Head Gasket Problems!
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Junior User
Joined: Apr 2014
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From: New Jersey
Head Gasket Problems!
Ok so I have a 1995 F150 4x4 4.9 5spd. A few months back I started replacing the head gasket on it and I finished up the job about a week ago. I installed a new FelPro head gasket, new cylinder head, and replaced a ton of other gaskets during the project.
Well unfortunately now that it's all back together my truck is still blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. I let it run for a good amount of time since the fix and it's not clearing up. I torqued everything to spec and took my time on the entire job.
I can't possibly understand what else it could be other than the chambers inside the block potentially having a crack between them? So far the oil still looks clean to me, no sign of mixing. When I shut off the truck today after running it a bunch of coolant from the radiator rushed into the coolant overflow tank. Let me know if I'm leaving out any information. I'm really at a loss at this point looking for any help, thanks in advanced!
Well unfortunately now that it's all back together my truck is still blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. I let it run for a good amount of time since the fix and it's not clearing up. I torqued everything to spec and took my time on the entire job.
I can't possibly understand what else it could be other than the chambers inside the block potentially having a crack between them? So far the oil still looks clean to me, no sign of mixing. When I shut off the truck today after running it a bunch of coolant from the radiator rushed into the coolant overflow tank. Let me know if I'm leaving out any information. I'm really at a loss at this point looking for any help, thanks in advanced!
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Junior User
Joined: Apr 2014
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From: New Jersey
Hard to say what the smell is, but I wouldn't say it smells sweet and I haven't done a compression test. I guess that would be my next option, but the smoke isn't blue so I figured it probably isn't oil.
Methanoholic
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 6,442
Likes: 8
From: Maine (NorCal Native)
Usually coolant smells sweet and white out the pipe ...
Sounds like you need to do a leak down test on the cooling system.
I don't know the i6 well enough to know if or where they crack ...
-Enjoy
fh : )_~
Sounds like you need to do a leak down test on the cooling system.
I don't know the i6 well enough to know if or where they crack ...
-Enjoy
fh : )_~
Laughing Gas
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 902
Likes: 119
Did you check the head for straightness before you put it back on? The long heads on inline engines are more likely to warp if severely overheated (because an amount of bend that wouldn't be a problem over the length of a 4cyl head is a problem when it's 150% as long)
Exhaust valve seats and other exhaust port areas tend to crack "most frequently" by 300 standards, so practically never. You need to overheat the crap out of it multiple times or have really bad luck to make that happen though. This is an engine that you can accidentally run out of coolant god knows how many times as long as you stop running it before it makes funny noises. I don't recall anyone on FSP with a cracked head. Maybe one or two buried in threads somewhere but I can't recall a single specific instance. There's talk of the AIR injection head being weaker in this regard because the ports cause stress risers that cause problems when overheated but to my knowledge there's no examples of this happening in a lab, on a dyno or in the real world.
Exhaust valve seats and other exhaust port areas tend to crack "most frequently" by 300 standards, so practically never. You need to overheat the crap out of it multiple times or have really bad luck to make that happen though. This is an engine that you can accidentally run out of coolant god knows how many times as long as you stop running it before it makes funny noises. I don't recall anyone on FSP with a cracked head. Maybe one or two buried in threads somewhere but I can't recall a single specific instance. There's talk of the AIR injection head being weaker in this regard because the ports cause stress risers that cause problems when overheated but to my knowledge there's no examples of this happening in a lab, on a dyno or in the real world.
Lead Driver
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 5,769
Likes: 441
Did you look at the cylinder walls while you had it torn down?
Run the tests, compression and leak down. You may have to bar the engine a few times to make sure the rings aren't sealing above a cracked wall, but either way a cracked cylinder will likely show up in either test.
Run the tests, compression and leak down. You may have to bar the engine a few times to make sure the rings aren't sealing above a cracked wall, but either way a cracked cylinder will likely show up in either test.
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Junior User
Joined: Apr 2014
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From: New Jersey
Did you check the head for straightness before you put it back on? The long heads on inline engines are more likely to warp if severely overheated (because an amount of bend that wouldn't be a problem over the length of a 4cyl head is a problem when it's 150% as long)
Exhaust valve seats and other exhaust port areas tend to crack "most frequently" by 300 standards, so practically never. You need to overheat the crap out of it multiple times or have really bad luck to make that happen though. This is an engine that you can accidentally run out of coolant god knows how many times as long as you stop running it before it makes funny noises. I don't recall anyone on FSP with a cracked head. Maybe one or two buried in threads somewhere but I can't recall a single specific instance. There's talk of the AIR injection head being weaker in this regard because the ports cause stress risers that cause problems when overheated but to my knowledge there's no examples of this happening in a lab, on a dyno or in the real world.
Exhaust valve seats and other exhaust port areas tend to crack "most frequently" by 300 standards, so practically never. You need to overheat the crap out of it multiple times or have really bad luck to make that happen though. This is an engine that you can accidentally run out of coolant god knows how many times as long as you stop running it before it makes funny noises. I don't recall anyone on FSP with a cracked head. Maybe one or two buried in threads somewhere but I can't recall a single specific instance. There's talk of the AIR injection head being weaker in this regard because the ports cause stress risers that cause problems when overheated but to my knowledge there's no examples of this happening in a lab, on a dyno or in the real world.
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Feb 2016
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So it's a reman head and no you didn't check it?
It's probably straight but I'd bet that the odds of any one head being passed along even if it's borderline out of spec or just missing the check altogether (when you reman enough heads things happen, nobody has perfect QC) are probably about the same as cracking the head in the first place (really, really low but still possible).
It's probably straight but I'd bet that the odds of any one head being passed along even if it's borderline out of spec or just missing the check altogether (when you reman enough heads things happen, nobody has perfect QC) are probably about the same as cracking the head in the first place (really, really low but still possible).
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Thread Starter
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Junior User
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 80
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From: New Jersey
So it's a reman head and no you didn't check it?
It's probably straight but I'd bet that the odds of any one head being passed along even if it's borderline out of spec or just missing the check altogether (when you reman enough heads things happen, nobody has perfect QC) are probably about the same as cracking the head in the first place (really, really low but still possible).
It's probably straight but I'd bet that the odds of any one head being passed along even if it's borderline out of spec or just missing the check altogether (when you reman enough heads things happen, nobody has perfect QC) are probably about the same as cracking the head in the first place (really, really low but still possible).
Methanoholic
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 6,442
Likes: 8
From: Maine (NorCal Native)
Exhaust valve seats and other exhaust port areas tend to crack "most frequently" by 300 standards, so practically never. You need to overheat the crap out of it multiple times or have really bad luck to make that happen though. This is an engine that you can accidentally run out of coolant god knows how many times as long as you stop running it before it makes funny noises. I don't recall anyone on FSP with a cracked head. Maybe one or two buried in threads somewhere but I can't recall a single specific instance. There's talk of the AIR injection head being weaker in this regard because the ports cause stress risers that cause problems when overheated but to my knowledge there's no examples of this happening in a lab, on a dyno or in the real world.
I always thought they were kinda bullet proof ...
-Enjoy
fh : )_~
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