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Old 03-24-2013, 01:30 PM   #1
Will N
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,096
Default water in the oil

This winter, I pulled the cylinder head to scrape the carbon. One of my coils went bad last fall, and the number one cylinder was caked with carbon. So I put on a new copper gasket, sprayed with sealer, and torqued the bolts to 55 ft/lbs following a tighten sequence chart I found. After about a week I re-torqued the bolts, and then filled the radiator with water and an antirust additive (not antifreeze). The car was indoors all winter, so I never had a chance to start it- until today that is. It was hard starting her. But after I drained some gas out of the sediment bowl and carb (I think some water had condensed in there, I finally got it started after about a half hour of cranking it. After it kicked over and was running pretty nicely. I was going to let it warm up then shut it down to re-torque the bolts again. Well, after about two minutes, I see this grayish liquid oozing out between the crankcase and block. I shut her down right away. I checked the radiator, and the water was way down. I checked the torque on the bolts, and they had loosened up a little- maybe they were at 45 ft/lbs. Would this be loose enough to let the water leak by the head gasket so completely? I had no problems with water in the oil at the end of last season. In addition to pulling the head this winter, I had the hogs head off to rebuild the pedals. Any other ideas beside the head gasket leaking for the water getting in the oil?

P.S. So I drained the oil, re-torqued the head bolts to 55, and refilled the radiator. Sure enough, I can see water weeping past the gasket behind cylinder 4. Crap. Like I said- no problems with loosing water last year, so that new gasket must be bad. Are there any more reliable head gaskets beside the copper clad that you guys have had experience with?

Last edited by Will N; 03-24-2013 at 01:53 PM.
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