drip, drip: water coming out of head stud

[SPOT MY 6]

I am getting some water out of one of my head studs. It is the stud on the passenger's side all the way in the back on the bottom (I dont have the heat/ac box in so its very easy to get to). It is dripping out of the stud and onto the floor. I pulled the #6 plug and cranked the motor over to see if the cylinder had any water in it but thankfully none came out.

Sooo.. can I pull the one stud and reseal it? I used ARP's thread sealer and have had great luck with it in the past (zero leaks and had the heads off at least 6-7 times). The motor has about 500 miles on it since the heads were put back on. I use cometic gaskets and put a brand new set of head studs on torqued to 85 with ARP moly on the washer/nut. They were torqued on the stand ONLY and have NOT been loosened and re-torqued. What process should I follow to fix this? Loosen all head studs, pull the one, relseal it and put it back in?

This sucks, I thought I was ready to go do wheelies on central!

ps can water even get into the #6 cylinder if the stud is leaking? I didnt think so but want to confirm.

 

[petesgn]

http://www.turbobuicks.com/articles/HeadStuds/

sent you a pm

 

[XXQUICK6XX]

Head stud sealing

I use silicone. Learned it from a friend that runs a bigg block chevy nitrous motor and it cured my problems. But tho threads must be clean and dry in the motor and the studs threads going in the block.

Steve

 

[machinegun]

Before all of this. Are you sure you do not hae a popped head gasket? If not then try 3 or 4 GM seal tabs. These have fixed issues like this in the pas for me. They work very well and I use them on just about all my builds. Hope this helps.

 

[SPOT MY 6]

Before all of this. Are you sure you do not hae a popped head gasket? If not then try 3 or 4 GM seal tabs. These have fixed issues like this in the pas for me. They work very well and I use them on just about all my builds. Hope this helps.

I would probably blow the bottom end apart before blowing a cometic gasket. I have been very very conservative with the motor since it was back together so I think the gasket is ok. I am going to fill the cylinder with air from my 60 gallon compressor and see if I get bubbles in the coolant or out of that head stud. If I do, then the head has to come off. If not, then I want to know if I can just pull the one stud and reseal.

 

[DR BOOST]

cometics always seem to drip from that area. use the gm seal tabs. otherwise the studs can be removed one at a time. i always seal them with blue loctite and never had one leak.

 

[1BADWE4T]

I also had the same problem when I used the ARP sealant and had two of the studs leak. I used the GM sealtabs and the leak stopped after about 15 min. of runtime. Also hasn't come back either.

 

[SPOT MY 6]

Do those tabs have any neggative effects on the cooling system or any of the components that the coolant runs through?

 

[DR BOOST]

Do those tabs have any neggative effects on the cooling system or any of the components that the coolant runs through?

nope. believe it or not, its made of black pepper and spices!

 

[SPOT MY 6]

nope. believe it or not, its made of black pepper and spices!

Does that mean my car is going to run HOT now?

Ill try 'em if it wont hurt. Where can I get 'em locally surej?

 

[Lee Thompson]

Imo

Drain the block---loosen all stud nuts on that head---remove the problem stud---dry out threads--reinstall stud with silocone sealant---retorque all nuts----go to any GM dealer and ask for a package of Cadillac pills---put 2 in hot water to disolve and then put in rad. Once you put water back in and heat cycle a few times. Problem gone!!!

 

[DR BOOST]

Does that mean my car is going to run HOT now?

Ill try 'em if it wont hurt. Where can I get 'em locally surej?

it will add a lil flavor to your recipe.

i got em from the pontiac dealer on 159th...i think thats oak forest. but any gm dealer will have em for 2-3 bucks

 

[getchasum]

I also had the same problem when I used the ARP sealant and had two of the studs leak. I used the GM sealtabs and the leak stopped after about 15 min. of runtime. Also hasn't come back either.

Ditto on the GM Tabs for a cure for $hitty ARP thread sealent. I'll never use that sealent again.

 

[turbodave231]

Listen to what Lee said. I went through this problem on my intinial S2 build. I used the recommend ARP sealer and the studs pissed water like crazy. I cleaned and sealed the studs with Ultra Black RVT and the problem is 100%gone. (Thanks for that advice Lee)

The GM sealtabs WORK!! and they won't hurt your cooling system. I grind them to a powder before putting them in the radiator (I put them in a plastic baggy and hammer them to a powder). Those sealtabs are made of ginger-root (True). I've heard that pepper will work in a pinch, but I don't know how pepper might react with the cooling system.

 

[Under Pressure]

nope. believe it or not, its made of black pepper and spices!

could i put the tabs on my eggs????

 

[SPOT MY 6]

Unreal, 2 of those tabs seemed to work! I am going to drive the car a little more and keep my eye on it since I only had it running for about 15 mins. The package came with 6 so I can add more if needed. I cant belive these things worked like that. Ill post back after I drive some more with an update to see if the 2 tabs were enough.

THANKS for the suggestions guys.

 

[machinegun]

The GM Seal tabs are organic. They will not hurt your cooling system, water pump or anything else. I use them in any build I have done and installed. They have helped seeping in some aluminum heads. With cometics I use about 3 - 4 and so far no issues here. Glad to hear that you are up and running again.

 

[SPOT MY 6]

Well I have 4 of 'em in there right now. I actually had found 2 studs that were leaking. One has stopped, the other is seeping a tad right now. I will put the last 2 in there and see if it stops, otherwise pull each of the studs and use black rtv as Lee suggested. Ill post results in a few days.