Blew a head gasket

Iceman3005 · Apr 27, 2011

Well I got too work left truck idling like I always do when I'm starting the semi, went in to the office got my dispatch, came back outside and saw a small puddle under truck and it was getting bigger really quick. crawled under truck, smell the fluid..................dang it....antifreeze

! Grabbed the flashlight and starting looking...........I think.......nope..................maybe.................found it top back side of valley pan had nice shinny green fluid all over it. So pulling truck into garage and start tearing it apart. I'm so excited, I like doing this stuff! Pics will follow! :beer:

MakersTeleMark · Apr 27, 2011

Way to take a crappy situation and keep a positive outlook on it. It would be great if you documented it here in this thread.

cjcottrill · Apr 27, 2011

I had the same thing happen to an 85 Olds V-8 after, a pulling a tandem trailer with a pretty good load from New York to Southern Ohio.. Turned out it was only the valley pan gasket.

MuleMac01 · Apr 27, 2011

some duck tape will fix anything

Nick Danger · Apr 27, 2011

I'm tearing apart one also "head gasket" there not as complicated as I thought it would be

Iceman3005 · Apr 27, 2011

I love it Red/Green.

ca1517 · Apr 27, 2011

A little Bar's Fix It, and you should be fine.

Iceman3005 · Apr 29, 2011

Well when it rains it pours, I drove the wifes 1008 to work the next day and on the way home the steering box finally took a dump. started the rebuild today, will get pics up tomorrow. Once that is back on truck and working correctly I will move on to that head gasket. Found steering rebuild kit online line for $30 had free shipping. Came with all the seals and bearings, Sweeeet!
Beats buying a 200-300 dollar steering box.

rickf · Apr 29, 2011

It has been a long time since I did one but if I remember correctly the balls are two different sizes in there and they have to alternate small-large. The difference is very small so you have to measure each one. Originally they were different color but not after years of use.

Rick

Iceman3005 · Apr 30, 2011

Ok got the pump rebuilt and installed in truck, I am having an issue though maybe someone knows, When I turn wheel too right full lock no problems but when I turn wheel to full lock left it starts spraying fluid out bottom side of box out the steering shaft, did I install steering shaft seals incorrectly? It doesn't start spraying until the very moment I reach full lock left.

Iceman3005 · Apr 30, 2011

Well I have thought about it for a while and I think I installed those two seals upside down..........oh well.

kapnklug · May 2, 2011

you could always adjust the steering-stop on the left steering knuckle so it wouldn't turn that far...

Smokingman · May 2, 2011

Iceman3005 said:
Well when it rains it pours, I drove the wifes 1008 to work the next day and on the way home the steering box finally took a dump. started the rebuild today, will get pics up tomorrow. Once that is back on truck and working correctly I will move on to that head gasket. Found steering rebuild kit online line for $30 had free shipping. Came with all the seals and bearings, Sweeeet!
Beats buying a 200-300 dollar steering box.

Link for the rebuild kit?

Iceman3005 · May 2, 2011

I got the engine tore apart today, things not looking so good, might be a cracked head. I will find out tomorrow when I take it too the machine shop. Here are some pics.

Iceman3005 · May 5, 2011

Ok good news head is not cracked!!!!!!!!!! My question though is should I reuse the old head bolts, buy new ones (found them for $40) or install studs? What do you guys think? I will most likely buy new bolts only $40, but should I spend $150 and go studs? Would studs be worth it?

Iceman3005 · May 21, 2011

Got my new gasket set, and the ARP stud kit!!!!!! Starting too reassemble everything now! Since I have the engine tore apart I took out trans to install a 700r4, also got the tv cable, tv bracket, and rod, will be easy too install with the intake off!

Iceman3005 · May 21, 2011

Pics of heads, left one is fully assembled and the right is partly assembled. Pics of tv cable, bracket and rod. My gaskets and arp studs

Iceman3005 · May 21, 2011

First pic is my turbo 400 second and third is the 700r4 then my np208 that I got of a turbo 350 that will bolt right up too the 700r4. My new flex plate and torque converter are on the way, the TC is a 1600 stall lockup. I also have a auto TC lockup switch coming too!

mikev · May 21, 2011

ARP studs

Iceman3005 said:
Pics of heads, left one is fully assembled and the right is partly assembled. Pics of tv cable, bracket and rod. My gaskets and arp studs

Be mindful of the sealer used on those ARP studs...

If you don't - you'll have coolant leaks. They work, got them on my Grand National (bolts, not studs) and have read many horror stories on the Buick boards about them leaking because of not using sealant, wrong kind, not enough, etc...

Did you determine if a head gasket really "blew" - I didn't see any breaks between the coolant and combustion areas of the head gasket...?

Iceman3005 · May 31, 2011

Ok got it got together today. Took a lot of cranking to reprime but once it did fire right up! Mikev to answer your question, no I don't think the head gasket blew, some of the head bolts felt very easy to loosen so I think some of them stretched causing the head to lift of the block.
Also got my charging system operating perfectly found a couple of wires that were bad! The trans is also working great, shifts smoothly and with that low stall converter, and low first gear I can actually do a short wheel spin! I took it up to 75 mph and still could have kept going, having overdrive is so nice!

Blew a head gasket

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