Pushing Coolant

[primo513]

So im slightly confused about what other possibilities there may be. Just rebuilt the top end of a 6 bolt, new valves / lifters / rockers. Put everything together, torqued ARP headstuds to 110 with motor oil, started it up and seemed to run fine, had a little bit of white smoke but I assumed it was from all of the assembly lube burning out. So drove it around for about 50 miles, and now it is white smoking and started to push coolant out the overflow.

With the radiator cap that is on there, the coolant system wouldn't hold pressure, top radiator hose was squishy still after car was warmed up. If I got into boost it would push coolant out the overflow. Now we did a compression test and all cylinders were about service limit, 155/150/160/170. We put a different radiator cap on and let it warm up and it held pressure, took it out to drive got into boost a little bit through each gear and seemed to run fine, got it back to pop the hood and the top radiator hose was hard like it should be. Turned the car off and then coolant started to rush out of the overflow almost like it was boiling, didn't lose that much but it was very hot. Looked at the water temp and it never read hot, and it reads pretty accurate because it will start to heat up until the fans kick on then cools back off like it should.

Another issue I have had is that the battery light, along with a couple others will come on because I have a battery that is going bad im pretty sure. If I get into boost those lights will come on and after about 20-30 secs of just cruising they will go off again.

Im did a leak down test and through cylinder 3 when pressurizing it, coolant would rise in the thermostat housing. I asked a buddy of mine that has been into dsm's for a long time, and said its a possibility of being the HG, but may not necessarily be the issue. Any ideas of other things to start looking at? I dont want to pull the head and waste the gasket that is on there is thats not the issue. Please help with any insight that somebody might have.

Thanks so much!

 

[92AWDHX40]

Well try to rule out the hg by doing a compression test did you, and what are the numbers sometimes mistakes can be made in the are of hg jobs, ive been there, especially if you just did a hg job never assume there isnt a problem there.Is this your first hg job.

 

[spyderdrifter]

Now this is only an optional idea that I experienced 4 years ago. My car would constantly overheat and drain my battery. I replaced the clamps on my upper rad hose and the problem seemed to go away. Even replaced the t-stat. Turned out that the problem was my alternator going bad, which in turn forced the car to run completely off the battery, causing it to rapidly drain. Somehow it made the car overheat. After replacing the alternator and the battery, since it got discharged and recharged several times before solving the problem, had no overheating problems. I assume these were problems connected to each other, but at the time I had no way of knowing for sure. Just a thought.

 

[primo513]

It was my first HG job, but I had a buddy help me that had done several before. We thought that it may have been blown from the first start because it white smoked even though it also could have been the assembly lube burning out

Well try to rule out the hg by doing a compression test did you, and what are the numbers

numbers were 155/150/160/170

 

[92AWDHX40]

Check the fans, and check for leaks.

 

[dsmgabe]

If the HG is blown how low should the compression read? and can you have a
blown HG and still keep good compression?

 

[BurrowZ]

What kind of headgasket are you using?

If you used an MLS, were both surfaces decked properly?

Why did you do a headgasket job in the first place? Did it overheat and blow the headgasket, possibly warp the head? If so, did you get it milled?

 

[primo513]

I used a felpro HG, and the reason i had to do a HG job was because I bought the car from a friend who had the timing belt slip and belt valves, I put a new head on off a running car, even had the head milled.

My buddy who helped me replace the head thinks the HG is toast. We did a leak down and putting pressure into cylinder 3 caused the coolant to rise and overflow out of the thermostat housing when we took the radiator cap off, thats why Im afraid that it is already a bad HG

 

[91mits]

sounds like a bad hg honestly, been in that situation, bought my car from a friend with bent valves and the timing belt was a nightmare, pull the head off and redo the hg again.

 

[primo513]

Yeah, i was afraid that was the issue better to fix it now, then to fix a bunch of stuff later

 

[WES_393]

You should figure out why it failed before tossing in a new one. Even though the head was recently resurfaced, check the underside of the head for any cracks or obvious flaws. Pay especially close attention to the combustion chambers. Check the engine deck and cylinder walls for any damage and use a straight edge to verify that the block isn't warped. Torquing the head bolts out of sequence can also cause the gasket to deform and leak. It would also be a good idea to use moly-graphite lube for on the studs so you get better lubrication and more accurate torque readings.