What the heck?? Did I blow me head gasket???

[Anonymous]

Ive got a 72 Maverick with the 250.

So I drive to meet up with my G/F tonight. I park in the parking lot and get out of the car and I notice a odd sound coming from my stopped engine. I go to open the hood and I notice STEAM coming from under it. So I open it up and take a look. Theres a wonderfull stream of bubbling coolent running down the left side of my engine.

SO what happend? Did I blow my head gasket? I cant realy see where its coming from cause the source is behind the exhaust manifold. The only thing I can think of is that its the gasket and it blew OUT insted of IN. If thats the case, how bad would it be to drive it on the freeway home tonight? Do I need to worry about it blowing IN?

 

[Anonymous]

So I went out and started my car again. The coolent isnt spraying all over, but kindof dribblling out.

The odd thing is, that when I rev my engine the leak stops and when I stop reving it starts up again.

Im confused, and Pissed.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you have a a headgasket gone or a freeze plug toasted

 

[Anonymous]

is there water or a lot of steam coming from the tailpipe if not you should be ok to "limp" home heck my mother drove my mav over 300 miles after the head gasket had blown shure did keep them pistons clean any way bring some water with ya

 

[Anonymous]

Freeze plug huh? I didnt think of that...

So yea, I drove it home, that was allot of fun. It did fine untill I got off the freeway. I pulled up to the light and the needle started to move. Before I got over the bridge back over the freeway it had spiked to 240 (norm seems to be 200-210). I got to the gas station on the other side and put water in it. Lots of fun mind you when you've got god knows how much water pressure behind it. So I filled it up and the temp went down right away, and I made it home.

How hard is it to replace the head gasket on these things? Ive done it on other cars, but never a L6.

 

[addo]

Since you're experience, we can skip the basics. It's a smallish motor compared to many of it's stablemates, and against an equivalent size modern unit, grossly underpowered. So, adherence to detail in the "repairs" can pick up a shade of power...

It's not hard, per se. Typical "gotchas" are stubborn head bolts on the manifold side (detorque in correct order with six point socket), water pump bolts that snap (leave it on if you can), and the use of modern overthick gaskets (lowering the compresion appreciably). Also on removal, the exhaust flange face of the head is often found eroded. Budget for a skim on the gasket face and the exhaust, but note the blocks often "settle' and take a less flat form with age. Measure and note your deck height and bore size exactly (to check your compression).

Reassembly is straightforward with allowance of ample "relax time" between torque stages and pre-cleaning/lube of head bolt holes. The angled face on the valve cover mounting flange is a leak-prone one. Overtorquing is a contributor. Hope this gets you started!

Regards, Adam.

 

[CobraSix]

A couple of things I've noticed on 3 head removals:

1) Exhaust manifold is usually a bitch to remove, be very careful if a bolt seems stuck, make sure it doesn't break the mounting flange.

2) Get new head bolts. I'm sure you know that, but don't throw out the old bolts. Take 3 of them, cut the heads off and then slot the top of the bolt for a flathead screwdriver. put those in the block, then put the new gasket down, and then put the head on. The heads on the 6s are heavier then V-8s, and are awkward to line up without the guides.

3) As far as leaking valve cover, I only had a problem with the Chrome ones and when I used cork gaskets. I switched to rubber on the valve cover...never seen a leak since.

Slade

 

[Falcon62]

I'd confirm the source of the leak before tearing into the engine. No sense in doing all that work for nothing if it's just a freeze plug. :roll:

 

[Anonymous]

^^^^^

Yea, thats what Im saying. Because I cant see the source Im gonna do some exploration today.

 

[MustangSix]

Keep in mind, there are no freeze plusg on the left side of the engine or cylinder head. They are all on the right.

there are, however, water passages on the left side of the block and head and a gasket faliure there will cause seepage on the distributor (left) side of the engine.

 

[Anonymous]

See though, its not on the distributor side, its on the manifold side.

*praying that its a freeze cap*

If its happens to be the freeze cap, how hard is that to replace???

 

[addo]

Usually easier than an equivalent V8 one.

 

[Falcon62]

Keep in mind, there are no freeze plusg on the left side of the engine or cylinder head. They are all on the right.

See though, its not on the distributor side, its on the manifold side.

The proper description for left/right is as viewed from the driver's seat and that's what Jack was pointing out. Otherwise, we might think we're talking about the same side of the engine only to find out we're discussing opposite sides.

Now that we know what side you are looking at, you need to get a close look at those freeze plugs. It still might be a bad head gasket, but I wouldn't get into that unless I had to. Good luck! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, so I FINALY got under the car and was able to look up under the manifold. There was allot of corosion under there, and it looked like a small freeze plug had blown. I think what happend was that a manifold leak was blowing right onto the plug and eventuly just killed it.

My new problem is that I need to get the manifold off to replace the plug. I tryed to get it off but ended up poping the head off the bolt. Somone told me that the manifold has no threads, so in thery I could break off a couple then just "slide" off the manifold. Is this true? He was saying that I could use vice-grips to get the broken ones out.

 

[Anonymous]

get some liquid wrench and spray on the bolts between where the manifold and head meet.let it seep in and spray again.Hit the bold head with a hammer if you can get to it or use a ratchet putting the handle on the bold head and hit the end of the ratchet with the hammer like a chisel.The harmonics of the hammer hitting the bolt head can help free them up.Then repeat after a minute or so and try to back them out.That and give it a jerk to tighten it then back it off first.This has saved my ass from having to drill out many broken bolts.Hope it helps.