heads are off, gaskets are FINE!

V6Sprout

Registered User
Well I have the heads off now and to my surprise BOTH gaskets are FINE! :( Not sure hwat happened here, maybe heads were floating? I dunno why I would overheat like this, seems weird. Anyways I wanted the 99+gaskets anyways so no biggy but I did have the felpros in there, upon closer examination they were indeed blue and grey felpros! :)

I checked the heads and block for squareness and they seem fine, the heads were decked and the block was checked proir to assembly anyways.

Anyone have any other ideas as to what may have happened here?:confused:
 
Are there any signs of where the coolant leaked?
It could be from the intake manifold gaskets. Also could be a warped head. Stand you cat pipe up against a wall, with the cats toward the ground. Then see which side leaks coolant. This will help tell what side blew.



Also, the head surface and block has to have a certain finish for the '99 gaskets to work.
 
no coolant leaked so that was good. I have used the 99+ gaskets before without any special surface on he heads orblock so I am not sure what you mean by that, can you explain that further?
 
Jamie, some of our techs were told this as well when we ran into a few of the 96-up style Windstar (split port intake) motors having head gasket problems. Apparently the surface finish and hardness of the alloy being used on the heads for the SPI motors is different than the earlier 3.8s, and the guys at Ford tech hotline did not recommend using the later gaskets and bolts with the earlier heads. I think you;re using ARP hardware so that's not a concern, but maybe you should stick with the proper gaskets for the heads you're using. Of course I might just be blowing smoke out my ass on this one, what experiences have the guys on the V6 groups had, if any, with the later gaskets ?

cheers
Ed N.
 
well we have used the 99+ gaskets on my friends car (MIlan) and he has run 13's with it and had no problems so far, his new engien is a 3.8 stroked to a 4.2 with the split port heads and intakes and he is again using the 99+gaskets. Mind you he does have the 99+heads but a pre 96 block.
 
There is a member in our club (who will remain nameless) who tried different gaskets in his SC motor with SC heads. The motor had major problems and had to be rebuilt. He later told me it was because he did not use SC head gaskets. I don't know exactly which gaskets he was using, but this was back in 1998. The gaskets he was using did not have the coolant holes in the right place, or the coolant holes were not the right size - something like that. I would suggest you compare your gaskets to a SC gasket before using them again.

BTW, Felpro gaskets use a pre-flattened copper wire inside the firing ring. These gaskets do not need to be retorqued like regular gaskets do. The Felpro gaskets for the SC are designed to handle boost. I would make sure the 99+ gaskets you are using are suitable for the application.
 
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Jamie,

Your car overheating does not necessarily mean HGs. My car overheated last week, just a combination of things. I would agree with Wayne on the gaskets, stick with the Fel-Pro SC version. That is what I have in my motor, and she holds 15psi.
 
I also have the felpro gaskets and like Bill I also have the magnaport 2 supercharger wich pins 15 psi and things are fine.
 
I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon here.

15+ psi plus 100 shot nitrous oxide. I would stick with the SC head gaskets.
 
Wayne,

Off topic, I know, but...

Are you making any headway with that 'project' of yours?

I was wondering when I might get to see you run down the quarter mile.

Best regards,

Sean
 
Sean,

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. 8)

I still have a long way to go. I'm hoping to have it running in another month or two. It will be running, but it's unlikely the tranny, rear end, and chassis will hold up to the abuse the engine will dish out. LOL

"If you aren't breaking parts, you ain't making enough horspower". LOL
 
Jamie, is your rad cap lower than the heads ? If so, perhaps there are air pockets in the heads that need to be purged. The SC's are famous for that.
 
Interesting Fred. I think I have been suffering with that problem since day 1 with the new motor. Any suggestions? I had her overheat on me last week, almost to the "H", then I shut her down and ran her without the A/C without a problem. It also seems that the coolant in the overflow never fluctuates in level, whether it is cold or warm, it is always at the "full hot". This leads me to believe no coolant is actually overflowed to there anymore, and no coolant is sucked back in the rad either.

Any idea? Sorry to go off topic from your issue Jamie.
 
Bill,

I'm starting to wonder if those nifty rad caps we bought are all they're cracked up to be. Your symptoms sound to me like for some reason the coolant is being allowed to flow from the rad to the overflow bottle, but not back again. The other reason this may happen would be due to a small leak somewhere in the system. That would permit air to enter the system during cool down, as opposed to sucking coolant back into the rad.

Mine seems to be fine. I haven't had any problems since doing the HG's and replacing the rad cap. I've still got the cap that I removed from my car. Do you want to put it on your car for a while to see if we can't rule out your rad cap?

Cheers,

Sean
 
Those rad caps from crappy tire are garbage. Been there - done that. Get an OEM ford cap. Remove the rad cap and the vent bolt on top of the thermostat housing. Use a small funnel to fill it from the bolt hole. Reinstall bolt and rad cap. Make sure the hose running from rad to overflow tank is not plugged. Pull it off and blow in the end to make sure. That will solve all of your air pocket problems, unless the head gasket is smoked that is.... 8)
 
I have a Ford OEM rad cap and have never ever had any problems with air locks or overflows not sucking back when cool. I have had the cooling system apart for various things at least 4-5 times in the past year and have never had this problem. I had one weird overflow problem and as soon as I bought a new rad cap from Ford it went away.

Waynes idea of filling from the whatever that tube is called on the thermostat housing is probably a real good idea.
 
I'll second that .... when we were putting the 180 stat in my car before the Carlisle trip here at the shop, the tech who was helping out (OK, he actually did most of it), used that filler tube to put the coolant in, and we had no trouble with air pockets. Same goes when I had to put in a new rad about 2 years ago, with a new Ford cap.


cheers
Ed N.
 
I've never filled from that filler tube, I always make sure though that I burb the lower rad hose and am certain that the filltube is right up to the top with coolant before I put the bolt back in.

It's still a good idea to fill from there and I will next time I have to do anything.
 
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