[Spencnaz]

Truck blew the gasket on the driver's side cylinder head. We worked from 9am to 1am last night on the job.

Talk about a big job, sheesh. We had to loosen up the intake manifold to get the cylinder head out as the Hypermax turbo oil return line was in the way of taking out the intake manifold. We got the cylinder head out, changed the gasket, and inspected for any cracks as best we could. I really need to be able to remove the intake manifold.

Cylinder head looked just fine, pistons were nice and clean the the bores were in fine shape.

We wiggled the head back into place, (took us 3 tries since the gasket was being lifted off the rear dowel by those 2 head bolts at the back that are such a pain to install.).

At about 1230 last night as my friend was putting the intake manifold bolts back in and I was adding coolant to the radiator, we hear this sound of water hitting the shop floor.

There is coolant flowing out the back of the cylinder head! I can see it pooling up around the glowplug controller and the two rear cylinder glowplug area holes!

Talk about a disappointment! So I call again on you to HELP! It's obvious that I need to remove the head yet again.

Any one know how to remove a Hypermax turbo without disassembling the whole engine? Should I just take the turbo off from turbo mounting flange? I doubt this is a cracke head, the truck wasn't leaking any coolant previously.

 

[WhiteGardens]

There is a possibility you might not have gotten all the original gasket material off before you put in the head gasket. I had an old 78 Lincoln town-car (boat) that I replaced the water-pump, and timing gear cover. I thought I had all the old material out, but like you, as soon as I dump rad fluid in, it leaked right out.

Sounds like you might have damaged the gasket a little too when you replaced the heads.

Also, did you do the torque sequence correctly for the head bolts?? If not, you might have squished the gaskets in the wrong spots creating a place where it didn't seal correctly.

 

[arthurgoboom]

It might be leaking around the water passages that the valley pan/intake gaskets seal up. Since you didn't remove the intake manifold I'm assuming you did not install a new valley pan/intake gasket. This is a crush gasket and is meant for one-time use only.

 

[Spencnaz]

Arthur,

Yeah we came to that conclusion as well. I've since removed the intake manifold and the 'turkey tray' as I like to call it.

A new turkey tray will be installed this afternoon after work. I had to remove the oil return line from the Hypermax turbo to get the intake manifold out because of the rear bar that goes across the back of the intake. I'm going to cut a slot in that bar so that it will clear the return line when we put the manifold back in.

The leaks were coming out right where the old turkey tray was bent. I had though that the head would be sealed on that side but it looks like those coolant holes are actually casting reliefs in the head, the tray seals those closed.

I'm going to use this opportunity to turn the IP up one flat while it's out of the truck.

 

[arthurgoboom]

The water jacket casting reliefs that the VP seals require a coat of sealant on them. If your VP gasket kit does not come with the instructions and the required sealers (silicone for ends of galley, 507 loctite gasket eliminator for casting holes), look it up online or something.

 

[Spencnaz]

The turkey tray I bought comes with the sealer. I'm going to use a Permatex high temperature sealant on the ends of the tray.

I have to punch a hole in the pan for the turbo oil return grommet with a Greenlee punch tonight.