Coolant Leak, maybe in the oil, Is this a good test?

[jdpolzin]

Well I got the new Stage 2 motor fired up. It's an off center block with 14 bolt Gn1's. I'm running SCE Titan copper headgaskets. I fired it up and noticed a coolant leak on both sides of the motor. I traced it down and the coolant is coming out of the headgaskets. It's mostly leaking on the passenger side from the bottom of the head. The drivers side leaked a little but acutally stopped. Well I drained a little oil into a glass to inspect it and see if I had seperation. Well the oil was a dark color with a hint of olive green so I am assuming the green is coolant. I took everything apart and check torque on the passenger side head. Everything is torqued properly, 65 on the bottom set of headbolts and 75 on the top bolts.

I drained the old oil and put in new and ran the car before taking it apart to clean the coolant off the bearings just incase. When the car has idled since initial start up, it never blew smoke like coolant was in the cylinders. Then I had the idea of draining the oil and pressure testing the cooling system.

My question is, if I leave the oil plug out, and I do have a poblem with coolant getting into the oil, wouldnt coolant come out of the oil drain now?

Any ideas? I did also try the GM sealing tablets but it hasnt helped.

Thanks! ------Jeremy

 

[JayC]

What kind of gaskets did you use?

 

[TURBO54]

Did you put anything on the head gaskets?

 

[turbo nasty]

Curious as to what sealant you used on the headbolts/studs?

 

[jdpolzin]

I didnt build the motor but I do know the head bolts are sealed. Not sure what kind of sealant was used though. I dont think the headgasket were sealed. They are SCE Titan copper gaskets.

 

[usetaboost]

are the heads aluminum?

 

[DailyDrifter]

A good test would be a cooling system pressure test, and see how much psi drops. I would spray those HG's with copper spray.

 

[usetaboost]

Or use the brush on stuff

 

[turbodave231]

There are many threads on TB.com about leaking head studs. Do a search.

I've had this problem in the past with my S2 engine and cured it by following Lee Thompson's advice to seal the studs into the block with RTV.

Why the copper HG's? There are many other choices. I run the 1026 gaskets, but the cometics work very well too. The gaskets or studs are probably the source of your leak.

Why run anti-freeze on a new engine? I'd fire it up on water first to be darn sure it is sealed. Put the anti-freeze in after you are satisfied the leaks are over.

Dave

 

[Eticket]

I had the same problem on my SII, but when filling up the coolant. It leaked onto the ground before I even started the car.

So, I did not have good luck with RTV on head studs. Neither did other local SII guys around here that I know of. My engine builder advised me to use ARP thread sealant.

I was able to pull every head stud out individually in the car and re-seal them (headers off). Pain in the a$$, but it definitely worked and did not leak on me ever - over the years I owned the car.

 

[gczarny]

Well I got the new Stage 2 motor fired up. It's an off center block with 14 bolt Gn1's. I'm running SCE Titan copper headgaskets. I fired it up and noticed a coolant leak on both sides of the motor. I traced it down and the coolant is coming out of the headgaskets. It's mostly leaking on the passenger side from the bottom of the head. The drivers side leaked a little but acutally stopped. Well I drained a little oil into a glass to inspect it and see if I had seperation. Well the oil was a dark color with a hint of olive green so I am assuming the green is coolant. I took everything apart and check torque on the passenger side head. Everything is torqued properly, 65 on the bottom set of headbolts and 75 on the top bolts.

I drained the old oil and put in new and ran the car before taking it apart to clean the coolant off the bearings just incase. When the car has idled since initial start up, it never blew smoke like coolant was in the cylinders. Then I had the idea of draining the oil and pressure testing the cooling system.

My question is, if I leave the oil plug out, and I do have a poblem with coolant getting into the oil, wouldnt coolant come out of the oil drain now?

Any ideas? I did also try the GM sealing tablets but it hasnt helped.

Thanks! ------Jeremy

I have used them (SCE Titan copper )three times- not on stage but 109 block with with NO LUCK first time with champion irons and gaskets installed per instructions and next time with GN1 heads and extra/extra sealer everywhere then tried copper coating which worked best out of three times but leaks never really stooped 100% even with more sealing tablets and 3 times retorqued , that was on new motor builds too ,got mad with them and replaced them with cometics , no more leaks :wink:

 

[JayC]

You shoulda used GE1200 on the gaskets. We just had a discussion about these gaskets a few days ago somewhere else and I said the exact same thing then and people acted like I was retarded.

I dont care what SCE told you.. its not like any company is going to admit there is a problem with anything they make.

 

[turbo nasty]

Permatex #2 on the head studs way superior to RTV in threaded applications