The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop '61 235 Major Water in Oil

now that you mention that, I seem to remember the head gasket had "top" embossed in it. I'm not sure if that would make the difference or not. Not to mention the fact, I may not have really seen the word "top" embossed in the gasket. But it's worth looking into, as that is really the only other thing you did that might have done what it done. It looks to me like you will have to be taking this apart anyway.

How about if bolts got put in that were to long, say the thermostat housing on the front of the head, water pump and rocker arm shaft? I would think the threads would let go before causing a crack when they bottomed out? Just thinking......

Head gasket was embossed 'top' and installed correctly. I did do a trial fit against the head and the block, don't recall that it would fit in any other position.

Never ran after the water incident therefore no steam from exhaust.

Head, thermastat housing, rocker arm bolts all were checked for length before installing/torqueing - never bottomed and torqued to specs without any issues. Water pump never removed.

All bolts removed were cleaned, as well as bolt holes. Not with a tap, but with a clean bolt and flushed after to 'wash' crap out.

I did remove the valve cover and side cover after the incident and did not see any standing water. But the fluids I did see were very similiar to the water/oil mixture I dumped from the pan. There wasn't a clearly visible difference or separation between the fluids. Surprising.

In an earlier post, I reported using a cooling system pressure checker and could not get a build-up of pressure. I'll try the suggestion of using a stethescope to listen for air leakage with a more powerful air supply.

Might try the same method on each cyl. (rotate eng. to close valves) to possibly get closer to the failure, Thoughts?

Thanks for all the brain-power applied.

Results as soon as other commitments allow.

Even with a pretty big leak, it would be possible to overpressure the cooling system with an air hose, so restrict the airflow somewhat, either with a pressure regulator or by putting a kink into the hose. A quick and dirty flow control could be a zip tie over a pinched-down air hose to let a moderate volume enter the radiator through a hose wrapped with a shop towel inserted into the fill hole in the radiator.
Jerry

Update, preasurized cyl. #1, would not hold, air leak but indeterminate internal area. rate of preasure leakdown suggests no cly wall coruption. system used was to only pressurize the cyl. That had to be the only probable path.

Pulled head, discovered head gasket failure/wrong? unknown.

Ordered new correct(Hope) head gasket to be installed near future and try leak test again before adding water, with cold engine not running and all valves fully closed.

Head gasket appearance supports water leakage around bolts 10,2 12. The ones slightly under the rocker arm. suspect water forced to the head and flowed down through the pushrod tubes, oil drain holes to pan. The gurgling when I first put water in was most likely caused by the air in the cyl head and radiator being forced out by the water and eventually to the pan. Believe this to be the case and likely. One reason is the location of the radiator fill neck is roughly a foot above the head to block mating area.

Another thought, are the head bolts that pass through the water jacket supposed to be sealed with something other than the head gasket and on the manifold side a copper 'washer' is around the hole in gasket? On the lifter side there are 'steel 'washers'. The bolts for 10,2,12, no 'washer', just the head gasket. Those holes are blind, not into the water jacket.

Even if a little coolant finds its way to a blind hole, no harm, no foul- - - -it can't go anywhere else. I like to use a little anti-sieze on head bolt threads, and just a dab under the head of the bolt. That's more for uniform torque than coolant sealing, but it might prevent a leak by promoting better contact between the threads in the block and the head bolts. Some shops where I've worked used brush-on Permatex as a thread lube. I don't have a problem with doing it that way. Dry-torqueing any kind of bolt results in some torque loss from friction, so any lubricant, even 30 weight motor oil, will allow more accurate torque.
Jerry

Christmas is over!

New head gasket installed and torqued down. It was a Fel-Pro composit. all holes matched

Been working on valve system. Cleaning hydraulic lifters and upper valve rocker assy. All full of 'crap', mostly oil related sludge, but some milky water&oil mixture.

Will be adding a little water to cooling system next. Hoping for the best results.