Loose head bolts??

[Bojangles465]

Could loose head bolts make my engine run perfectly normal , has power, no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, and allow a bit of exhaust into the cooling system, making the coolant get super heated, and evaporate out of the overflow bottle?

 

[pauleyman]

This is your definition of runs perfectly normal? How do you know its exhaust in coolant. Overheating is not normal. Find the root cause. Have you already checked cap and thermostat?

 

[Bojangles465]

when i got the car, it had no thermostat, so i replaced it, i replaced the cap, and my radiator(unfortunately not with an aftermarket aluminum one ) the water pump is working, so i dont think theres anything else that can go wrong in the cooling system. i notice the hose in the overflow botle is blowing air(and steam) into the water. theres no coolant leaking anywhere, but it all dissapears, after i see steam coming form the overflow hose after driving. i dont think it does it while idling, ive let it run for like 30 minutes just idling and it doesnt steam out.

 

[pauleyman]

What is the coolant mixture? What is the temp of the car? I doubt you could run it 30 min with a severe overheat problem. More info please.

 

[Abe'sGST]

You need to find out the reason the previous owner removed the thermostat, that was probably "his fix" to the overheating problem.

 

[Bojangles465]

Well the car was getting hot before I put the thermostat, so it needed one anyways, and the coolant mix was 50/50 but right now it is straight h2o, because I don't want to waste antifreeze if it's just going to dump it all into the reservoir and evaporate. Also, the exact temp is unknown, my gauge stopped working correctly, and I don't currently have an after market one

 

[Dsmkauai]

I would do a compression test. The head could be warped and that's why you burn more coolant once its warmed up. I would suspect the headgasket before the head bolts being loose. If the head bolts were loose you would definitely no and would be leaking coolant and oil all the time, and have really low compression.

 

[pauleyman]

Put coolant back in it.

 

[primo513]

I was having coolant problems before I pulled my motor for the end of last season. I was having similar problems where I was loosing coolant, wasn't mixing with oil, wouldnt overheat while idling, but after driving for a little bit it would start to over heat. My problem was a leak at the firewall where the water lines run to the heater core. My heater core was broken and wouldnt seal even with new water lines. I was losing coolant slowly and I couldnt tell where from til I pulled my dash out when I was swapping interior and found my floor was wet under the heater core. Its an odd problem, but its still a possibility! Check where your water lines connect at the firewall.

 

[Bojangles465]

I was having coolant problems before I pulled my motor for the end of last season. I was having similar problems where I was loosing coolant, wasn't mixing with oil, wouldnt overheat while idling, but after driving for a little bit it would start to over heat. My problem was a leak at the firewall where the water lines run to the heater core. My heater core was broken and wouldnt seal even with new water lines. I was losing coolant slowly and I couldnt tell where from til I pulled my dash out when I was swapping interior and found my floor was wet under the heater core. Its an odd problem, but its still a possibility! Check where your water lines connect at the firewall.

This seems like a more likely option than burning it, because I have zero smoke coming from my exhaust, I'll check my heater core but I haven't noticed any wet spots on my floor, I'll rip the dash out and check, I guess, thanks! I hope it isn't leaking, I did a full wire tuck and that's kinda where my whole wiring harness is

 

[primo513]

I'll rip the dash out and check, I guess, thanks!

You dont have to pull out the dash to check for wet floor spots, you can pull back the carpet or even just feeling up underneath the dash you could see if its wet. But the majority of my coolant was leaking on the outside of the firewall, which was why I couldnt find any build up in the engine bay. I was just leaking down to the ground, but it never did it at idle

 

[Bojangles465]

You dont have to pull out the dash to check for wet floor spots, you can pull back the carpet or even just feeling up underneath the dash you could see if its wet. But the majority of my coolant was leaking on the outside of the firewall, which was why I couldnt find any build up in the engine bay. I was just leaking down to the ground, but it never did it at idle

So just out of curiosity, would the heater core leaking make it dump all of the coolant into the reservoir?

 

[pauleyman]

I think you're trying to misdiagnose a problem that may not even exist. Did you put straight water in it after you did the thermostat and cap? Water does not have the boiling temp of a mix. Put coolant in it and see if it still does it. You might also pressure test the system.

 

[Bojangles465]

I think you're trying to misdiagnose a problem that may not even exist. Did you put straight water in it after you did the thermostat and cap? Water does not have the boiling temp of a mix. Put coolant in it and see if it still does it. You might also pressure test the system.

