Is it necessary to drain the coolant when doing headstuds on a motor still in the vehicle?

 

did you do them 1 at a time, or did you pull the heads?

if you dont break the headgasket seal, I don't see any reason to do a coolant change.

they were saying on here that we got a good seal from factory, so i doubt it would flex enough to break that seal.

 

Neal, no need to drain the coolant. Do the studs one at a time and you won't allow the head to lift any to ruin the factory seal. Are you using H-11's or ARP's???

*****, the reason we have a good seal is b/c we have been running these head gaskets for 13-15 years and around 150k-300k miles. all those heat cycles let the gasket seat really really good. thats why you usually don't want to use new gaskets if your just doing studs. of course if the head comes off you have to use a new gasket and take it through some heat cycles to seat it.

 

I pretty much knew the answer to this question before I asked it. But There is a reason I asked.
I have already don one head, and yes I am doing them one at a time. Full torque and looosen 3 times them back over then all for a 4th torque as per manufacturers instructions.

No William I did not pull the head off in the truck. I believe I would rather pull the motor if that were the fact.

The reason I ask such a stupid question is because I am seeing something that makes me wonder. Some of the head bolts that I pull are damp. Nothing dripping mind you. Just a tad damp. And when I taste it it is sweet just like antifreeze. Hmmm?

I have spoken to several people on the phone about this and I have been told that I was not the only one who noticed this. Theirs was damp too and have been running on the new studs for about a year with no problems.

Things that make you go Hmmmm?

 

thanks for the extra info travis. =)


I didn't think you'd remove em neal, but Thought i'd ask anyways. You are really unpredictable you know. =)

 

I found the same thing when studding my first motor last year. I did not pull the heads and did them one at a time. Some of the bolts/threads were damp. And when they loosened I could here a "suction" sound like fluid was being sucked into a dry hole or something. I installed the studs and never had a problem but made me sure wonder.

I'm wondering if there's some of the stud holes that pass thru the water jackets?

 

That was my thought too but if it did then the coolant should go into the hole and not allow the new stud to go in there.
I looked real close at them last night and I don't see where the coolant could flow where the studs are.
On some I also noticed when I dropped the stud in there when tightening I would hear that same sucking/squirting sound you hear when I would screw them in by hand. I would wiggle them loose and tight both ways to be sure the stud went in as far as possible when I heard that.

None of the studs are at different heights which indicates to me that all off them are bottomed out and at the same depts with one another. So I should be good. Like I said I am not the only one with this question in my mind but nobody seems to have any issues with it.

Neal

 

Oh yeah, Ryan. The part about loosening between torques is what was dictated in the instructions that cam in the box. It also said to do them all at 125 ft.lbs. each.

Torque
loosen
torque
loosen
torque
retorque all of them without loosening.

Basically 4 torques with 2 loosening.
I think the last torque I may go to 130 just for *****s and giggles, in the circular pattern of course.

I am doing all of this in the specified circular sequence.

 

Good to know. I can't remember for sure now if I did the 1st motor that way or not. I know for a fact that I didn't do that with the motor in my current truck. I had to pull the heads on it though. I've got close to 3000 miles on the new gaskets, headstuds, and setup. So far no trouble. Most of those miles are pulling my big horse trailer. Took it easy for the first 1000 miles, since then I've just been driving it. I've hit 30+ psi quite a bit with no headgasket issues yet. And that's with no programming! Just injectors and big oil on stock pcm.

 

My biggest reason for doing this is because I saw 40 psi on the last dyno run. Made me nervous.

 

We found the same thing on my brother's old 24v when we studded it. i just looked at my spare heads and i don't see anything going through the coolant ports... don't know what thats all about, but you'll be just fine.

 

Thanks Travis. I appreciate you taking the time to look for me. I didn't see either when I was looking at mine.
Just kinda strange isn't it, huh?