Cracked? Leaking coolant...

CTD2500

CTD2500

Brown Between the Cheeks
Joined
Aug 3, 2013
Messages
454
Hey,
So my truck has a coolant leak, first thing I noticed was the rad hoses were very hard and there were bubbles coming into the overflow tank. I see coolant seeping out around 2 or 3 head studs in the #2-3 cylinder area.
I know it's not the head gasket because I just changed it.

Is coolant coming through the head bolt holes a symptom of a cracked head? This head is ported, so it might have been pretty thin in some spots. Hoping it's not the block.

Just for info, I have o-rings in the block and studs.

Thanks in advance
 
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Just because you just changed the head gasket doesnt mean you can rule it out. Was it resurfaced when you did the orings and head gasket? Did you torque and retorque properly? Did you port the head yourself?
 
I'd pop the injectors out and pressure test the cooling system for couple hours/ overnight and see if you get coolant in a cylinder or 2
 
I just started driving it this week again after the head gasket swap, which I changed for the same reason of having air pressure in the cooling system. There was no coolant visible leaking before though, today was the first time I saw that.
I did one hot retorque after the first run, and have only driven it in since Monday and I've been easy on it, no more than 10 psi of boost.
I checked the head and block with a straight edge and feeler gauge and both seemed to be well within spec.

This head was rebuilt and surfaced 2 years ago, which is when the o-rings were added (in the block, Will Terry style) and yes, I ported it myself at that time. It has been fine and put up with a lot of abuse until just recently I started getting air pressure in the coolant.

The old head gasket didn't really show signs of a leak this time, I should have taken the head to get checked for cracks while it was off just to be sure. I couldn't "visually" see anything wrong with the head or block, so I just decided to roll the dice and throw a new gasket in, so that's my fault I guess. I was in a hurry to fix it and drive.

I'll have to get it checked next time it's off...to be honest, I'm not going to touch it for probably a week since I just put it together and it's still bad. I gotta walk away from it for a bit, but for now I wanted to ask around on here what it looks like and what it does when a head cracks. Or a block, or whatever.
 
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Same thing happened to me on an old truck of mine, was pressurizing the radiator and would swell out the lower rad hose. Pulled the head (was o-ringed) and changed the gasket, looked like it was leaking between the center cylinders a bit. After new gasket did the same thing, pulled the head again to have checked and saw a small crack in #6 cylinder about halfway done the bore. I hope that's not the case with yours but look it over good, mine was only visable after it had sat awhile and a tiny rust line could be seen going horizontal.
 
Damn, hopefully that's not the case here. Did you have coolant leaking out around the head bolts/studs in the #6 area?
 
I'm going to try to have it off and sent to the engine shop in the next couple days. I'll report back when I know what's up.
 
My head cracked back by #6 right in the valley of the bolt next to the exaust manifold... The stink was machine shop missed it. All good now with a referbished head and new top end gasket set...
 
They called me today and said it wasn't cracked, but all they did was magnaflux it. I asked him to pressure test it and it if it's OK then just make sure it's flat and I'll pick it up and go from there.

Still crossing my fingers that it's not the block...
 
Rdsutton said:
My head cracked back by #6 right in the valley of the bolt next to the exaust manifold... The stink was machine shop missed it. All good now with a referbished head and new top end gasket set...
Click to expand...

Did you have pressure in your coolant with that crack?
 
Just heard back, the head checks out OK. They're just gonna check it for flatness and machine it if need be. I don't think it'll be out much, if it isn't then I've gotta take a closer look at this block I guess.
 
:nail: Well, I should have done it right the first time. They had to remove .011" to get the head straightened out. Obviously the straight edge I used to check it wasn't very straight.
Anyway, I'm just going to put it together and see what happens.
 
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