No, I haven't added any coolant since I've replaced anything in the cooling system, I'll try that, I guesss

 

[CrackedDSM]

The answer to your original question is yes, it can. My headbolts only got torqued to maybe 30-34 ft.lbs in the original assembly(was tired, got in a rush, and this was 2 years ago...fun times) and it wouldn't smoke a single bit, nothing in the coolant or oil, no missing, idle was perfect, and it made okay power(8.3's in the 1/8th on like 17lbs of boost on a crap eBay 16G) but it would shoot coolant out of the system when boosted hard, and I kept having to put coolant in it. Tried to retorque them down after discovering this, and the power went up noticeably, but the damage to the HG was done.


Get a good set of known good bolts, and retorque them in at the proper torque using the proper torque sequence. Start the car, let it get up to operating temps(195-200*), shut it off, and retorque them again. If you are blessed it'll fix it. If not, throw in a new headgasket and remember the proper torquing procedure.

 

[2gtalonfwd]

I agree get some ARP head bolts a new head gasket and maybe machine the head....

 

[nelliott500]

My first step would be to rent a cooling system pressure tester from Autozone/Advance Auto. Start there. Pressurizing the system and checking for leaks (also check your cap) will typically narrow down your problem.

On my wife's Stratus, there was a hairline crack in the thermostat. If you drove the car long enough, it would start to lose coolant out of the overflow.

 

[knochgoon24]

Autozone also carries block test fluid and the tester you can use it with to check for exhaust getting into the coolant. Here's how to use it, except on our cars, you'd want to hold it near the (removed) cap on the thermostat housing and suck fumes in from there.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4FoUc6fRNs]Testing for leaky head gasket - YouTube[/ame]

 

[BoostKrazy]

Yes all those symptoms can be loose head bolts.. mine was just recently doing thos after i put ARP's in.. didnt tighten them after one heat cycle and it started pushing coolant.. no water/oil mix, no loss in power, it could idle all day and be fine, i could even drive mine as much as i wanted on the streets even doing pulls.. but once i hit the freeway, it took less then a mile for all my coolant to come out the expansion tank.

You dont need to spend money on the test strips or any bull shit like that, if your radiator hoses are holding a lot of pressure where they are expanding and you pop the overflow cap and its bubbling, you know your pushing exhaust. I guarantee this is your problem. Take off the valve cover, torque them bolt/studs down and fix your problem in less then 15 mins. Remeber to follow the torque sequence and you'll be fine.

I hope this helped, and i hope you read this before you wasted any money on stuff.. once you tighten those bolts/studs, drain the whole cooling system, pour a whole bottle of Water Wetter (the pink one, not the green, purple.. the PINK) in there and fill the rest with PURIFIED water, the water wetter has the lubrication effect of coolant for the water pump and seals, and 100% water cools better, if you use tap water, have fun replacing your water pump and radiatior as the deposits will eat the aluminum components.

 

[nelliott500]

I do find it kind of funny that, instead of spending 15 minutes checking the torque on the head bolts/studs, he posted here on the forums so people could guess the problem. 15 minutes to rule out this issue.

 

[zachakagoat]

I wonder why nobody has asked the most basic question...did you burp the system or just fill and put cap back in? I was getting issues before it was burped and allowing that let me get the right amount of coolant in and stop the problem.

 

[primo513]

Yeah not burping the system could also be the problem, but from the sound of it, it's just not torquing the head bolts. Like others said, I would get new bolts and you might have to mill the head if you got the motor too hot

 

[Bojangles465]

Thanks for all the help, and to answer some questions, I don't have the correct socket to tighten the head bolts, I have one for 91+ head bolts but the 1990s use a different socket apparently, oh and one last question, when I replaced the t-stat, I didn't think to check hat position the jiggle valve was, does it matter?(sorry still a bit of a noob)

 

[Crash429]

You didnt install the thermostat backwards did you? Laught but I have seen many people do this and cause it not to open and overheat the car.

 

[EvilTsi95]

Thanks for all the help, and to answer some questions, I don't have the correct socket to tighten the head bolts, I have one for 91+ head bolts but the 1990s use a different socket apparently, oh and one last question, when I replaced the t-stat, I didn't think to check hat position the jiggle valve was, does it matter?(sorry still a bit of a noob)

Yes all those symptoms can be loose head bolts.. mine was just recently doing thos after i put ARP's in.. didnt tighten them after one heat cycle and it started pushing coolant.. no water/oil mix, no loss in power, it could idle all day and be fine, i could even drive mine as much as i wanted on the streets even doing pulls.. but once i hit the freeway, it took less then a mile for all my coolant to come out the expansion tank.

You dont need to spend money on the test strips or any bull shit like that, if your radiator hoses are holding a lot of pressure where they are expanding and you pop the overflow cap and its bubbling, you know your pushing exhaust. I guarantee this is your problem. Take off the valve cover, torque them bolt/studs down and fix your problem in less then 15 mins. Remeber to follow the torque sequence and you'll be fine.

^^^^^^^^ FTW