Quote:
Originally Posted by rosenkranswa
No, I didn't lower the coolant level before loosening the head nut - wouldn't have thought of that, but have done it before a couple times with no issue. Good point about the necessity of the ignition clamp on the head bolt, part of the old anti-tamper I guess.
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Not so fast Wayne, ...the reason for the clamp besides theft is that it also keeps the internal wire from vibrating and chafing the insulation off which shorts the unit out. Often times when this occurs, the cable has an intermittent or slight draw which causes the engine to run poorly. People then start blaming coils, carburetors, and every other thing except the culprit. There is a reason why Ford spent the money to install items such as this clamp, or engine pans, etc.
FWIW, if the cylinder case or the head is within factory specification, there is no need to drain the radiator. If 'one is unsure how level the deck or the head is, then a safety measure of draining is fine. Once the head nut is retighten, there should never be a leak anyway. Based on your description of the entire vehicle, my guess is the cylinder case and the head were likely not in correct plane anyway, --and it likely had all kinds of gasket sealers trying to band-aid or mask the problems. Can you imagine being in my business where issues like this surface almost every day??
