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Blew the headgasket today... so i fought my overheating problem and thought i had it solved. Milled the head flat, new headgasket with copper coat. Torqued the head cold, then hot, then cold again. Washed the grease from the radiator with gasoline to clean it up. 6 blade fan and no thermostat. Been having fun driving the car almost every day and up to 250 miles a week. Today, with a lady friend in the car coming back from lunch, i was doing about 53 mph on the highway. Car was loving it and has done it several times. I added about 2 cups of water the day before just to top it off. Well bout half way home (only about 20 miles) it started spitting out the cap a bit. Noticed that it would get worse if i gave it throttle. Bout 30 seconds later, its gushing out the rad. i pull over and it looks like a steam boiler. Some steam out the tail pipe, whole bunch up front. Needless to say my car became a sauna. Let it cool down, took the next exit and added a gallon of water to it. Limped it home.
Will this ever end? Was having the same problem back in september, and it took untill november to get it sorted out. |
Re: Blew the headgasket today... With Model A's it never ends! Sounds like you did everything correct with milling the head and putting on a new headgasket... how warm was were you live? maybe 53mph was pushing it for an extended period of time with the heat? Maybe try adding some antifreeze with the water to lower the boiling point?
Also check your timing? |
Re: Blew the headgasket today... Pull the head and let us know what you find.
Paul in CT |
Re: Blew the headgasket today... I was having boil over issues with my roadster, when you have the head off made sure you clean the water passages really well in the block and head long screw drivers, wire, you will be surprised at the amount of rust and stuff that can collect causing hot spots around the cylinders. I don't like to torque while warm or hot, I prefer cold. Look at the block closely while the head is off you may find very small stress cracks, common after adding cold water to a block that just 'steamed' your coolant, regardless of a spinning pump. The biggest drop in overall temp was when I added Napa brand Kool engine, similar to water wetter, it dropped my overall operating temp 30*. I run Sierra brand 50/50 antifreeze.
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... did you have the block decked? after you have the head off and the block deck really clean, take a steel straight edge and put it across the deck and then take a feeler gauge(.002) and see if it will slip between the straight edge and the block, do thay all over the block, what type of gasket are you using, copper or composition?
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... If you are experiencing recurring overheating issues, I would think your radiator must not be up to snuff. Also make sure you set your timing as per Marco's website instructions. An engine that is too far retarded can really heat up. Sorry to hear about your on going problems, it is never any fun going back to fix something that you thought you just fixed. Try not to get too discouraged, Model As certainly do have the ability to be dependable. We have one that has been in the family for over 45 years now, it sees a few hundred miles per year and the engine nor radiator has ever been out or opened up since '67. I was having some troubles with it at one time, but Marco's timing instructions were the miracle cure.
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... Did you torque the head bolts in the proper sequence?
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... 700rpm has it right, proper torque and technic and sequence is so very important, just as important is not over tightning the head studs, when that is done the block will pucker up ever so much around the cylinder bore at each stud, it makes a roller coaster type pattern,up at each stud then down between the studes then up at the next one, in a star pattern, it makes it impossible to get a proper tight seal around the cylinder bore, this is more prevelent on engines with head bolts because of the upward pull as the head bolt is screwed into the block, kind of like a drill pulling metal out of a hole, that may be a poor example but i dont know how else to describe what happening when i was in auto shop in high school, my teacher , Mr. Ward had a machinest from one of the largestest machine shops in burbank ca. come in and give a lecture and demostration on engine building, one of his main topics was cylinder head torquing and the importance of doing it right, he said he was going to give a demostration as what happens when a block is over tightened, he took an inside mic, put it in the cylinder just tight enough so it wouldnt fall out under its own weight, it was a 49 ford v/8 block, he put his finger from both hands on the inside side of the valve chamber and his knees on the bottom out side of the block, he then slowly started pulling on the block ,pulling with his hands and pushing with his knees, and sure enough the mic fell out of the cylinder, he did that twice just to prove it wasnt an accident, he said if i can do that my bare hands, think what you can do to a block with an 18" torque wrench, i remember that to this day, 55 yrs later
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... Dynaflash , Are you sure you are using the correct head gasket ? We had two head gasket failures last year due to wrong gasket being used , See Bratton's or Snyder's cat. for details. Bubby Sharp in KY
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... All,
Is the copper-clad gray core gasket the 'correct' one? R/ Roger. |
Re: Blew the headgasket today... It has been my experience that the "modern" head gaskets of almost any manufacturer require more than one re-torque to insure that they have been compressed. In the first 1000 miles, I generally torque the new gasket three or four times cold. Certainly several times in the first 200 miles. Gar Williams
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... So,what are you using for a head gasket? Fel-Pro Copper? Snyders composite? Best?
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... Where can I find "Marco's timing instructions" so I never experience head problems?
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... Tom It is www.abarnyard.com He has a lot of good stuff on there.
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... There has been some experiences that I have seen over the years with Model A owners that were similar to this. Where after you pull the head and clean out all of the internal water passages you can get to that when it is put back together it then overheats. Knocking the old rust and scale loose inside of these passages will find there way to the top of the radiator where they plug up the tubes.... Try a back flush of the radiator before you go into major panic mode over timing, leaking head gaskets, cracks, etc... One guy had a new radiator and was so sure it wasn't the radiator that he ended up replacing his entire engine only to find the exact same situation occuring. A simple back flush and everything was COOL.....
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... How about using an old nylon in the top hose to catch the junk before it reaches the upper radiator tank?
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... When I got my car on the road after sitting for 50 years
Mine would over heat after racing up long hills I flushed the mouse nest out of the radiator and all has been good. |
Re: Blew the headgasket today... Yeah but steam out the exaust is more than a mouse house.
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... your right Peter, steam out the pipe is usually a cracked block, water out the pipe head gasket
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Re: Blew the headgasket today... Missed the steam out the pipe part. My bad
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