not sure, maybe a blown headgasket - Moparts Forums

Register Log In Moparts Forums Moparts Question and Answer not sure, maybe a blown headgasket

Print Thread

Page 2 of 4

1

2

3

4

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177194 12/29/08 12:04 AM 12/29/08 12:04 AM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	it's 14 MM & most if not all are that size & a few have 18MM adapters(which you wont need). I would suggest you get a fairly good one at your parts house that will continue to give accurate readings years to come. Compression testing is somewhat basic & people have gotten away from them somewhat but they have saved me lots of times when my mind wanted to get away from the K.I.S.S. principle. live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: RapidRobert] #177195 12/29/08 12:24 AM 12/29/08 12:24 AM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: it's 14 MM & most if not all are that size & a few have 18MM adapters(which you wont need). I would suggest you get a fairly good one at your parts house that will continue to give accurate readings years to come. Compression testing is somewhat basic & people have gotten away from them somewhat but they have saved me lots of times when my mind wanted to get away from the K.I.S.S. principle. Thanks Robert. I'll post the findings tomorrow evening with, hopefully, a consistant reading cylinder to cylinder. If there is a substantial difference though and if the concensus is that it is the head gaskets, I will be leaning on you guys once again for more guidance. But then the question arises, what caused it to happen in the first place.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177196 12/29/08 12:38 AM 12/29/08 12:38 AM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	Quote: But then the question arises, what caused it to happen in the first place. A visual inspection will answer most questions. Do you have a torque wrench. We may check the torque neccesary to undo each head bolt if we R&R the heads. See ya tomorrow night live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: RapidRobert] #177197 12/29/08 07:38 PM 12/29/08 07:38 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	I bought a gauge, found a helper, disconnected everything you recommended, took the readings.... but forgot to wire the throttle back to the wide open position before checking the cylinders and didn't notice until my helper was gone. These numbers are probably inconclusive without doing that, but here they are anyway. Maybe you can glean some information from these. I'll do it again when I can get my helper back tomorrow. #1 140 #2 150 #3 135 #4 135 #5 140 #6 147 #7 145 #8 140 I'm going to go out and pull the valve covers off now and see if I can see anything that looks out of sync.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177198 12/29/08 07:47 PM 12/29/08 07:47 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 4,558 Montana F FuryUs master
FuryUs master F Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 4,558 Montana	Not having the throttle wired open will affect the readings some, but not so much so that the readings are not valid--your readings are all in the same ball park. Probably not a head gasket.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: FuryUs] #177199 12/29/08 08:08 PM 12/29/08 08:08 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest M MoparforLife Too Many Posts
MoparforLife Too Many Posts M Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest	Quote: Not having the throttle wired open will affect the readings some, but not so much so that the readings are not valid--your readings are all in the same ball park. Probably not a head gasket. I am on record as never thinking that is/was a head gasket. Really nothing really pointed to a head gasket problem. (Full coolant levels, nice oil and oil level normal.)

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: FuryUs] #177200 12/29/08 08:09 PM 12/29/08 08:09 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	thanks for that. Moparforlife commented that he wasn't convinced it was a head gasket issue also and I hung my hopes on his intuition. I pulled the valve covers off and everything looks in order. I don't have my helper so I can't crank it over As I was warming it up, it initially ran fine when I set the idle @ 1500 rpms. My helper looked at me like "so what's the problem?", then the symptons started to occur again. The oil pressure almost pinned itself and the temp gauge was heading toward the overheating mark. I had to bump the idle screw to 2000 rpms to keep it running. It would run, then stumble as if it has a miss. When I reduced the idle to 1200 (which is the idle recommeded by the cam shaft people)it was barely able to stay running. I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177201 12/29/08 08:35 PM 12/29/08 08:35 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest M MoparforLife Too Many Posts
MoparforLife Too Many Posts M Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 25,200 Upper Midwest	I am leaning toward the possibility of having number 3 & 5 spark plug wires crossed. It is very easy to do and they are next to each other both in the firing order and on the engine so at idle they will somewhat fire but cause a somewhat ratty idle (like you said you had) but under load it will have definite roughness along with possible backfiring. The miss firing would/could worsen as the plugs loaded up. Check your firing order, not just those 2. Also check for vacume leaks.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177202 12/29/08 08:52 PM 12/29/08 08:52 PM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	Quote: #1 140 #2 150 #3 135 #4 135 #5 140 #6 147 #7 145 #8 140 You have a healthy long block. I am out of ideas also except for as he said vac leak Last edited by RapidRobert; 12/29/08 08:53 PM. live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: RapidRobert] #177203 12/29/08 09:10 PM 12/29/08 09:10 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Healthy block = good news. So I'm back @ square one. could it be an electrical issue? I rewired the car with a complete set from year one. I replaced the dual point distributor with the Mopar breakerless ignition. Wires all all connected to the correct plugs. Where would you look for a vacuum leak? There are only two vacuum hoses I have on the motor. One from the base of the AVS to the distributor and one from the PCV valve to the carb. Maybe I'm missing one? Could I have run the motor too lean or rich and possibly burned a valve? Would that cause the over heating and high oil pressure? Would I able to tell anything from cranking the motor with the valve covers off? but the nagging question is why would it run fine and all of a sudden run poorly?

