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View Full Version : Blown Head Gasket?

oldschoolPSD
03-26-2007, 03:29 PM
Well fellas, I think I might have blown it up. I want an expert opinion before I tear into it though, so heres the story...

I was driving down the highway trying to make time to a lady friends house so I wound it up to about 110mph. I let out of it for a split second when I came up on another car, then got back into it after I passed. Thats when it happened. I caught the boost gauge in the corner of my eye, it was maxed out (over 40psi:badidea: ) and a small splash of coolant came out from under the truck. As I slowed down the truck was running fine, except that it was making a hollow popping sound from the intake.

I limped it on down the road a few miles to my destination, the motor was running fine. It was building boost just like normal, and ran strong with no loss in power and no smoke. When I got there I checked the oil and the coolant. There was no coolant in the oil or visa versa, and the coolant level was not unusually low. But the popping intake sound was very loud, it sounded like a potato gun going off every time it fired.

On closer inspection, it looks like there is coolant leaking out of the head below the exhaust manifold on he passanger side. I had the truck towed to my shop, and I'm gonna tear into it later this week.

The part that has me stumped is, how can a blown head gasket cause a popping sound in the intake? I've seen headgaskets blow out the side of the head and cause the coolant leak w/o mixing with the oil, but the popping sound doesn't make sense.

RECAP:
-The truck has original head gaskets, 150,000 miles, 180cc injectors, and a stock turbo.

-Coolant blowing out the side of the head underneath exhaust manifold

-"Potato Gun" popping sound from the intake

Can anyone help?:thankyou2:
blackandstacked
03-26-2007, 03:39 PM
When You pull the head pull all the injectors and look down in the holes sounds to me like you have a cracked injector sleeve also.I ran across this when i worked on powerstrokes at a ford dealership. I actually had two trucks do this to me. That would be the cause of the popping sound. It will also cause excessive pressure in the cooling system, so muck that it will actuall blow the radiator cap off. Hope this helps.
oldschoolPSD
03-26-2007, 03:46 PM
Thanks I'll definately check that out. I also forgot to ask, what are my options with fire rings and head studs? I don't want to have to do this twice...
BIGRPOWR
03-26-2007, 03:56 PM
injector cups are brass. if you havent used ford coolant additive for the life of the truck the brass can corrode and crack the cup at the bottom by the inj nozzle. it happened to me but i lost all the coolant oput the exhaust pipe. maybe you built pressure in your cooling system somehow. dont sound like a hg to me.
fordtk12
03-26-2007, 04:41 PM
When You pull the head pull all the injectors and look down in the holes sounds to me like you have a cracked injector sleeve also.I ran across this when i worked on powerstrokes at a ford dealership. I actually had two trucks do this to me. That would be the cause of the popping sound. It will also cause excessive pressure in the cooling system, so muck that it will actuall blow the radiator cap off. Hope this helps.

injector cups are brass. if you havent used ford coolant additive for the life of the truck the brass can corrode and crack the cup at the bottom by the inj nozzle. it happened to me but i lost all the coolant oput the exhaust pipe. maybe you built pressure in your cooling system somehow. dont sound like a hg to me



all this is true I found out the hard way like you. The popping is just the coolant burning like the fuel. I just put head studs in, the fire rings cost a good bit and I have heard number of places that the studs will do the job.
lukecline
03-26-2007, 04:57 PM
sounds to me like you bent a pushrod if its popping out the intake like that.
oldschoolPSD
03-26-2007, 05:02 PM
It could be a pushrod too, the RPMs did get a little happy on the 4-OD shift... my tranny is not the tightest.

Can I check for bent pushrods without physically pulling them out and measuring? What are my options for upgrading the valvetrain?

Thanks for the help guys... I searched all over TDS to no avail. I would join and ask over there too if I hadn't been dealt with rudely by the management when I emailed requesting an exception to the "no free email services" rule.
lukecline
03-26-2007, 05:54 PM
If a pushrod is not seated between the lifter and rocker arm its a good sign its bent. When mine bent 2 pushrods it also broke the rocker arms. You can get chromoly pushrods for ~230 bucks IIRC and some 910 comp cams springs for around 100 bucks and eliminate floating valves.
oldschoolPSD
03-29-2007, 12:22 PM
Well I tore into the truck last night...
http://a466.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/61/l_42ca71e868c480af87b5bda85f1af739.jpg


And this I what I (didn't) find...
http://a114.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/56/l_faf4e4e5647e190e0b9218b5982aa391.jpg

after digging around in the head a bit, I pulled this out....
http://a105.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/3/l_3e4d0ccb3f4d07214bc2ef127f6047e8.jpg

I just ordered a new pushrod and a set of Comp 910-16 springs... The coolant is still a mystery though, I'm crossing my fingers and praying its an injector sleeve...
lukecline
03-29-2007, 04:10 PM
double check that rocker arm and make sure its not cracked!
txastuff79
03-29-2007, 04:14 PM
whats the torque spec for the rockers on a 2002 7.3?
oldschoolPSD
03-29-2007, 06:50 PM
I dunno, torque spec for a '96 is however hard i can crank down on my little piss dink 8mm wrench haha

I looked her over real good... the rocker arm looks to be in good shape. I stuck a pushrod in it and drove it around today to see if i could figure out the coolant issue... turns out my resevour is cracked! Thats a relief!!
dieselex
03-29-2007, 07:33 PM
I'm glad to hear you're gettin' it figured out!!