ImBatman

Cam break in went fine yesterday. I did have a lock nut back off a rocker towards the end of the break in period on the #5 exhaust valve. Just to be safe I am going to put my dial indicator on that one and verify lift against the other exhaust valves just to be sure it was the locknut and nothing else. Other than that I had no issues. Oil pressure was solid at 60psi. Water temp stayed between 180 and 210 with fans coming on when they were supposed to. The oil temp did seem a little high at 240. I pulled the plugs on the drivers side and they looked great. Good text book tan color.

Now to the WTF part of the story. I started removing the valve springs to re install the center springs. I used my compressor to preasurize the cylinder and a bar on the rocker stud to compress the valve. Cylinders 1,5, and 7 everything went smooth. I preasurized #3 and removed the spring and heard something on the passenger side. I looked up and water was steadily streaming out of the over flow tank. I disconnected the air hose and the water stopped. Reconected the air hose and it started again. This was the same freakin cylinder that I pulled the motor for in the first place!!!! I was there when they pressure tested it to 200psi. They decked the block. The heads were shaved. I used quality Fel Pro HP head gaskets. 2A sealant on all head and intake bolts.

As I said the plugs were dry and there was no smoke what so ever during cam break in. I am so frustrated now I don't know what to do!!!! Right now what I am seriously considering is running some stop leak through the cooling system. I am not running a heater core so I don't have to worry about clogging it. The leak has to be small but where the hell could it be coming from!!!!!! I am also going to pull the head bolt between the 3 and 5 cylinders and add additional sealant to it and re torque. That is where the water was seeping in last time because the machine shop I first used did not deck the block after installing the sleeve and instead filed\ground the sleeve flush.

I am really about to throw a cover on it and push it in the corner!!!

Gordonm

Oh man I hate to hear this. Did they pressure test it with a set of heads torqued up. When the heads get torqued down it will change the position of the block and might distort it just enough, only a few thousandths but that might be enough. Did you try and pressurize the cooloing system to see if it held pressure.

I feel your pain and can see why you might want to put it away for a while. Just keep plugging away it can and will be running someday. And the on your face will be all worth it.

Durango_Boy

Oh man that's a heart breaker.

If you need to take a break then do it...you don't want to get too frustrated and do something rash when you have so much time, effort, and money in this project.

I would call the machine shop and tell them what happened. Get them involved.

I like your idea about the head bolts, but it might also be worth the time to pull the head and check out the gasket. My step Dad once was chasing a water leak in the engine, and added iodine to the coolant and ran it to duplicate the leak.

Then, when he pulled the engine apart he looked for the stains to point him to the leak. He found a tiny stain across a head gasket, replaced the gasket, and all was well.

ImBatman

They used a plate on the block to pressurize the water jackets and pumped it up to 200 psi. No leaks found. I have not pressurized the cooling system yet. I just saw this last night about 10:30. Needless to say all I wanted to do was start throwing things.... The plugs were dry and firing fine and there was no smoke at startup. But I can't think of any other possible cause for this than a leak in the combustion chamber. When I was troubleshooting the orrigional issue several months ago befor ethe 2nd rebuild I swaped head sides but the leak stayed at #3 so the heads should be fine.

Yeah the beer and JD sounds pretty good at this point....
Wade

SH-60B

That head must be cracked then. Sorry to hear of it.

rclinton

Man I share your pain. I had the same feeling when I had to pull my engine and start over after a water leak on start up. Take a step back and dont get frustrated. I know it doesnt take a very big leak to cause the problems you are experencing. Be careful with the pressure going through the cooliing system...15-16 psi in the rad, dont wan to cause any more damage looking for the original.

Good luck , and dont get down, If itwere easy they everyone would have one of these beauties.

Semper Fi.

gkull

So sorry

Have you tried retorqueing the head bolts in the correct order?

ImBatman

The heads were checked and milled when I was trying to find the leak at #3 before pulling it last time. One step I did to eliminate the head as the source was to swap sides and see if the leak moved from #3 to #6. Unfortunately it didn't and stayed on #3. #6 held just fine. I wish it were the head though.

Thanks I know you have been through a lot on yours as well so you definately know the feeling.

I am actually going to do this this evening when I get off work.

One really odd thing that I checked while at lunch. Last night when the water was pushing out with the cylinder pressurized. I had the cap on. I never released the pressure. Today at lunch I released the pressure valve and a ton of pressure came out and took maybe 10 seconds to bleed down...... Now why is the system holding pressure if there is a leak??????

rclinton

One really odd thing that I checked while at lunch. Last night when the water was pushing out with the cylinder pressurized. I had the cap on. I never released the pressure. Today at lunch I released the pressure valve and a ton of pressure came out and took maybe 10 seconds to bleed down...... Now why is the system holding pressure if there is a leak??????[/quote]

It may not be holding pressure per say, Not the expert but heres my take from my trials. You rad only get pressurized to aprox 15 psi before the relief valve opens to the overflow, if your pumping 50 -60 psi in the cylinder to hold the valve in place, it isn't going to take long to pressurize the system from zero. Remember you cooling system is only under pressure when the coolant heats up, normally when cool its not under pressure. For a pressure check of your cooling system, it only needs to hold pressure for about 2 minutes without a drop( from the radiator pressure checker instructions.)

vett us all

Black Rat Hate It For Ya. Take A Break, Relax, And Get Back At It. You Will Figure It Out No Big Deal. Peace Out & Semper Fi.

TimAT

Holy crap Wade!!

Take the radiator cap off and put air back on that cylinder- see if it blows bubbles in the radiator. It would be very unusual to leak out one way and not the other.

Hang in there. The end of the world is still a long way off.

ImBatman

Thanks guys I am feeling better but I am really hoping that all this work wasn't for nothing. I pulled the bolts out from around #3 and sealed them again. This time I used permatex 9AF super sticky non drying sealant. I covered the entire threaded surface liberally and let it tack before reinstallingI then torqued every bolt in the correct pattern. All were correct at 75ftlbs so no movement on the others. I went to 80ftlbs on the 4 around the #3 cylinder.

I am going to let them sit until I get home from work tomorrow night and then try Tim's suggestion on pressurizing the cylinder with the radiator cap off.

I did get all the other inner springs installed on the remaining 7 cylinders with no problems so it still looks like 95% of everything is fine. I did find another culprit that made the engine miss right at the end of break in. The plug boot on #6 melted throw exposing the metal inside so i am sure it started arc'ing off the header.

Thanks
Wade

vett us all

Blackrat It's Funny How A Man's Morale Changes For The Better When He Receives Support From This Corvettes Forum Caring Members. Kick It's A*%. Semper Fi

OzzyTom

Hang in there wade...
Here's hoping the resealing of the head bolts solves the prob!

FB007

Sounds like the #3 cyl head was damaged also when your sleeve moved. Tough luck.

SHAKERATTLEROLL

If the sleeve that was in no 3 before did move then when they reworked the block they should have machined no 3 a bit to make sure it was round or at least made sure it was round before they fit the larger sleeve?

rclinton

Im thinking that if the problem didnt change sides when he swaped the heads to the other sides, its not the heads, but you bring up a good point if the number 3 cylinder was sleeved it might be leaking behing the sleve at the top down to the water jacket. It is just the bolts and its a quick fix