[VM0824]

I'm pretty sure my head gasket went. thats what was eating my coolant. oil is now chocolaty. bubbles in rad. and im assuming the excess breather white smoke is burning coolant in crankcase.

soo i get to undo my freshly installed turbo kit and change the head gasket. i need some suggestions on a head gasket for my application. that'll withhold the abuse im gonna put on it. i dont mind thicker gaskets either as lower compression isnt too bad being ive got the turbo for power.

also any nice walkthroughs for this kind of job? i dont have the means to currently run a leakdown test but should i just to be sure?

[ryanw]

I cant really be of any help here, but this would be a good time to through some head studs or some nice a r.p head bolts on

[VM0824]

what are the benefits besides being stronger? how often to head bolts actually break anyway?

[termi_GT]

With a turbo I would go with studs over bolts. The studs bolt down and trq more evenly and are stronger.


As far as H/G I would suggest Fel-pro lockwires.

Some will suggest some copper gaskets and I have had terrible luck with those leaking water.

[termi_GT]

[QUOTE=VM0824;4187626]I'm pretty sure my head gasket went. thats what was eating my coolant. oil is now chocolaty. bubbles in rad. and im assuming the excess breather white smoke is burning coolant in crankcase.[QUOTE]


No doubt with all these issues it is a busted h/g. I would say you lifted a head and it was all down hill from there.

[ryanw]

Now ive read.... ive seen how different people said to check things to figure out what was causing you loss of coolant..... this a question..... so i take it that if you see bubbles in your radiator and you have coolant in the oil that its a good sign that the head gasket is done for...... and if you dont see bubbles in the radiator but you still have coolant in the oil, that would be a good sign that either the intake gasket or the egr gasket has failed ? Is this a fair statement

[VM0824]

makes sense to me. there wouldnt be enough pressure in the intake gasket area to push air into the coolant lines, only in the compression chamber would air (it actually looked like exhaust lmao) coming out. if i had an exhaust sniffer id like to put it in the radiator and see if it really was exhaust, but yea smoke in the rad lol.

it really started out months ago and has slowly gotten worse and worse and only recently did i actually start to see chocolate milk. checked it just days ago and it was fine. im curious to find out where it was leaking.

so for the gaskets what bore am i looking for? i figured 4" but apparently thats not an option? compressed thickness? etc? im looking at summit

Originally Posted by termi_GT No doubt with all these issues it is a busted h/g. I would say you lifted a head and it was all down hill from there.

when you say lifted a head do you mean literally? is that what arp bolts would prevent? cuz i still dont see the point of new bolts/studs. but i was looking here at them

[428CJ]

That sucks, sounds like you just got it together and running good.

[VM0824]

Originally Posted by 428CJ That sucks, sounds like you just got it together and running good.

yep lol. and man it was running good. i could break the tires loose in 3rd gear just by hittin the pedal alittle harder. cuz with this turbo its all or nothing, as soon as it spools, it spools all the way and rips the tires right from the road. but hopefully i can get past this without too much of a headache

[fogged306]

Yea the boost literally is enough to stretch the head bolts and lift the head from the deck. Studs have more clamping force than a bolt and ARP makes very good studs. I won't run another motor ever again without good head and main studs. You get what you pay for with bolts and studs.

[95Slobra]

well im leaking coolan somewhere..i pop the cap off my rad and started car..no bubbles at all. so this means a intake gasket?

[VM0824]

you have to wait until the cars warm enough for teh thermostat to be open. get it up to temperature and squeeze the upper rad hose to feel for flow or see flow. i had to have a friend give it alittle gas to get the thermo to open, then i saw lots of flow and many small bubbles along with some smoke.

[VM0824]

Originally Posted by fogged306 Yea the boost literally is enough to stretch the head bolts and lift the head from the deck. Studs have more clamping force than a bolt and ARP makes very good studs. I won't run another motor ever again without good head and main studs. You get what you pay for with bolts and studs.

really thats an impressive amount of force. ok well then thats a good reason to upgrade. so definitely studs over bolts i guess? steel vs chromoly? ive got a couple bolts/studs selected. check me out
ARP bolts chromoly - $46
ARP bolts stainless - $85

ARP Studs chromoly- $110

[ryanw]

Originally Posted by VM0824 you have to wait until the cars warm enough for teh thermostat to be open. get it up to temperature and squeeze the upper rad hose to feel for flow or see flow. i had to have a friend give it alittle gas to get the thermo to open, then i saw lots of flow and many small bubbles along with some smoke.

Im wondering if your car being turbo charged made the bubbles easier to see

[fogged306]

Originally Posted by VM0824 really thats an impressive amount of force. ok well then thats a good reason to upgrade. so definitely studs over bolts i guess? steel vs chromoly? ive got a couple bolts/studs selected. check me out ARP bolts chromoly - $46 ARP bolts stainless - $85 ARP Studs chromoly- $110

Yea studs over bolts for sure.

You could use either stud for your application. Chromoly is stronger, but probably overkill for what you have currently.

[fogged306]

Originally Posted by ryanw Im wondering if your car being turbo charged made the bubbles easier to see

Probably not, because when you're looking at the bubbles you're at idle and not making any boost.

[VM0824]

Originally Posted by ryanw Im wondering if your car being turbo charged made the bubbles easier to see

why do you think? Its not spooling at the rpm's I was checking at.

Originally Posted by fogged306 Yea studs over bolts for sure. You could use either stud for your application. Chromoly is stronger, but probably overkill for what you have currently.

Alright chromoly studs it is

[ryanw]

Originally Posted by fogged306 Probably not, because when you're looking at the bubbles you're at idle and not making any boost.

Originally Posted by VM0824 why do you think? Its not spooling at the rpm's I was checking at.

Aw i see, i dont really know any thing about turbos, does the turbo spin at all at idle ?

[fogged306]

Originally Posted by VM0824 Alright chromoly studs it is

lol, can't say I disagree with this mentality.

[VM0824]

Originally Posted by ryanw Aw i see, i dont really know any thing about turbos, does the turbo spin at all at idle ?

yea it does but im still in vacuum at idle. bout 18-20 inhg. which is about the same as n/a. it pretty much acts like n/a until it spins fast enough to make pressure in which case it jumps to 10psi. it'll spin with the intake air coming in at any rpm but wont really "spool" boost until the exhaust pressures build up enough under load.