Re: EMRGENCY HELP NEEDED!!
What gasket did you get for the powerhead? Was it the thick one, or the paper one?<br /><br />Did you use GSC on ALL gaskets that pertain to water? Did you re-torque the bolts after you heated the engine? You will be surprised how much they will re-torque! Those paper gaskets will smash if you put too much force on them and literally squeeze out, so you have to torque, heat and re-torque.<br /><br />I think if the head gasket was leaking internally, your compression test would show the leak.<br /><br />Is it possible to get the exhaust backplate off without removing the powerhead? You should be able to see a torn gasket. Something else I do to check surfaces is to mate them in there place with no gasket and try and rock it to see if it's uneven.<br /><br />Walker made a very good point about re-reading your post. His thoughts were problems associated with heat. cracked block, warped surfaces are all possibilities.<br /><br />Why did the center bearing spin? I am even wondering how it could have spun. Only thing I can think of is that maybe it was assembled before and the person didn't get the bearing to seat properly on the pin. Having said that, what else would that have caused to go bad? Did you trash any bearings? Did you have excesive end play in the crankshaft before removal? Did you have any rods that were black at either end? Any bearings that were black? Did your machine shop person say the heads were not flat? Was the block uneven as well? Since the bearing was not seated, or spun, what did the seal ring surfaces look like on the block? Was your lower bearing housing wallowed out at all(did the bearing just fall into the housing, or was it a slip fit?<br /><br />After I finished my motor a week ago I was so discouraged because I had the right bank head leak water externally. I tried to re-toque. I stripped 1 head bolt(I missed looking at the thread condition, was already fubar). Had to drill and tap. Fixed that. Next thing I did was strip the #2 cylinder spark plug. That hole was already wallowed out and couldn't hold enough to compress the washer on the plug. Off to the store I went to get a heli-coil kit. Got it running after that.... ran great for about 5 minutes.Then engine was missing on 2 cylinders intermittantly and sheared the flywheel key. Found pinched sensor wire at the place where it clamps to the timer base. Then... got it running, reached around to feel the temp on the head and got the shi* knocked outta me.. coils were cracked and sometimes arcing to block. replaced all coils. Now it's running(knock on wood) like a champ and I am the proud father of a re-born engine.<br /><br />I felt about 2" tall that weekend and was dissapointed in myself for not covering all the bases. I, like you, try to be VERY(as you put it) anal as to how I do things. Even though I had all these parts laying around for months I neverbothered to mess with them because I had mor important priorities with other parts that had to be assembled first.<br /><br />Sorry I am rambling on, but my point is this... we are all human(as far as I know)! You will get this thing running!<br /><br />If you can pull the exhaust backplate you might be able to see where the gasket failed, if it failed. Then you would just need to pull the lower bearing housing to remove the water and re-assemble.<br /><br />If you are near me I would be happy to come to your house and help. I am in south Texas, Houston.
. Given how easy it is to pull the powerhead and platform on this I'll do so and put the hose to it again. Dirk