I've been battling a water leak for quite some time. Originally, I had a leak in the radiator at the upper oil coolant line joint in the plastic tank. Put in a new GM radiator and was all set. Or so I thought! After awhile I noticed I was running low on coolant, it just kept getting worse, losing it quicker all the time. I never had any visual leaks, nothing coming out of the exhaust, but always a faint coolant smell. I was all set to tackle a heater core problem only the heater core wasn't leaking inside or outside the vehicle (thank goodness, not something I wanted to tackle). I lost enough coolant, as I would add water, I eventually had nothing but water in the engine and the water was getting rusty. I decided it was time to do a leak down test. I pumped up the coolant system to 16 lbs. one evening (engine not 100% cool, but really close) and left it over night. Next morning I still had 14 lbs. This problem was becoming a real pain! I decided on trying some KW block sealant. That is quite a process as the engine needs to be flushed, and no antifreeze can be present (my water was already rusty, so antifreeze was all gone:)). I ran a bottle of flush through the engine after I had thoroughly flushed the heater core, block, radiator and coolant tank. Water was running out crystal clear. Time to add the KW block/head gasket sealant. You premix the sealant with 3 quarts of hot water and add to radiator, start engine and top off cooling system with water. Allow engine to run AT LEAST 30 minutes (I let mine run for 1 hour). Allow engine to cool down, drain coolant system and leave open for 24 hours to thoroughly dry out. Flush system with water until it flow out clean and clear, drain, and top off with appropriate antifreeze mixture. Wow, I was finally done. After a whole week of driving, my radiator and over flow tank were still full! Finally, I fixed the blasted leak!
Previously, I had pulled the plugs and found the middle cylinder's plug on the passenger side of the vehicle to be burning white, as if it were lean, but I figured it was water (I did this when my system was purely water and no antifreeze). The front cylinder on the same side had a slight water burn look to it as well.
After about a month, she started losing antifreeze again, this time at about twice the previous rate! It is leaking bad enough now that I can tell in the mornings when I start the engine it is missing on a cylinder for a brief period, then smoothes out. Run fine down the road but idle is rough, similar to a leaky CPI. I called around to see who and how much labor would be to replace the head gaskets, prices ran from 600 to 1200. I figured I'd just do it myself. Well, this evening I tore in to it, 3 hours later I had the passenger side head off. The middle cylinder was the worst, the front has a little indication in it as well. Trouble is, I couldn't for the life of me tell where the head gasket was giving a problem. I'm hopeful it is not a cracked head. I'm still leaning towards a head gasket seep since it affects two cylinders. Attached are pictures of the cylinders and head. Notice the white flakey residue in the cylinder and the build up on the head and the prominently white valves of the middle cylinder. When viewing the pistons, you can see that the front two cylinders are been decarboned due to the water, the rear piston is still carboned up.
What I want to do is clean it up and replace the right head gasket and put it back together. However, I probably should have the head checked for cracks Any thoughts from the gurus on here?
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