Three piece Volvo Penta riser gasket?

[muc]

Before you pull the dist. rotate engine clockwise and get it to TDC on the compression stroke. You have the valve cover off so thats easy. Use a scratch awl to mark the base of the dist. and where the rotor is pointing. That way if you do have to rotate the engine during repairs, it will be easy to get back to TDC.

My guess is that head is cracked under the exhaust valve for that cylinder. You will have to pull that valve to see it.

That is a freeze crack in the manifold.

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

I’ve got all the bolts, brackets and distributor removed but how do I break free the intake?

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

I removed the brass plugs from the back of the exhaust manifolds and both were plugged with crud. I removed them when I winterized but didnt think to poke the holes clean. I’m guessing that’s why one freeze cracked.

 

[Lou C]

For the exhaust manifolds I like to use a thin screwdriver although my new ones don't really clog....
for the intake, well I had the same problem...firstly, I'd clean out all the crud between the intake and the cyl heads and the front and rear parts of the manifold. Use some compressed air to blow out any debris, make sure that you have the hole for the distributor, and the carb mount covered up to keep out dirt.

The areas at the front and rear of the block are sealed with a type of silicone sealer. I'd get a sharp knife and dig some of this out, there will be a pretty decent sized gap there. Now some may disagree with my 'method' but what I did next was get a couple of wide blade screwdrivers and put electrical tape on the blades. Then slid them into the gap and pried it off. Using the tape will prevent the screwdriver from damaging the sealing surfaces. I tried other methods and this thing was not coming off easily. If you have the same experience as I did the cyl heads will come off much easier. If the bolts give you a rough time use an electric 1/2" impact gun.

Your next challenge will be getting that old sealer off the intake sealing surfaces...I used a razor scraper and a permatex gasket softener product...and patience...don't use rotary tools, they will make low areas that will cause sealing problems...

I like the Fel Pro marine head gaskets and intake gaskets, for the older engines they do sell them in a set...might be able to find it on Jegs or Summit racing....The head gaskets must be marine though.

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

I used a large kitchen knife to separate the manifold. Unfortunately part of the gasket stuck to the manifold and part to the block so it’s hard to see any evidence of a clear leak.

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

With no clear evidence of an intake leak should I still replace the head gasket even though compression was good? I’ve been lucky so far with every bolt coming out with no problem but I tried to loosen a head bolt but it didn’t budge. (hand tools only so far)

 

[alldodge]

Have to keep digging until you find the leak, otherwise it will leak once put back together.

 

[muc]

My guess is that head is cracked under the exhaust valve for that cylinder. You will have to pull that valve to see it.
.

You will have to pull the head to check for cracks, might as well do both.

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

I removed the head that leaks water into the cylinder and while I see no major blow out I do see a suspect part of the gasket. I looked close and see no cracks.

You can can see the difference between the old and new gasket.

I also see evidence of a leak in the rear valley sealer above the distributor hole.

What do I do next?

 

[alldodge]

Good, now make sure the head is flat within .003 before it goes back together

 

[Lou C]

Trying to figure out how the water got in the cyls, you may have had a leak at the rear of the intake but that would only put water in the cam valley most likely, its not likely to put water in a cyl. Notice how far away the water passage is from the intake ports in the cyl head. Looking at the head gaskets, you're looking for a slit in the fire ring near a water passage hole. It's hard to tell in pix but for sure you had something going on there between cyls 4 & 6.
I'd take off both heads and take them to a machine shop and get them checked for cracks, check the valve guides and replace the valve seals. While they are doing that, get the sealing surface of the block cleaned up and then look very carefully for cracks between a bolt hole and a water passage. Based on my experience with nearly the same engine you're more likely to have crack with a cyl head than the block. Make sure to clean out the cyl head bolt holes with a thread chaser, take a head bolt to the parts store to match up the right one. I found a set of these at a great specialty tool store here in Long Island.

PS I blew up your cyl head pix and saw what looks like a crack between the exhaust valve and the spark plug hole in the center cyl, can't really tell due to the carbon build up but this is why I say to get them checked out before re-installing. You can roll the dice and assume it was only the gasket but be back to square one if its the head(s). Any bad overheats in the time you owned it?

Start with cleaning up the sealing surfaces for the block and intake remember NO rotary tools! Even if you see them used on youtube!

 

[Lou C]

I looked at your pix blown up, found some things to check...

 

[muc]

Remove the other head.
Clean block and check flatness, especially between the cylinders where the gasket is bsd.
If all is good, send the heads out.

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

I got the other head off and again no obvious cracks or gasket blow out but does have the same bad looking section of gasket. Time to take the heads to the machine shop.

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

I took the heads to a machine shop and they will test them and do a valve job. They said the gasket didn’t blow out but “let loose” possibly from warpage. However it might be too late - I used an extendable magnet to retrieve a nut I dropped in the bilge area and brought up whole bunch of magnetic crud. I rinsed the bilge into a container and ran the magnet around and collected a whole lot more. I’m afraid this metal is from the engine when my oil change went bad and dumped the oil into the bilge. I cut open the filter and it is clean but this is from the second oil change.

 

[alldodge]

Looks like rust that would come from the outside of the oil pan, manifolds and other areas where it flakes off

 

[muc]

I’m guessing that is rust from draining the block and manifolds. I see that in the bilges of boats that don’t fill the block and manifolds with the proper antifreeze during storage.

 

[Lou C]

Agree I can’t imagine that was in your motor oil because you would have had low oil pressure due to it clogging up the oil pump screen and you would have seen that crud under the valve covers too...

 

[IGKNIGHTED]

OK - I feel better now. Thanks!

 

[Lou C]

your cyl heads cooling passages don't look that corroded at all but do take a look under the engine and see what's rusting, you want to know if your oil pan is about to rust through!
I found that if these are sprayed with Corrosion X or similar 1 time a season they last much longer, still have the original pan on mine....