Another set of blown headgaskets

jwfrauts

jwfrauts

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Aug 5, 2006
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My truck has been blowing water out of the degas bottle for several months. I took it to 2 different dealers and they could not find anything wrong with it. I finally took it back with a heavy trailer on it and took the mechanic for a ride with a his computer and a gauge on the cooling system. On a hard take off the water pressure gauge would go up to 20 to 21#s and then comedown when the cap would relieve. We got back to the shop and the service manager said that he did not think it was headgaskets but they would put a set in it anyway. I called this morning and he said that he would have lost money because both sides were blown. He also told me that I need to be careful with the tuning that I am running (looney wild) because the fire ring is way out. He told me who ever put my studs in didn't know what they were doing either (another Ford dealer). The looney wild has cost me 2 sets of headgaskets and a transmission that was burnt up in 4th gear. The clutches didn't even have any clutch material left on them. I think I will go with a different tuner now.
 
studs

jwfrauts said:
My truck has been blowing water out of the degas bottle for several months. I took it to 2 different dealers and they could not find anything wrong with it. I finally took it back with a heavy trailer on it and took the mechanic for a ride with a his computer and a gauge on the cooling system. On a hard take off the water pressure gauge would go up to 20 to 21#s and then comedown when the cap would relieve. We got back to the shop and the service manager said that he did not think it was headgaskets but they would put a set in it anyway. I called this morning and he said that he would have lost money because both sides were blown. He also told me that I need to be careful with the tuning that I am running (looney wild) because the fire ring is way out. He told me who ever put my studs in didn't know what they were doing either (another Ford dealer). The looney wild has cost me 2 sets of headgaskets and a transmission that was burnt up in 4th gear. The clutches didn't even have any clutch material left on them. I think I will go with a different tuner now.
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im having a hard time seeing how the studs can be installed incorrectly. is there some secret that arp doesnt mention in the instructions? how much boost were you building while pulling your trailer? did the dealer check your oil cooler for restriction? did your truck overheat before it started blowing coolant?
 
No the truck has never overheated. Some of the studs stuck up higher than others, he did not lubricate them good, and they were not torqued to ARP specs. They were torqued to ford specs. It was building around 25 to 26#s of boost pulling the trailer. Even with the tune it has never built over 32#s. He showed me the gaskets and one of them had a hole blown in it. And yes he check the oil temp vs coolant temp. The biggest difference in temps at wot was 11 degrees F.
 
cheapsk8 said:
im having a hard time seeing how the studs can be installed incorrectly. is there some secret that arp doesnt mention in the instructions? how much boost were you building while pulling your trailer? did the dealer check your oil cooler for restriction? did your truck overheat before it started blowing coolant?
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We have seen dealers put them in with no lube and not torqued to spec. Maybe they aren't taught to read instructions for things that aren't covered in their certifications.
 
BC06PSD said:
Is this common? My trans is slipping 3-4 shift until it warms up to 120 or so. I probably need a new tuner too, any recommendations.:poke:
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There is a correlation between toasted transmissions and those running the Looney tunes from what I have seen on various boards.

I have personally only read of one person blowing the trans out of a truck running Eric's tunes.
 
Gasket

jwfrauts said:
No the truck has never overheated. Some of the studs stuck up higher than others, he did not lubricate them good, and they were not torqued to ARP specs. They were torqued to ford specs. It was building around 25 to 26#s of boost pulling the trailer. Even with the tune it has never built over 32#s. He showed me the gaskets and one of them had a hole blown in it. And yes he check the oil temp vs coolant temp. The biggest difference in temps at wot was 11 degrees F.
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well that makes sense then if they were'nt even and they used ford torque specs with no lube. wow they must of chattered like a mother. yeah 11 deg difference is'nt to bad. was that reading taken loaded? ford recently changed the max seperation to 15deg. it will increase with a load.
 
studs

Wrightman said:
We have seen dealers put them in with no lube and not torqued to spec. Maybe they aren't taught to read instructions for things that aren't covered in their certifications.
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thats to bad there not taking the time to read the instructions. its not that hard to do.
 
!!!PainTrain!!! said:
There is a correlation between toasted transmissions and those running the Looney tunes from what I have seen on various boards.

I have personally only read of one person blowing the trans out of a truck running Eric's tunes.
Click to expand...

And thats only because he wasn't aware of what was going on with the hydraulics of the trans behind the scenes.
 
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