i upgraded from my SiV3 with a 3.4 pulley to a TiV1 with a 3.25 pulley this year. the car hasn't been retuned for it but i went for a drive last night and made a pass to see how far off the afr was, thinking that the car may be able to adjust for the "small" change. afr was around 12.0-12.2 at WOT the entire pull. then i see a cloud behind me and pull over, i pop the hood and there is coolant everywhere. and realized the the upper radiator hose had a large split in it. someone mentioned on fb that i may have a bigger issue on hand. they mentioned that it's common for 6.0's to blow a coolant hose when they lift a head and/or blow a head gasket. so now im worried that may have been what happened as this was the first time i revved it that high and made a full pass since the new blower was installed, and the tune hasn't been adjusted for it.



any recommendations on how i can diagnose to determine if that's what happened? a friend said i needed to order a block tester combustion leak test kit, so i've got that ordered and will be here tomorrow. any other recommendations to diagnose this? if i did lift the head, could it have been tune related, meaning that if i get it tuned ill be fine from here on out? if not, what's my next step, new headgaskets and arp bolts?


**car info-- 2000 , 155k mile stock bottom end /stock heads, TiV1 w/ 3.25, Jam cam (and supporting mods), E85

 

Block tester, yes. Just went through this on my wife's Dodge Caliber SRT4. 30psi the head was lifting even with ARP headstuds. I didn't know it was happening until I was topping off coolant with one of the raised funnels attached to the radiator. There was black flakes floating around, probably from chambers. You may get lucky and it sealed itself back up, its hit or miss. Ours actually sealed, tested with block tester. I've since ordered a tubular manifold to lower back pressure and stop it from happening again.

What psi? Definitely get some headstuds and if its determined that a head gasket is leaking try an LS9 gasket. I run arp studs and ls9 gasket on my ls1 with no issues.

 

i believe it was around 14psi, but i was watching afr and fuel pressure gauges more closely. can we stud the engine without pulling it? otherwise, ill probably just use arp bolts.

 

I would think you can do either. The stud is just hand tightened in and the nut is torqued.

Is there any possible way you just didn't blow an old radiator hose? I've had one split on a Camaro that wasn't boosted. Just a thought.

 

I have never seen a hose burst that badly over such a length.

Until you put a new hose on it and do some investigation etc....hard to know.

The 12AFR could have caused issues....without knowing timing etc at the same time, it's anyones guess. But quick and easy is pull the plugs to see if any look odd.

 

I'd do a compression and leak down test as well. Ad you now know making a pass with a bigger blower and smaller pulley was a horrible idea. It takes no time at all to break ringlands and by the time your air fuel gauge tells you, it's too late. I'm guessing it's not gonna be a cheap lesson.

 

probably to late to pull the plugs to read them as i already replaced the hose and took the car out for an easy drive the following day. car drove fine with no issues. car has been sitting for a few days now due to work. next available day to do anything is Wednesday.

 

it's possible, and that's what im hoping for as it is an almost 20 year old hose. but when someone mentioned the lifted head, i also saw how that was possible due to the circumstances.

 

You'd easily see either cleaning or water related issues on a plug if water had been able to get into a cylinder.

You may be lucky and it might just have been a hose issue...It almost looks like someone had tried to slice it. It's a hell of a tear.

 

Well I'll admit I just glanced at the 2nd pic. That is a big split. Hope for the best.

 

did some testing today. Pulled all of the plugs and they looked good ( I think, have never read plugs on straight e85). Did a compression test and the results were the same as they were a few weeks ago (prior to the issue). Also did an engine combustion leak test which proved to be negative. Going to hook up to a laptop for some tuning diagnostics on Friday, but at this moment, it's appearing it may have just been a hose issue. A couple weeks prior i did shear the WP pulley and the pulley or belt could have potentially effected the integrity of the hose.