unexplained coolant loss reduex
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,660
Likes: 22
unexplained coolant loss reduex
After being pretty damn sure that I'd found where my water was going...
seems that I'd be wrong about that.
Now I KNOW.
What would you say to water in the #2 cyl ?
no bubbles in the radiator...no pressure buildup, no water in oil or oil in water. Just water loss . Goes faster with higher temps and higher rpm. Stopped or slowed to nothing for a few days...That alumi-seal crapola musta done something...for a couple days at least.
#2 is wet.
Intake gasket? No other wet holes..
Going to pressure test #2 manana~ to see if air pressure thru spark plug causes bubbles in water...(head gasket leak) Doing compression test too in #2 & 4.
otherwise it looks like intake gasket?
Hows this possible? #2...right front cyl. Strange.
seems that I'd be wrong about that.
Now I KNOW.
What would you say to water in the #2 cyl ?
no bubbles in the radiator...no pressure buildup, no water in oil or oil in water. Just water loss . Goes faster with higher temps and higher rpm. Stopped or slowed to nothing for a few days...That alumi-seal crapola musta done something...for a couple days at least.
#2 is wet.
Intake gasket? No other wet holes..
Going to pressure test #2 manana~ to see if air pressure thru spark plug causes bubbles in water...(head gasket leak) Doing compression test too in #2 & 4.
otherwise it looks like intake gasket?
Hows this possible? #2...right front cyl. Strange.
Last edited by leesvet; May 28, 2012 at 04:59 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,063
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Pressurize the cooling system and remove the spark plugs
Mine was temp sensitive leak only happened after being on the fwy for awhile. All other checks proved good at the time. As time goes on your symptoms will get worse making it obvious. Cooked the bearings in the bottom end by then imo.
Mine was temp sensitive leak only happened after being on the fwy for awhile. All other checks proved good at the time. As time goes on your symptoms will get worse making it obvious. Cooked the bearings in the bottom end by then imo.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,660
Likes: 22
Pressurize the cooling system and remove the spark plugs
Mine was temp sensitive leak only happened after being on the fwy for awhile. All other checks proved good at the time. As time goes on your symptoms will get worse making it obvious. Cooked the bearings in the bottom end by then imo.
Mine was temp sensitive leak only happened after being on the fwy for awhile. All other checks proved good at the time. As time goes on your symptoms will get worse making it obvious. Cooked the bearings in the bottom end by then imo.
It wasn't using ANY water for a few days prompting me to declare it "fixed" after finding a tiny leak in the tubing to the cooler.
Now, its weeping again. Not so much that its getting mixed with oil...but enough to blow wet out of #2 hole IF I let it sit for awhile hot and under pressure. Then it leaks water into the cyl. Not cool and sitting. Cooling system holds pressure too. For hours.
Either way its coming apart...I just want to understand what the hell is going on here..! Tomorrow a.m. I'll do a compression check of that cyl and see if that tells me anything. I suspect that its going to be good...
I have no idea why the intake gasket would fail right there. The front water cross-over port IS right next to the #2 intake port... No reason for a head gasket (2 yrs old) to fail either.
Just wondering if anyone here has ever seen an intake gasket leak internally? Every one that I ever saw leaked outside..and puddled ON the intake...not INside.
I'll know soon enough, Making arrangements to park it somewhere and start collecting rebuild parts. I wonder if I'd be biting off too much to just 'down' the car and do a motor build and a complete repaint too? That'd would almost certainly keep it parked until winter.....damn.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 10,036
Likes: 346
From: Anaheim CA
My intake manifold gasket (factory original) failed at the coolant passage to head connection. When I took the intake manifold off the gasket was saturated with coolant, which bridged across to the #2 cylinder intake passage. I say take the intake off and see what's up.
That said, you could have the infamous #7 head gasket leak on the #2 cylinder (it's the same place, just 180 degrees away). I had one of those on #7. What I saw was that the cylinder would get water in it when I shut off the engine. The cylinder pressure kept the water out when it was running but the water pressure pushed the water into the cylinder when I shut it off. I saw water drops on the exhaust manifold when I did the compression test.
The machine shop that did my valve job (since it was apart anyway) recommended a Fel-Pro 1094 head gasket. He said it's rubber-coated stainless steel and they have never had one fail.
That said, you could have the infamous #7 head gasket leak on the #2 cylinder (it's the same place, just 180 degrees away). I had one of those on #7. What I saw was that the cylinder would get water in it when I shut off the engine. The cylinder pressure kept the water out when it was running but the water pressure pushed the water into the cylinder when I shut it off. I saw water drops on the exhaust manifold when I did the compression test.
The machine shop that did my valve job (since it was apart anyway) recommended a Fel-Pro 1094 head gasket. He said it's rubber-coated stainless steel and they have never had one fail.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 3,660
Likes: 22
My intake manifold gasket (factory original) failed at the coolant passage to head connection. When I took the intake manifold off the gasket was saturated with coolant, which bridged across to the #2 cylinder intake passage. I say take the intake off and see what's up.
That said, you could have the infamous #7 head gasket leak on the #2 cylinder (it's the same place, just 180 degrees away). I had one of those on #7. What I saw was that the cylinder would get water in it when I shut off the engine. The cylinder pressure kept the water out when it was running but the water pressure pushed the water into the cylinder when I shut it off. I saw water drops on the exhaust manifold when I did the compression test.
The machine shop that did my valve job (since it was apart anyway) recommended a Fel-Pro 1094 head gasket. He said it's rubber-coated stainless steel and they have never had one fail.
That said, you could have the infamous #7 head gasket leak on the #2 cylinder (it's the same place, just 180 degrees away). I had one of those on #7. What I saw was that the cylinder would get water in it when I shut off the engine. The cylinder pressure kept the water out when it was running but the water pressure pushed the water into the cylinder when I shut it off. I saw water drops on the exhaust manifold when I did the compression test.
The machine shop that did my valve job (since it was apart anyway) recommended a Fel-Pro 1094 head gasket. He said it's rubber-coated stainless steel and they have never had one fail.
I'm leaning toward intake gasket as you describe, for the following reasons...
Water Inside a cylinder prompts the knee-jerk reaction screaming "head-gasket" in all languages.
But, <----big BUT...
Compression test is good. Shows high compression in the wet hole. No effected neighboring cylinders.
No compression in the cooling system.
No change in engine performance when warmed. AT cold start it IS a bit rough...(as the water gets burned away in #2)
No transfer of oil to water or vice versa..
No change in coolant when the serp belt is removed and engine started. FSM states that IF it were a bad head gasket, this would show with bubbles and coolant level fluxtuating with sharp increase/decrease in RPM. Mine sits there with ZERO movement. The coolant level will rise slightly as heat causes it to expand...but absolutely zero turbulance or bubbling. T-stat is removed so its free-flow thru the system.
Still gotta pull the intake, but understanding the problem is my goal., the how and why are equally as important as "how much"....
