The Project Pad

How do the plugs look? Particularly the one that was hard to get out?

Spend the time to try and get the water out. Will it crank over with the plugs out now? Did you ever fill back up with water post turbo change? Hard to believe the MLS would blow with studs unless something was screwy.

If it will turn over, take the plugs out, crank it over a bunch till you feel like the the majority of the water is out. Squirt some oil down there if it is goign to be a while till you can pull the head. If you have access to compressed air, attach a small tube to the nozzle and air dry the inside of the cylinder. If the leak is really bad, it will just fill back up with water. Best bet then is just to get the head off asap, or drain the coolant so it can't leak in.

Tough break

That sucks Darin. I know how much it sucks to blow a car up esp when it is running so good.

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Audilard wrote:Well, I'm sitting on the side of the freeway waiting for a tow. Getting on the freeway when I think a head gasket or something blew. Cloud of white smoke and quickly pulled over. Engine is locked.

Un-freakin-believable, you already blew up and I'm not even running yet!?!?!?! Seriously though Darin, I'm sorry to hear of the troubles! At least it's something easy to fix like the HG! As for the spark plug hole, helicoiling that sucker shouldn't be a big deal with the head pulled.

Wow.......just wow Darin. That just blows in the worst way possible. As far as that plug pulling threads, don't fix it till the head is off, and do a threaded insert. It's permanent, and waaaaaaaay better that crappy helicoil. Do it right brother. Let me know if I can help?

loxxrider wrote:If you tried to crank it over during hydrolock, you need to take a very good look at those rods. Sorry to hear this man, get it torn down and back in the car asap!

No, it never cranked once I got to side of the road and turned it off. It's turning just fine by hand very smoothly.

I'll be in the garage this Saturday if any of the SLC crew is willing and able.

I'm determined to get this thing back on the road ASAP. I'm super excited about the car right now and I'm not going to let this get me down. Just a hiccup.

So it doesn't matter that I am first on THE list?


IS IT DONE YET?

How do the plugs look? No signs of detonation?

It is just a hiccup. No catastrophic damage to the bottom end. Wort case find a head. I'd say your good. I'll see if I can break away Saturday but I'm betting you will have the head off in no time flat. I'm still in scrap mode on my k5 blazer and need to get the chassis stripped and over the scales asap.

do you offer babysitting services? I gotta check but i think i could lend a hand.

It's a good excuse to wear those awesome coveralls!

Hank, the plugs all were clean except for the threads on the 3rd cylinder, that was just from back threading. I just got the turbo off and there is water and oil in the header. The turbo is perfectly fine, but there is some burnt oil and water in the down pipe. The exhaust housing will come off to get cleaned and the header will need to be cleaned with brake cleaner. Chocolaty in the head. What a mess.

not to be a downer, but prepare for the worst and be happy with the best case. Worst case, you have to get another set of pistons, hone the block, weld a few scars on the head and slap it back together Savage style. Best case a headgasket cleanup gets er done.

I just find it unlikely that the headgasket blew with such little mileage on head studs with a decked head and block, unless a lack of water happened, detonation happened, or lack of torque on the studs after the first heat cycle? Did you re torque?

lets lighten the mood some.

pretty picture time:

Audilard wrote:I'm determined to get this thing back on the road ASAP. I'm super excited about the car right now and I'm not going to let this get me down. Just a hiccup.

Great attitude! That's the way to do it! :-)

Sorry for your continuing issues, I know how it feels.
I still haven't looked into my issues after cooking the motor at Road America 2 weeks ago. It was bad enough that the cylinders would fill with coolant, and not hydrolock. My guess is that my head is warped like a wet lasagna noodle. Oil temps reached 414*F according to telemetry.

Get her back on the road, she's too pretty to be sitting in a garage for long.

If you need welded up I got you covered

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Hey Darin, sorry to hear this. I did notice in that facebook vid that you had some detonation pulling out of the parking lot when you got on the gas. That black smoke is a tell tell sign. That and I remember Marc saying he found a pretty screwy area in your timing curve that probably lead up to this. Hopefully it is just a head gasket and you can be back on your way.

I have been using a saab apc knock light for a long time and recently switched over to a turboxs light. It is a slick little device and also doubles as a shift light. You baseline the sound profile of your motor at light load, then you adjust sensitivity from there. It's not perfect and still picks up lifter tick, but It does blink read if the motor knocks so at least you can get off it and retune or investigate further

http://www.knocklite.com/

It looks like they have discontinued the product. Ugh. I actually have an extra one that I told Hank he could buy, maybe you guys can share

Ugh!

With regard to the stripped plug hole...if you recall I had the problem with 'Brittle Nipples' aka the urS4. I used a threaded insert made specifically for spark plug holes, and it is actually made by the Helicoil brand...but it's not the crappy helicoil made from wound wire. It is arguably a better setup than stock as the aluminum threads are cut to a larger size (ie stronger due to more shear area) and the insert is steel, which is better for repeated plug removal. You basically just rethread, put some sealant on the insert, install and expand into place. I have the tool kit you can use if you just want to buy an insert.

Here is the kit:



You are 'lucky' as you get to do it with the head off, an option that I didn't really have at the time.

Jim, Marc was on the laptop during that exit from the parking lot. That was after fixing the boost hose leak and with VEMS set to cut overboost at 26 psi which is what happened. We romped on it for a good hour or so after that getting the tuning completely dialed in to 23 psi. Romped on it for the rest of that day and drove it all the way back home. It pulled strong yesterday morning and it was driving well.

I was entering the freeway in third gear, light load, shifted into fourth and was simply building boost, not at full throttle. It got past 20 psi when I noticed it was hesitating and acting weird. Right when I let off throttle is blew, tons of white smoke out the exhaust and I pulled over as fast as I could. It shut off right when I get pulled over. It didn't overheat. Tomorrow morning will be the "tell all" when the head will come off. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Cool, it did sound like it was running well, maybe it was just a loose headstud.

Well, if I can put mine back together after what my pistons looked like and the damage to my head, this will hopefully be a walk in the park....

I think that you be just fine. Wish I could help and then afterwards go for a real ride.

Like I mentioned, I'm thoroughly convinced my torque wrench is CRAP. I believe the head studs are the only thing I used it on so I'm hoping that is the issue. When I torque my wheels I can get an extra 1/8 turn fairly easily with my breaker bar. But like Hank said, I'm expecting damaged pistons, signs of detonation on the head, blown rings, bent valves, broken transmission, flat tires, bent axles, trunk lid won't open, cracked windshield, broken window regulators, melted wires, body panel damage, and my blinkers to not work. Although my hazard lights were working so there is hope.

I'm extremely happy it didn't happen in Vegas or on the way home. I might have left it in Vegas forever, if that happened.

I'm extremely happy it didn't happen in Vegas or on the way home. I might have left it in Vegas forever, if that happened.

Like I said earlier......first on the list! :wink: