Water everywhere

G

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Hi All,
This is my first post in this forum and also my first experience with a Ford 6 - although I know my way around a Holden L6 pretty well.

Anyway ... I acquired a rather run down 1981 F100 that has the 4.1 L6 in it. I managed to get it fired up tonight, but found masses of water flowing from beneath the intake manifold.
I assume it's coming from the intake heater, because when I rerouted the water hoses to exclude the manifold the water stopped flowing.

My question is - Is the manifold cracked or corroded, or could there be another reason?

Thanks in advance.

Vernon.
 
I would say that it's an iron head (it is black and not silver). Also I think it's the original engine.

Why do you need to run water through the intake on iron heads?
 
the cast iron head has a water jacket going from the head into the manifold.i cant see why you can block the hoses off but,theres is still water going into the manifold.im sure i have had a cast iron motor which had a redline manifold etc with the heater hoses blocked off.its been a while so im not 100% but like i said i cant see why you cnat block off the hoses as water is still going into the manifold from the head.
 
Hi Sonny,
I gather from what you are saying, that the water jacket in the head and the water jacket in the manifold are connected. Also from what you are saying, each has it's own water flow, independent of the other i.e. the head is fed internally and the manifold is fed from the hoses, but the two are interconnected.

This kind of doesn't make sense, because if the two water jackets where connected and both had independent water flow, then me blocking off the hoses wouldn't have stopped the water flow - i.e. water would have flowed from the head to the manifold and leaked everywhere.

Where is the engine number or other identifying marks located on the engine/head?

Cheers.

Vernon.
 
Hi Guys,
I think I am wrong about it being a cast head. I went for a scrounge around the engine bay (a small family could live in there) and found the number 80DA-9-????? on one of the manifold runners. I assume that is the code for the first alloy heads?
I also reckon the head is just so covered with grease I just assumed it was black - wiping the grease off revealed it was silver.

So how does that change things?

Cheers.

Vernon.
 
sounds like an alloyhead. they have 2 water outlets on the manifold which you can just leave off. but the 2 on the passenger side of the head at the front, there is one you can block otherwise it will overheat. i think its the top one but not sure.

on the ironhead the water flows from the head into the intake to the heater. you could probably block it off but if you left it open the coolant would leak everywhere
 
So does the leak mean that the manifold is corroded/cracked?
or
Can water escape some other way from the manifold?
 
Vernonv":1c3o1bqe said:
Hi Sonny,
I gather from what you are saying, that the water jacket in the head and the water jacket in the manifold are connected. Also from what you are saying, each has it's own water flow, independent of the other i.e. the head is fed internally and the manifold is fed from the hoses, but the two are interconnected.

This kind of doesn't make sense, because if the two water jackets where connected and both had independent water flow, then me blocking off the hoses wouldn't have stopped the water flow - i.e. water would have flowed from the head to the manifold and leaked everywhere.

Where is the engine number or other identifying marks located on the engine/head?

Cheers.

Vernon.
hi there you dont need the heater hoses to make the motor run.if the motor has 2 pipes from the manifold you can simply join them,same as the 2 hoses from the motor,its easy to reroute them to bypass the heater/manifold etc.anyway as for the leak,if its an alloy head simply avoid the manifold as you dont need the hoses going there.im running an alloy head with a redline manifold and they dont even have lines for water so you dont need to hook em up.
 
Thanks Sonny.

I plan to go gas in the future, so the manifold heater won't be needed and can be bypassed (as you've mentioned), but I'm still interested in figuring out what is causing the leak.

Could the manifold be corroded?
Could it have cracked?
Or could the manifold just need re-tightening (i.e. can water leak from the interface between the manifold and the head)?

Thanks for all the info so far.

Cheers.

Vernon.
 
hey
a pic whould be helpfull.
but from to tell the difference does it have a 2bbl or a 1bbl idf 1 most likely iron head.
to confirm on no2 inlet port you will have 3 bolts 1 up top 2 at bottom for iron head and 2 for alloy.
if you block the glow into and out of manifold and it stops leaking id say the waterpassage is corred and your head ant far behind.
just run the pipe from the ater pump to the heater and then 1 back to the fitting at the front left side of the head it wont make any difference.
if its an alloy head.
if a iron head then you will have to chage manifold's
drift
 
Thanks Drift,
I'll check out the manifold bolts tonight, although I'm pretty sure now that it is an alloy head.

Cheers.

Vernon.
 
I checked it out and it only has 2 bolts on the 2nd runner ... so it must be an alloy.
 
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