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177204 12/29/08 09:14 PM 12/29/08 09:14 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	would something as simple as fouled plugs be the culprit for the stumbling in the motor...but that doesn't explain the running hot does it.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177205 12/29/08 09:34 PM 12/29/08 09:34 PM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	Quote: Could I have run the motor too lean or rich and possibly burned a valve? Would that cause the over heating and high oil pressure? Would I able to tell anything from cranking the motor with the valve covers off? but the nagging question is why would it run fine and all of a sudden run poorly? Mike I feel bad that I prompted you to buy a tester & do all that for nothing. Too lean could have burned a valve but the compression test would have caught it & cranking it w the valve covers off your good reading eliminated that also & yeah to run fine then act up sure got me to thinking (erroneously) the worst, that it was a head gasket. You're vac lines are correct. You might take a $1.25 can of starting fluid & spray around all 4 sides of the intake while it's idling, spray around the carb base & check that the carb base bolts & the little screws in the carb body, that one isn't loose & what is your timing at idle now. live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177206 12/29/08 10:01 PM 12/29/08 10:01 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 4,558 Montana F FuryUs master
FuryUs master F Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 4,558 Montana	Quote: would something as simple as fouled plugs be the culprit for the stumbling in the motor...but that doesn't explain the running hot does it. Nope, and it doesn't explain the oil pressure shooting up, either... Wierd...

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: FuryUs] #177207 12/29/08 10:34 PM 12/29/08 10:34 PM
Joined: Dec 2007 Posts: 155 calif C cupcake member
cupcake member C Joined: Dec 2007 Posts: 155 calif	take a picture of the smoke cloud????

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: FuryUs] #177208 12/29/08 10:36 PM 12/29/08 10:36 PM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	All I can think of now is what vitc gtx said, a slight intake coolant leak and I wonder if the ECU is acting up & when it was right was it idling at 1500? live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177209 12/29/08 10:39 PM 12/29/08 10:39 PM
Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 11,543 chicagoland,usa B buildanother I Live Here
buildanother I Live Here B Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 11,543 chicagoland,usa	If you have the ralley dash, your fuel gauge could be the cause of your gauges reading too high, as the voltage limiter is part of the fuel gauge, and could cause the gauges to read too high or to low if it malfunctions. Happened to my 340 duster, all three gauges, (temp, oil press and fuel level started reading half of what they should have because of the fuel gauge. I imagine a non ralley cluster may do the same if plug-in style voltage limiter freaks out. Head gasket re-torqing is seldom done, so if the bolts were torqued to correct specs, it should not cause a problem.

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: cupcake] #177210 12/29/08 10:40 PM 12/29/08 10:40 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: take a picture of the smoke cloud???? go figure... When I ran it today to warm it up...no cloud...no anything out of the tailpipes

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: ashburnmike] #177211 12/29/08 10:45 PM 12/29/08 10:45 PM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,040 Lincoln Nebraska	how did it run live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: buildanother] #177212 12/29/08 10:47 PM 12/29/08 10:47 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Quote: If you have the ralley dash, your fuel gauge could be the cause of your gauges reading too high, as the voltage limiter is part of the fuel gauge, and could cause the gauges to read too high or to low if it malfunctions. Happened to my 340 duster, all three gauges, (temp, oil press and fuel level started reading half of what they should have because of the fuel gauge. I imagine a non ralley cluster may do the same if plug-in style voltage limiter freaks out. Head gasket re-torqing is seldom done, so if the bolts were torqued to correct specs, it should not cause a problem. Yes it is the Rallye dash. The gauges were steady and stable until this recent occurance. How can you test the gauges? Could that also cause the motor to stumble if the current was interrupted...creating the "miss'

Re: not sure, maybe a blown headgasket [Re: RapidRobert] #177213 12/29/08 10:51 PM 12/29/08 10:51 PM
Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia A ashburnmike OP mopar
ashburnmike OP mopar A Joined: Feb 2003 Posts: 455 Ashburn, Virginia	Mike I feel bad that I prompted you to buy a tester & do all that for nothing. No, thank you for introducing me to the tool and how to use it. It should be required equipment for anyone working on these old cars.

Page 2 of 4

1

2

3

4

Moderated by Al_Alguire, Hotwheelsjr, moparts, not_a_charger, RangerDan440, tboomer

Hop To

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.1