Time for head gaskets?

supercatxr7

Registered User
Last year my coolant level would go down little by little and I would fill it up. No idea where it was going. Also some bubbles in the coolant tank when the car was turned off.

Now, it is blowing coolant out of the coolant tank under wot. Time for head gaskets?
 
gaskets

Randy N Connie said:
What type gasket do you plan to use.

Randy

I had the MLS 4.2L F150 gaskets on it since around 2002, maybe around 5000 miles on them with many trips to the dragstrip. I think I will put in another set, but am concerned about not having the block surface refinished as I don't want to pull the whole motor apart. I may just take up the heads and have the surface refinished on them.
 
What had you done before the last time to the deck or heads? What type of bolts did you use to hold them down?
 
supercatxr7 said:
I had the MLS 4.2L F150 gaskets on it since around 2002, maybe around 5000 miles on them with many trips to the dragstrip. I think I will put in another set, but am concerned about not having the block surface refinished as I don't want to pull the whole motor apart. I may just take up the heads and have the surface refinished on them.

Mark,

I'm using the same gaskets, with 2 coats of Permatex copper coat spray on the block side (nearly dry before installing), and about 95 ft lbs of torque on the 7/16" APR studs using APR lube.

David
 
.....

Mike8675309 said:
What had you done before the last time to the deck or heads? What type of bolts did you use to hold them down?

It was a total rebuild with the block and head surfaces refinished. ARP studs of course.
 
.....

David Neibert said:
Mark,

I'm using the same gaskets, with 2 coats of Permatex copper coat spray on the block side (nearly dry before installing), and about 95 ft lbs of torque on the 7/16" APR studs using APR lube.

David

Any reason for not coating the head side of the gasket with Permatex copper coat spray? Also were your gaskets the Perma torque MLS or the MLS gasket directly from Ford?
 
supercatxr7 said:
Any reason for not coating the head side of the gasket with Permatex copper coat spray? Also were your gaskets the Perma torque MLS or the MLS gasket directly from Ford?

I don't know how the Ford gasket are but I just installed a set of the Felpro PermaTorque MLS with ARP studs on my car but don't have it running yet, these gasket come with a sticky black coating on both side of them. I did not surface the block but did have the heads done. I should have some input on these by the weekend if I get my new convertor and transmission in the car.

Charles
 
Mark,

I used the Ford 4.2 gaskets. I didn't use sealer on the head side because they were freshly decked, but my block isn't nearly as smooth and has visible miling serations, so I used the sealer on that side just for filling in some of the surface imperfections.

If installing another set I would use the Permatorque MLS gaskets that already come with a coating and install them dry.

David
 
The SC application Permatorque gaskets (the ones you get if you say you have a 89-95 3.8) are not MLS. They are composite. There isn't a MLS gasket application for our block. We have to pull the application off of other engines, like the 4.2.

The Felpro Permatorque MLS gaskets now come with a surface coating to deal with surface machining marks and are to be installed dry.

If you juget the the composite Permatorque gaskets, the copper gasket spray is a good idea to assist with sealing.

That the OP had the composite gaskets with ARP bolts has me curious to see the gaskets after he pulls the heads. The MLS gaskets are certaily better, but I would have expected the composite gaskets with ARP fasteners to lasted a bit longer.
 
That the OP had the composite gaskets with ARP bolts has me curious to see the gaskets after he pulls the heads. The MLS gaskets are certaily better, but I would have expected the composite gaskets with ARP fasteners to lasted a bit longer.

OP ??

If your talking about Mark, he had the 4.2 F-150 MLS gaskets.

David
 
I used MLS gaskets for a 01 Mustang 3.8. I just got the heads resurfaced (They did a crappy job you could see mill marks from 3 blocks away) and I used 2-3 coats of copper spray on the block, both sides of the gastets and the heads. 10,000-15,000 miles and 25+ 1/4 mile passes and they are still holding. Oh yea also used ARP studs with there lube and TQ them to 100-105 lbs.
 
Got it tore down..

I finally got it all tore down today and here is what I found. On cylinder #2 on the head side you can see a darkened area at the top and bottom, looks like some combustion gases were making their way out at that point. Everything else looked fine.

I also had an intermitent miss that occurred at partial throttle on occassion. I think I also figured that out when I pulled the plugs and found cylinder #3 plug is missing its iridium tip.

Here's some pics:

DSC08241.jpg


DSC08243.jpg
 
heads resurfaced

I had the heads resurfaced today. They started by taking 4 thousandths off one head and then went to do the other one and it was somewhat warped on cylinder #2 and had to take it down 9 thousandths and redo the other head the same. Machinist looked at the combustion chambers and said I have too much overlap by the looks of them.
 
Cam overlap? I was wondering about warpage of the head after the first part of the post.

Did you happen to notice how the nuts felt when pulling the heads off. Did any feel oddly not as tight?
 
Mike8675309 said:
Cam overlap? I was wondering about warpage of the head after the first part of the post.

Did you happen to notice how the nuts felt when pulling the heads off. Did any feel oddly not as tight?

They all were tight, nothing was loose. All felt the same.
 
uh oh...

David Neibert said:
Mark,

I'm using the same gaskets, with 2 coats of Permatex copper coat spray on the block side (nearly dry before installing), and about 95 ft lbs of torque on the 7/16" APR studs using APR lube.

David

David,

I just put mine back together with rebuilt heads, regular felpro HG's and felpro head bolts.
The instructions called for 4-torque-steps from 37ft lbs to 59ft lbs.
Is 59ft lbs not tight enough?
I know when I took the heads off the motor, they were WAY TOO tight, more than 100, I am sure...
If I didn't put enough torque on the bolts,
SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING PLEASE!

paul:eek:

P.S. Its running BEAUTIFULLY at the moment, SO QUIET and SMOOTH I can only hear the pullies spinning at idle!
 
:eek: :eek: :eek:

This post is oddly extremely familiar. My 89 is doing exactly the same thing. The car still runs pretty good but it has been mysteriously loosing coolant and has the bubbling effect that was spoken of. At first I thought the radiator cap was bad as it was extremely rusted and the rubber seal looked horrible. I bought a new cap and it stopped it for about 3 weeks. I noticed today it is steaming again. Also I noticed when I stopped to put air in my tire that there was steam coming ever so slightly from my exhaust and I thought to myself, ~~~~~, my head gaskets are about to go. So I come home and get on the site to get some technical advise andfind this post. Can anyone reccommend someone in the eastern North Carolina area to have this work done. Even if its a member here that wants to make some extra money on the weekend. I know a lot about working on cars but Ive never had a lot of luck with head gaskets and these cars certainly arent a picnic. If anyone can reccommend someone with say an hour of Four Oaks, NC I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks for any input in advance.
 
Back
Top