly not necessary. Same with the rods. Crank is pretty burly, nothing to worry about there. Do replace the oil pump.

The OTC 5609 is $60 and is a very adequate tester. I can't imagine buying regulators and gauges will save that much, but I have no actual idea. Just a thought.

[Ed Lijewski]

What head bolt tightening sequence did you follow? To what maximum ft/lbs?

Some autoparts stores loan tools, maybe including a leak down tester. I'd check that out before spending scarce cash to buy one that might not get used again for sine time.

YMMV

[diozqwin]

no luck on a rental, I've checked everywhere except NAPA (carquest, advanced auto parts, O'reilys, autozone.) I wish I had the tester together today, but I wasn't able to get everything.

I've got all the piping and 1 100 PSI gauge so far. Tomorrow I'll pick up a second PSI gauge, fill the center tube with epoxy, (hopefully) find a 1MM drill bit at Grainger, and then look for a 14mm short threaded spark plug hole adapter in a rental kit (or buy a kit if it has right threads).

I realized today the threads of the compression tester i used before were also much longer than my spark plugs actual threads (autolite 764's)

Maybe with a proper seated adapter the compression will be decent, wishful thinking, but I know the HF one was blowing air back out of the spark plug hole. For what its worth (basically nothing), it was at about 40%.

Side note, I did follow the tightening sequence exactly as its written in the shop manual, with a snap on brand torque wrench that made a "click" when it reached the number dialed in. My memory thinks I set final torque to 85

[diozqwin]

Heres the first round of results from the tester. My air compressor isn't holding 100 PSI steady enough but I believe this is how its supposed to be calculated, will probably try with a bigger compressor tomorrow. Theres about a 2% reading difference between the two cheap gauges I got. So assume 2% room for error

Cyl 3: 58/89 = .65 = 35% loss
Cyl 4: 75/90 = .83 = 16.6% loss
Cyl 2: 79/94 = .84 = 16% loss
Cyl 1: 40/88 = .45 = 53% loss

Weirdly when I put the tester on Cyl 3, air was coming out of Cyl 1 sparkplug hole. When Cyl 1 was on the tester, some air but not as much out of Cyl 3. More air came out of the oil filler hole when Cyl 1 was being tested than any other cylinder. Might have heard something from the throttlebody during Cyl 1, but not sure as of yet.

Is this Cyl 1 / Cyl 3 issue point to the head gasket clearly enough? Or is it possible for the rings on 1 and 3 to wear differently for some reason? I certainly could understand the running issues when Cyl 1 and 3 and fighting each other with pressure... I heard cyl 1 was likely to end up the worst when the engine overheats? And 3's over there cooking by the turbo

[Ed Lijewski]

To confirm, did you bring the pistons of the to-be-tested cylinder up to top dead center on the compression strokes?



YMMV

[diozqwin]

I did make sure each cylinder was at TDC, thats why the order of my results are 3 4 2 1 based on the firing order. on 4 I made the mistake of not being TDC and had 95 percent loss, on cyl 2 I wasn't quite TDC and the piston was pushed by the air pressure. Had to come back around. Used a screw driver in spark plug hole, camshaft pulley marker, and kinda guessing at feeling the camshaft has at TDC

[sabre]

So you tested with the piston at TDC..... of the compression stroke(where both valves would be closed), right? If it was tested right, the only way pressurized air could escape into a non-adjacent cylinder, is if both involved cylinders had "holed" their pistons(in which case you would also hear air escaping thruogh the PCV hose). An even more unlikely scenario would be where both cylinders had bent/chipped valves, but in either case the easier path for escaping air would be through the PCV system, or the intake system, and only a minor amount out of the spark plug hole.

[Ed Lijewski]

Maybe recheck/verify cam timing to eliminate a slipped timing belt.

YMMV

[diozqwin]

WOW, well I'm happy to say mission F**KING accomplished. I re-did the head gasket with a 1035, a machinist my dad knew stopped by and checked the block for flatness with a known good straight edge and a .001 shim. Cleaned the hell out of the block and head, ripped those scrub pads to peices lol. Lots and lots of brake fluid cleaner, made taps for the head bolts holes with a couple stock head bolts. Then cut the heads off of them, used them as pegs to line up the head, used a engine hoist to get it into position, torqued down with the felpro replacement head bolts.

Put it all back together, couldn't get it timed or started, sounded like a train, was about to give up.

Called Jeff to see if I could send her there in limbo while I considered trying to sell it (for how much it would sell lol who knows). He was 20 minutes away, stopped by and SHE RUNS!

Guess the timing was 180 off, while the engine was running he pulled out the fuel injectors on 2 and 4 and it still was running the same -- like the sound of a train.

Swapped in new sparks, just drove her around the block a few (like 15 times lol). She runs and IDK what to think, it's awesome!

[Ed Lijewski]

So the problem was a bad HG install (patting myself on my back; see prior posts), now corrected with HG replacement without a leak down test :mrgreen and Life is Good. Again. (Although you could have been at this point two months ago...)

YMMV