Coolant seeping through, headgasket issue?

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  • mini612
    Grease Monkey
    • Oct 2011
    • 304

    #1

    Coolant seeping through, headgasket issue?

    Recently built this engine, m50b29, for my turbo project and I just realized today that there’s a small coolant leak on the exhaust side of the engine. I am not certain where it’s coming from since it seems to be all along the side of the block where the head gasket is sandwiched. I used cutrings headgasket, ARP headstuds torqued to 75 lbs (three process of 25,50 and 75), and the head was checked for cracks and then resurfaced prior to assembly. I just retorque the head bolts and discovered that a few of the bolts where not up to spec on the exhaust. In one of the pics u will see a small coolant droplet forming. Have anyone dealt with this issue? There is no coolant in the resavior, no coolant in oilpan, and doesn’t appear to be coolant in the head.

    I also checked the thermostat housing and it looks clean, al hose connections are good, no visible signs of coolant leaks.

    I have only started the engine a handful of times so maybe the engine didn’t run long enough to show more evidence of a headgasket issue.

    Any help, will help. Thanks


  • Northern
    R3V Elite
    • Nov 2010
    • 5049

    #2
    Hope the retorque fixed it.
    Are you running cutring+spacer or just the cutring gasket?
    Originally posted by priapism
    My girl don't know shit, but she bakes a mean cupcake.
    Originally posted by shameson
    Usually it's best not to know how much money you have into your e30

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    • mini612
      Grease Monkey
      • Oct 2011
      • 304

      #3
      Originally posted by Northern
      Hope the retorque fixed it.
      Are you running cutring+spacer or just the cutring gasket?
      I am running just the cutring headgasket. I might have found out what I did wrong. When I did the initial torquing, I did it in 25, 50, and then 75lbs, on the engine stand. I implanted the engine with the turbo exhaust manifold on. Everything fits well, until I tried to put on the turbo, HX40! The exhaust housing was a bit big especially the places where the internal wastegate used to be bolted to, so I decided to banged in the wheel arch a bit and shave off most of the unwanted lumps (where the internal wastegate used to be bolted onto the turbo). At that time, I had to shave one of the five bolts for the down-pipe exhaust flange. I thought I shaved enough but it wasn’t enough! If u look from the top of turbo while bolted onto the manifold, u will not be able to see it, but this same bolt that should have been shaven down more was actually hitting/ resting on the strut tower! So when I tighten the turbo onto the manifold, this one bolt would actually lever the head up, on the exhaust side!

      Yesterday, I took off the turbo and grinded a lot more off. I don’t want to grind too much from that one bolt that is on the down-pipe flange, its now fully cleared and no longer touches the strut tower. I also retorque the head bolts to 85lbs, checked it this afternoon and no coolant! I checked this evening and no coolant, I again checked the torque spec and it’s still exactly at 85lbs. So far so good, no coolant seeping out!!!
      Last edited by mini612; 05-26-2021, 01:23 PM.

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