Blown Head Gasket

Hello SS

Its been a while since I have made an appearance here. Life has been crazy and keeping me busy.

AT Uharrie Brandon had mentioned he heard a exhaust valve leak and to check it out.. Well, I never checked it and like a dumb ass I continued to drive it. Well I was on my way to my hunting land and she decided to show me how much I should have checked that valve.. I was traveling down the highway and it sounded like I ran over a IED. I thought the Taliban had ambushed me on I-26. A huge boom went off and the entire cab filled with smoke.

Upon some inspection with Adam it seemed as though I blew my head gasket. Not sure of the cause? Could it have been the exhaust valve out of adjustment? Could it have been a weak gasket?

After much delay into getting into the engine, Adam came over and sparked a fire under my ass and we broker her down.

Here is what we found.

Going to replace the gasket and adjust the valve clearance and see if this fixes it. I sure hope so.

I hope all are doing well on SS. Just figured I would say hello and let you see what is going on one of the deuces. Looking forward to see you all in GA rally. It will be a blast.

Be certain to have your head surfaced before installing the new head gasket,if it's warped,it'll blow again.(Don't ask how I know this)

AMGeneral said:

Be certain to have your head surfaced before installing the new head gasket,if it's warped,it'll blow again.(Don't ask how I know this)

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Ill listen to you this time ..

thanks Brandon.. any ideas why you think this may have happened?

The valve lash was in number 5 cylinder , not sure why 6 blew

Hey Chris! Great to see you man! Sorry about the head gasket, Hope she is better than new soon!

Head gaskets blow for a variety of reasons. The weakness could have been caused by excessively lugging the engine at some point, or using too much ether one cold morning. Improperly tightened head bolts is a classic, as is replacing a gasket on an already warped head. Coolant rust through takes out some, but that doesn't appear to be the case in your engine. And, it could also just have been defective from the manufacturer.

Check the head for straightness, and do the same to the block. The head bolts/studs tend to pull up the surface of the block (around the stud) sometimes... especially if they were overtightened.

-Chuck

That's a common spot for a deuce to blow a head gasket,that is it's thinnest point(from the outside) along the whole gasket edge.Tarheel's Deuce blew at the exact same spot,just #1 cylinder vs #6.

The valve lash had nothing to do with the blown head gasket. Any number of reasons could have been the cause. Warped head, weak gasket, overheating problem, wrong torque and so on. Use a good quality head gasket, get the heads resurfaced, correct torque and change your t-stat. Check the deck for warpage just to be safe. You should be fine. If you want to go a step further, you can pull the radiator and have that looked at by a radiator shop if you suspect ovrheating.

i agree

Generally what happens is young GI's not following mfr. recommendations on operating the vehicle. You want 5 mins warm up and cool down time at idle before driving and shutting down. Not only for the turbo bearings but just general warmup. Alot of heads warp because GI's overheat them and the heads warp up leaving lower compression on the gasket on the front, center, and rear of the engine. Once you do the job, with decked heads like mentioned above, you shouldn't have to do it every again. Check your freezeplugs while you have it all apart. Some say there are two types of deuces: One's that have had the head's off, and those that will.

-Kelly

Chris,
Sorry about your problems! Do you need any push rods replaced while you have it apart? If so get with me next week. My deuce #2 engine repair will be a winter project.

When you buy a gasket set, be sure you get the latest version. They have tabs that project beyond the block, which would be in your photo left side that are vents. The fire rings are also more robust. We have blown a gasket like you have, replaced it with the good ones and no more trouble. Now when we get an engine, we always look for the tabs at each cylinder at the head/block parting line on the manifold side of the block to see if we have the good set in the engine.
Regards Marti

stampy said:

Hey Chris! Great to see you man! Sorry about the head gasket, Hope she is better than new soon!

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hey Gus. Thanks man. I hope your going to the GA rally. Stef has some B bread with your name in it!

SCSG-G4 said:

Chris,
Sorry about your problems! Do you need any push rods replaced while you have it apart? If so get with me next week. My deuce #2 engine repair will be a winter project.

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mike,

thank you for the offer. I think the rids are still good thye looked true. Need to have them looked at for sure. Good luck with your project. Time is what is our enemy.

