Blown Head Gasket?

[TEM]

Second drive today (around the block) and was hearing some noise from the valve train.  Also noticed some pinging when starting off in first gear.  And then finally noticed white smoke from the exhaust.

Sounds to me like a head gasket but I'm open to other ideas/opinions.

If it is a head gasket who are the US suppliers?  I already reached out to DBE, hope they have one in stock.

 

 

 

 

 

[anduril3019]

Bean is always a good source if they have one.

 

Fel-Pro for a 1970-72 1.6 L Pinto is a good solution that's easy to find at a lot of other suppliers. (I'm assuming you aren't running a large bore engine) This will fit your 1500, same head gasket used for most of the various iterations of this engine. 

 

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=29958

 

 

[SENC]

Reach out to Tony Ingram (lotus7.com).  When I was rebuilding mine he had a specific recommendation based on his experience building many of these engines.

[TEM]

Thanks.  I'll reach out to both.  This car really doesn't want to see the road again!

 

So I take it you all think it's a head gasket as well?

[IamScotticus]

Steam in the exhaust is an indicator of head gasket failure.  

Check oil for coolant.

Check coolant for oil.

[Croc]

 

It may not be steam but rather coolant being burned as that is white smoke in the exhaust. 

 

[Vovchandr]

As a notorious previous head gasket troubleshooter of this community I'll share what I've learned

 

Head gasket can fail in a few ways. Here are common ones

 

1) Into combustion chamber - coolant goes out exhaust or exhaust goes into coolant

2) Between combustion chambers - compression issue

3) Into oil - gets mixed into milk shake like substance

4) To outside - self explanatory can be coolant or oil

5) Ghost fail - no obvious signs but you know something isn't right and you've ran out of options

 

First things first time to do some free testing. Going down this path will lead you to finding other issues you didn't know you've had and fixing them along the way.

 

At your local auto part store (advance or autozone) and rent (you pay full price deposit down and get it back after) a compression tester and a coolant system leak down tester. Leakdown test would be nice too but requires a compressor and I don't believe they rent this.

 

Those two things will establish a baseline of health and a starting point to further troubleshooting.

 

If you're burning coolant then likely you have exhaust gases in the cooling system as well and there is a test for that but it's not cheap for a one time use thing ($40 or so) so if you have a friend one with one I'd ask to borrow it.

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Block-Tester-BT-500-Combustion-Leak/dp/B06VVBSFTF

 

 

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/powerbuilt-tools-loaner-tool-cooling-system-pressure-kit-22-piece-940427/9150049-P

 

 

https://www.autozone.com/loan-a-tools/loaner-compression-tester-gauge

 

[Vovchandr]

As a good piece of mind upgrade and solution that doesn't get utilized enough I recommend getting a see through coolant system filter.

 

The whole engine operation being a "black box" other than seeing the oil bothers me as somebody who likes to troubleshoot and has a lot of breakdowns so the more information you can get from your engine the better.

You get to see nothing about cooling system due to the pressures and temperatures other than the overflow tank which is not ideal

 

Getting this gives you a clear vision on your system and when your thermostat turns on/off, whether your water pump is performing well, whether you have dirt in your system and whether or not air is being introduced or is completely removed from it.

 

I strongly recommend getting this installed. About $100 for the part

 

I typically bought it on eBay (i bought the wrong size at first and then changed color too)

 

https://shop.championcooling.com/Shop/Coolant-Filter

 

 

 

 

[SENC]

Agree with others, I'd be investigating for other symptoms that might help narrow things down.

 

Before pulling things apart, I'd also check and adjust valve clearances and double check head bolt torque.  Given the water flow/overheating issues you were having for a bit and (if I'm remembering correctly) a history of the car not being used much since any PO work on it years ago, I'd both want to make sure something easy wasn't missed and also note current state before removing the head.

[IamScotticus]

2 hours ago, Vovchandr said:

As a good piece of mind upgrade and solution that doesn't get utilized enough I recommend getting a see through coolant system filter.

 

The whole engine operation being a "black box" other than seeing the oil bothers me as somebody who likes to troubleshoot and has a lot of breakdowns so the more information you can get from your engine the better.

