head studs leaking?
Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Gifford Pa.
I doubt Ford and Chevy puts Bars-Leak or a similar product in their brand new cars and trucks. There are very small coolant passages in the head and radiator and this junk is going somewhere and it will stick. But don't believe me,..call your local radiator shop and see how they feel about these products.
Any fix-it book you read will tell you NOT use these products but to instead fix the leak. So here we go:
The leak is occuring at the top of the stud. The coolant cork-screws out of the middle of the nut. There's nothing to stop it like you would have with a regular head bolt.
You don't need to remove the studs. Simply remove the nuts in torquing order, one at a time, and apply RTV or something similar to the threads inside the nut (that have been cleaned with brake-parts cleaner or lacquer thinner or something). Also, clean the threads on the stud, and reattach, and retorque to specs. Then go to the next bolt in the sequence. Not all the bolts penetrate a water passage, but you may as well retorque everything anyway. (Is this a BB or SB? I can tell you which bolts would need the RTV if needed).
Again, I've tried the teflon-like stuff ARP has,..it's worthless yet it's designed for their own product. Very disappointing. Teflon tape would be best but it would screw up your torque readings. RTV worked for me,..the grey tube.
Good luck!
Any fix-it book you read will tell you NOT use these products but to instead fix the leak. So here we go:
The leak is occuring at the top of the stud. The coolant cork-screws out of the middle of the nut. There's nothing to stop it like you would have with a regular head bolt.
You don't need to remove the studs. Simply remove the nuts in torquing order, one at a time, and apply RTV or something similar to the threads inside the nut (that have been cleaned with brake-parts cleaner or lacquer thinner or something). Also, clean the threads on the stud, and reattach, and retorque to specs. Then go to the next bolt in the sequence. Not all the bolts penetrate a water passage, but you may as well retorque everything anyway. (Is this a BB or SB? I can tell you which bolts would need the RTV if needed).
Again, I've tried the teflon-like stuff ARP has,..it's worthless yet it's designed for their own product. Very disappointing. Teflon tape would be best but it would screw up your torque readings. RTV worked for me,..the grey tube.
Good luck!
