Blowed my headgaskets again!

[InHock]

Damn I blowed my head gaskets again today and I am getting tired of this crap! Had my alky on and it still blowed them. I was just driving my car today and was passing another car on a two lane road and ran it up to about 90 and then looked down at the temp guage and it was at 250 and I pulled off the road and raised the hood and felt of hoses and they did not feel all that hot. I was about 4 miles from home so I drove on in and when I got home I checked the oil and presto! it was full of water again. I put the fel pro gaskets on it this last time and had cometics on before that. I need to figure out what is causing this and what kind of head gasket is better than the other. Thanks

 

[87GNSteve]

Do you have scan master?
What fuel pump?
Walbro 307? 340? 169?
You should run a fuel pressure gauge on the hood temporarily during tuning to see what is going on.
I willing to bet you have a dying fuel pump.

 

[gteatr6]

Make sure the heads are flat. I had studs with stock heads and was blowing gaskets left and right until I had a buddy check them. He milled .007 off to true them up and I never had a problem again.

 

[TurboBuRick]

I willing to bet you have a dying fuel pump.

X2

Have you tested your fuel system?

I have good luck with cometics. They are like a 60amp fuse. Fel-pro's 25 maybe 30amp. :biggrin:

 

[InHock]

Yes I have a 340 walbro. I have a fuel pressure guage and have put it out where I can watch it and I have plenty of pressure.I bought the champion iron heads and I am thinking they should be ok but when I pull them off this time I am going to make sure they are flat.

 

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Make sure the heads are flat. I had studs with stock heads and was blowing gaskets left and right until I had a buddy check them. He milled .007 off to true them up and I never had a problem again.

X2

Have you tested your fuel system?

I have good luck with cometics. They are like a 60amp fuse. Fel-pro's 25 maybe 30amp. :biggrin:

Both these quotes are good avice. Best of luck Hock

 

[king kong]

you never said how much boost your running?

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Lets see...temp at 250*, contents of the rad in the oil pan, and you drove it another 4 miles????
Maybe, while you are fixing the gaskets, take a look at the cam & the bearings.

 

[fc227]

Is one of the heads or the block have a crack ?

 

[InHock]

I am running 25lbs of boost,to much I guess. I have been reading the thread of race fuel vs alky that is in another section of this board and now I am really screwed up! If I would run race fuel of 110 octane all the time I think I would not keep having this problem. The fuel we have here might say 91 octane[what my chip is for] but I always have to re-dial my alky in to keep the knock sensor out of the red. I will just fix it again cause I really like these cars and I will do more research on how to prevent this from happening again.

 

[jasjamz]

i

Is one of the heads or the block have a crack ?

Good thought... I had a cracked head that caused the increased temps and milkshake in the oil pan. Did you notice any loss in power or engine miss?

 

[InHock]

That has crossed my mind. I hope I dont have a cracked head or block but you can bet your ass I will inspect it very good when I tear it down this time!

 

[fc227]

You have to pull the heads to replace the gaskets IMO have the heads check to make sure they are straight and not cracked.

When I lifted a head , when I was running the OLDS , I ended up have the heads shaved .004" to make them flat again. They where flat when the engine was built and it did not have many miles on it when I blew it up (popped a head gasket /lifted the head(s) ). So.............

 

[InHock]

jasjamz,now that you said loss of power,it did feel that way. It did not feel like it had the throw you back in the seat feel. I was passing the other car and it seemed sluggish.Damn,I hope nothing is cracked!

 

[TurboDave]

I am running 25lbs of boost,to much I guess. I have been reading the thread of race fuel vs alky that is in another section of this board and now I am really screwed up! If I would run race fuel of 110 octane all the time I think I would not keep having this problem. The fuel we have here might say 91 octane[what my chip is for] but I always have to re-dial my alky in to keep the knock sensor out of the red. I will just fix it again cause I really like these cars and I will do more research on how to prevent this from happening again.

If you're running that much boost on only 91 octane plus alky, there's a good chance that' your issue! ESPECIALLY since you said you're trying to keep the knock sensor out of the red.

If you're running 25# of boost, YOU BETTER NOT BE SEEING ANYTHING on the knock sensor, no yellow, no nothing.

ANY knock with that much boost is going to damage head gaskets and take them out in short order.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[TURBO 6]

If you're running that much boost on only 91 octane plus alky, there's a good chance that' your issue! ESPECIALLY since you said you're trying to keep the knock sensor out of the red.

If you're running 25# of boost, YOU BETTER NOT BE SEEING ANYTHING on the knock sensor, no yellow, no nothing.

ANY knock with that much boost is going to damage head gaskets and take them out in short order.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bingo!!

At 25#'s of boost things happen quickly. On 91 and alky you better have you're tune dead on.
When you get it back together, start the tuning process over again. You may have something wrong with your knock sensor or knock guage.
Remember, don't tolerate any knock at all.

 

[InHock]

So do any of you guys have a preference on head gaskets? Is one better than the other?

 

[TurboDave]

So do any of you guys have a preference on head gaskets? Is one better than the other?

There's nothing wrong with the Felpro's you had. I've run over 28# of boost on mine with no troubles.

Repeat 5,000 times: Can't allow any knock when over 20# of boost!

 

[boosted3]

Bingo!!

At 25#'s of boost things happen quickly. On 91 and alky you better have you're tune dead on.
When you get it back together, start the tuning process over again. You may have something wrong with your knock sensor or knock guage.
Remember, don't tolerate any knock at all.

X100! Im running a TA49 on alky with 91...right now im at 23psi and im not planning on going a bit higher! I am bottoming out my O2s in the 760s at the top of 3rd....if you are running 25 you better be looking at getting a little more octane to compensate! What fuel pressure are you running?

 

[Razor]

Since nobody asks...

What kind of alcohol? Whose kit? How old is the kit? How are you keeping an eye on air fuel?

And.. you pop the gasket.. mill the heads. Even if its .001.. If you dont.. you'll be sorry. And both surfaces better be 110% oil free or else.

What did you tq them down too? 85 correct?