You get to see nothing about cooling system due to the pressures and temperatures other than the overflow tank which is not ideal

 

Getting this gives you a clear vision on your system and when your thermostat turns on/off, whether your water pump is performing well, whether you have dirt in your system and whether or not air is being introduced or is completely removed from it.

 

I strongly recommend getting this installed. About $100 for the part

 

I typically bought it on eBay (i bought the wrong size at first and then changed color too)

 

https://shop.championcooling.com/Shop/Coolant-Filter

 

 

 

 

This is one of the most amazing things I've seen anyone post here.  It should also have an additional benefit of slowing the coolant flow speed.

[anduril3019]

When troubleshooting, don't forget to use the tools you've got at hand, the ones attached to your body. You're nose is one of the best! I'm not advocating for you to inhale exhaust fumes  ... but, burning oil, burning coolant, and "burning" water will all have very distinct smells.

[TEM]

Definitely a blown head gasket!

Oil has the tell-tail mayonnaise on the rockers and the dip stick.

Coolant had a small sheen to it but that could be due to the container that I used which is also used for oil drips.

#1 spark plug is wet with water/coolant.

Head is off and there is a clear sign the head gasket rusted through between the water passage and the #1 cylinder.

 

 

When changing head gaskets, I plan to do the following;

- Replace cam cover gasket

- Clean all water ports

- Set the valve clearances

- Perform compression test

Is there other recommended maintenance to be performed? such as replace head bolts, etc?

[anduril3019]

After removing that gasket, you'll want to carefully inspect the head surface where it failed and around other water passages that look corroded. Some rust/corrosion is to be expected and acceptable, depending on how it encroaches on the sealing surface. But try and determine if it's the head or the gasket (or both) that failed. Depending on how the new gasket matches and seals around the water passages, you may be ok. But the sealing surface around each cylinder needs to have zero corrosion. The spot where your blow out is looks a little suspect from that photo.

 

Not likely that you'll need head bolts unless you aren't able to bring them up to torque. But you should chase the holes in the block with a tap and clean them well. Completely tape off the top of the engine to keep debris out, and gently run the tap in each hole, just to remove dirt and rust, you shouldn't be removing any metal. You might be able to accomplish this with a wire tube brush instead of a tap, but in the end what you want is for the head bolts to easily go all the way in and out by hand. With each hole, thread a bolt all the way in and measure from the block surface to the underside of the bolt head, make sure this measurement, minus the gasket thickness, is less than the thickness of the head. This may be overkill since all these components were working together, but it's nice to know what you have. Heads can get swapped or milled too thin over time, resulting in head bolts being too long for a particular head and bottoming in the holes. Worst case is that they just barely bottom, causing the torque to look good, but not actually clamping the head sufficiently.  

[anduril3019]

Sorry for the can of worms, but how does the block deck surface look? I'm guessing it's corroded where the failure is.

[Vovchandr]

This was resolved in 20 hours? I was looking forward to new episodes of drama and maybe even season 2 after the grand finale.

 

Your clocks must run on a different schedule than mine.

[IamScotticus]

49 minutes ago, anduril3019 said:

Not likely that you'll need head bolts unless you aren't able to bring them up to torque. 

Golden advice here.

What happens / how do you know when the head bolts can't be torqued?  Assuming they're stretched out?  Do they snap?

[anduril3019]

Not impossible, but pretty tough to snap a head bolt unless they have significant rust or other damage. If they've been stretched beyond their elastic limit by over-torquing, let's say you're trying to reach 75 ft. lbs., at some number below that, like 60 ft. lbs., you will continue to turn the bolt, but the torque reading won't get any higher, it will stay at 60 (or even drop slightly) as the bolt continues to stretch instead of providing more clamping force.  

 

Any engineers out there, feel free to correct my terminology (and add depth) in terms of yield, deformation, stretch, elasticity, torque angles, etc.

 

With all that said, Ford pushrod head bolts are pretty stout for the job performed. Twincam head bolts are a little more delicate, as are the heads.

[TEM]

There is some pitting where the gasket blew through.

[TEM]

Also noticed a strike mark on the #1 and #2 cylinders.  the #1 spark plug is also shinny in one spot.  It appears the piston is hitting the spark plug.  I'm using NGKBP6ES plugs which I understood to be correct.  Are these not the correct plugs?

 

[Vovchandr]

I was under impression you always get new head bolts? Is that just out of safety  and caution?