M543A2 said:

When you buy a gasket set, be sure you get the latest version.p They have tabs that project beyond the block, which would be in your photo left side that are vents. The fire rings are also more robust. We have blown a gasket like you have, replaced it with the good ones and no more trouble. Now when we get an engine, we always look for the tabs at each cylinder at the head/block parting line on the manifold side of the block to see if we have the good set in the engine.
Regards Marti

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hi Marti

do you have a picture of the newer gasket? I have my gaskets already and would like to know if the ones I have are equiped with the tabs



Thank you to everyone for the replies. SS is a valuable resource.

The newer gaskets have the metal rings pressed into the gasket. The older style has the rings that just sit inside of the gasket. Dont use the old gaskets, I blew the gasket in the same spot as you twice in one month. The new gasket has been holding up just fine.

Jim

drjconley said:

The newer gaskets have the metal rings pressed into the gasket. The older style has the rings that just sit inside of the gasket. Dont use the old gaskets, I blew the gasket in the same spot as you twice in one month. The new gasket has been holding up just fine.

Jim

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Hi Jim-

thank you for the reply. I have the correct gaskets then. All of the metal rings are pressed into it

Chris:
Here are the pictures you requested. The pink gasket is the good gasket. You can see it is built heavier than the black gasket, and also see the separate fire rings and vents. These vents are there to vent gases until everything reaches operating temp and the fire rings obtain their proper seal. This prevents the small amount of escaped gases during warm-up from cutting out the fiber gasket. The tabs at the end of the vents are the ones you can see projecting out from the head/block interface line at each cylinder on the manifold side of an engine to verify it has the good gaskets. Now you know why it is important to properly warm up your engine before hammering on it!
Regards Marti

Sorry, Chris I guess I was told the wrong information. I would trust Marty, he seems to always have the right info.

Marty, I have put two different types of gaskets in my multifuel. The one with the pressed fire ring has held up fine. The one with the fire ring that sits inside of the gasket had blown out twice.
Are there only two types of gaskets available?
I know I paid more for the one with the pressed fire ring.

Thanks,
Jim

And Chris (and I) would like to know where the best source for the newer/better gaskets would be? the typical dealers? someone with a recommendation on the best place?

Wow Chris, sorry to hear about your head man!!! Hope all else is well with you!! Truck is running good and hope to see you at GA rally! I will be out of town till the weekend before the rally! I was hoping to be there on Thurs. See you there!!

Once you find a place to buy head gaskets post!! I would like to have the info too!!

I bumped a old thread about head gaskets and where to get them.

Here is one of the responses I got.

The latest greatest gasket has the fire rings built into the gasket and have a sealing compound on the gasket, or so I'm told. Since there is such an inventory on older style gaskets, not many dealers are interested in making a new production run in the newer gaskets. As a result of this, the newest ones are getting quite difficult to find. The only 2 sources I'm aware of is OD Iron and Memphis, perhaps others can share more info.

I hope that helps,

Jim

M543A2 said:

.... This prevents the small amount of escaped gases during warm-up from cutting out the fiber gasket.

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Hi Marti,

The above statement goes against my experiences with diesel engines, and gaskets. Do you have any references that discuss the intentional leaking of gases through the head gasket during warm-up?

My interpretation, of the "vents" , is somewhat different from yours: I see the slit as being a desired leakage direction for gases leaking past a failed cylinder O-ring.

If you look closely, you will notice that the water jacket is extremely close to the O-rings at each cylinder. That, as conventional wisdom goes, is the direction of leakage for most head gasket failures.

When a head gasket on a diesel bursts explosively into the water jacket, radiators, and hoses burst, and if you continue to run the engine, rapid overheating (due to lack of coolant), and destruction of your engine occurs. If you are in a battle situation, and your truck dies, maybe you die too...

However, if the head gasket O-ring fails, and blows out through the "vent" side of the gasket, the cylinder will stop contributing power, but the engine will be able to limp on for an indefinite number of miles.

It is my experience that the head gasket O-rings on a diesel are never supposed to leak, hot or cold. It is my conjecture that the slits in the pink gasket are there to direct an explosive gasket failure away from the water jacket.

-Chuck