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Head Gasket Help Needed

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Old 11-02-2013, 05:23 PM
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slammer1
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Default Head Gasket Help Needed

Hey guys:

Helped my son with a basket case 1990 Gt we picked up. Owner stated it had a blown head gasket, white smoke out the drivers side exhaust. Previous owner had bought Gt40p heads & Explorer intakes so we installed these on rebuild. Followes the Chiltons manual for the tear down & rebuild. Car fired up after i got the timing right but is now blowing smoke out both sides. The son reused the old Cyl head bolts with a Fel Pro no retorque head gasket set. He said that the Chiltons manual stated not to use any sealer on the lower head gasket bolts which i have now found out to be inaccurate info. My question is do you think we should try draining out the coolant. Pull out the lower bolts, seal the threads and retorque? The son did not use any sealant around the head gasket water passages which i believe is correct. Thanks for the help!!!
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Old 11-02-2013, 05:48 PM
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dawson1112
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You don't need any sealer on the head gaskets , never heard of such.

You should how ever use some sealer around the coolant ports between the heads and lower intake. Also the stock ford head bolts are TTY and can not be reused. You should have purchased a new set. You may be ok but I would never risk reusing the stock ones.

First thing I would do is pull the intake back off and use some RTV around the coolant ports on both sides of the intake gaskets. Put it back together , change the oil because coolant always runs down into the lifter valley and drains into the sump. Then see if you still have white smoke coming out the exhaust.
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Old 11-02-2013, 08:25 PM
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Dawson: Thanks for the reply! Will try it out & post results.
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Old 11-03-2013, 01:50 AM
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I'll confirm what Dawson stated.........
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Old 11-03-2013, 06:34 AM
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uedlose
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The 90 should not be torque to yield head blots. So you can reuse them if you want.
How long did you let the car run? if he got coolant down in the exhaust it could take a few miles to have it clear up. were all the gasket surfaces cleaned up and ALL the old gaskets removed?
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Old 11-03-2013, 06:46 AM
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Car only ran for a couple minutes, gaskets surfaces were perfect. He did not put any rtv on the lower intake gaskets. Will pull apart this week & get it right.
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Old 11-03-2013, 07:02 AM
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just because he didnt use sealer on the intake gaskets does not mean it is leaking there or leaking at all. Are you getting oil in the water? can you see water coming out anywhere?
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Old 11-03-2013, 07:05 AM
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dawson1112
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I agree with uedlose, If you only let the car run for a few min, it is normal for you to get some smoke after a had gasket and intake swap. You need to let it run 15 or 20 min to get up to full operating temp. Try that first. It never dawned on me that you only let it run for a short time.

Im not sure what year ford stopped using tty head bolts. Lol Im still stuck in sn95 mode cause I just got my 90 fox a month ago. I think in 93 they went to tty but I am not certain.
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Old 11-03-2013, 09:39 PM
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Water was dripping out the drivers tailpipe!
Took the intake off today and found coolant pooled in the lifter valley.
Got some new gaskets and rtv and put the lower back on.
Will put the upper back on in a couple days & report.
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Old 11-10-2013, 08:14 PM
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Question Update

Got the lower back on with new gaskets & rtv around coolant passages, heater core bypassed
Put everything back together, filled radiator with water & fired up.
Car started well, not any heavy smoke this time.
Car warmed up and started dripping water out both exhausts especially when revved.
No water in oil, coolant level is down a few inches for sure.
Not sure what to try next, should i show him how to do a cylinder pressure check
or crank over motor to see if any air bubbles come back up radiator?
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