wet headgasket

[tektic]

I only have about 1200 miles on my engine build and the head gasket is wet and seems to be seeping coolant. I'm using a mls Mitsubishi gasket installed dry on two freshly machined surfaces.with arp studs arp lube and 90ft lb if I remember correctly.

Was I suppose to retorque the studs after heat cycles or something?

Car never over heated. no coolant in the oil. I don't know what to do right now. Should I be pulling the head the engine or just try to torque it down more?

 

[coyotes]

Check the torque on the head studs, run a compression and leakdown test.

 

[362Ryan]

Did you request a 30 Ra or smoother finish on the head and the deck?

 

[prove_it]

Clean it all really well with brake clean so that it is completely clean and dry. Check the torque on the ARPs. ARP recommends rechecking Torque after a few heat cycles anyway. Run it a while and look for leaking. Verify it's coolant if it is. If you have coolant being pushed out of the headgasket then something was machined wrong, or the head gasket was not clean on install.

I once redid a head gasket on a SR20DET for a guy only to find pieces of grass in between the head and gasket.

 

[tektic]

I didn't request anything specific at the time, however I did inform the machinist of my gasket choice. At this point he's not giving any refunds so it's a mute issue.

So I shoud remove the head clean it check for warping and if all is good, reassemble?

 

[BENE38A]

I think the h11, L19 headstuds require you to check the torque after 100 miles so I am assuming you do the same thing for a normal arp, do it before you pull the head check to see if anything let go.

edit: and before you commit to pulling the head etc it could be something small and simple like a leak in a hose that sprayed some coolant around? small but you would kick yourself if you pulled it apart for nothing.

 

[tektic]

head bolts were not torqued properly. all @ 90 ft lbs now. I'll clean the outside surface and see if it comes back. Just hope for the best right?

 

[prove_it]

With a MLS there is a good chance your ok, as long as you didn't run it under boost and damage the fire rings. Like I said, clean it really really well and run it for 20 minutes and check. Make sure you bleed out the air in the coolant too. Get about 3-5 heat cycles and recheck your torque. That way you'll know it wasn't bad threads in the block or something.

 

[tektic]

New oil, re-torque, still leaking. Heads comming off tonight.

Has anyone had issues with the preferation that holds the layers of the gasket together interefer with the unmachined surface of the head?

I'm still guessing, but I m considering this a possibility.

 

[prove_it]

I haven't. Was the head machined? I thought you had it done. If so, was it with a belt sander, or actually planed?

 

[tektic]

I had a private builder do it. It was resurfaced although I'm not sure how. Ill find out on Sunday.

 

[prove_it]

Yea, find out. After bogusSvo showed up and educated us, I'm not very aware of that issue. Could have been an issue on an old engine I had.

Other than that, my only ideas are either debris on the gasket, or possibly having the gasket on wrong. Could have a block surface that's warped, but don't see that happening much.

Gotta love it.

 

[ApexHunter]

Sounds like you are on the right track here.
Not sure how you are checking for warp on your surfaces?
30 RA sounds a bit generous but maybe Ryan362 has been ok at that level. I've always heard

 

[prove_it]

That's a nifty lil tool. What do those cost?

 

[ApexHunter]

That one belonged to the school i attended and was around $2k IIRC, and i think that is fairly average for a nice one. They can be had for several hundred bucks but not sure about those.

OP i would not expect many people have a profilometer laying around but you might call around and see if anybody has one and if they'd check your stuff for you.

 

[presterone]

I got so lucky. I resurfaced the block myself with a fine grit 3m disc and wizzy wheel. I was spraying rust penatrant on the block while resurfacing and I have around 25,000 miles since the head replacement with OEM MLS, no issues. It is kind of a hack way to do it but I didn't have the money to send the block to get decked for MLS, only the cylinder head.

 

[tektic]

My block was machined but you can still see groves in it. The head is perfectly flat and smooth. I couldn't get a .0015 feeler under the strait edge. Also like I suspected the little nub from where the layers of the gasket get pressed together was contacting the block at the bottom left corner where the coolant was most visible.

I don't know what else I'm looking for though. The compression test was 150 +-5psi but this is a 9:1 motor. That's down ~25psi since rebuild. since the block is so rough I'm assuming I'm going to have to use a composite gasket and just call it a day.

Here are some pictures: click
Let me know if these pictures and videos can be seen. I don't know how dropbox permissions work.

 

[prove_it]

What brand of gasket was that?

 

[362Ryan]

You could always apply some yamabond on the MLS and hope for the best.

 

[prove_it]

Ah, no. It doesn't work like that.