david01130

I am losing water pretty bad and have no external leaks. Here are the facts:

--Drove 450 miles from San diego to san jose and had to refill 3 times with 1-2 gallons of water

--new radiator with 16lb cap

--when I refill it there is water in the overflow tank but not as much as what i put in

--compression test shows all cylinders between 110-120 except cylinder 1 is 90 and cylinder 5 is 68

--took off right head and head gasket looked good along with the valves and piston looked good too.

--when Im driving on the freeway the engine stays very cool at only 1/4 up from cold yet still seems to fill up the overflow tank witha 16lb cap

Anyone have any ideas? Im taking off the left head now.

cfd2bc

I had this issue on a dodge stealth. I was constantly putting water in but with no obvious leaks. It turned out to be small head gasket leak that was leaking on to the exhaust mainfold. It would burn up the fluid. I didn't smell anything and I didn't have any fluid in the oil. It took me a while to track it down.

Good luck,

Jeff

david01130

Yea I checked both head gaskets several times and they seem to be pretty good. Im going to buy new head gaskets and intake manifold gaskets now. There seem to be a lot of weird things that arent tied together. Cylinder 4 looks like it has a brand new piston in it. I mean it it spotless clean. I dont know why just one piston would be replaced and I was thinking maybe that cylinder wasnt firing. I also cant find anything wrong with piston 5 which has bad compression. For the water problem I am starting to think it has a bad cap. There are two different caps made by the same company and look exactly the same with the same pressure (model number 330 and 331). Im going to purchase the other cap and see if that solves the problem. Hopefully Ill have everything back together by the end of the night.

Randys66gt

Just like Jeff said, I too have had that prob. Something else to think about, in the 60's and 70's, to help clean the inside before breakdown, we used to raise the idle up by hand and pour water down the carb. What it basically did was to clean the combustion chamber and valves of the carbon buildup. After doing that, you could pull the heads and the pistons and valves LOOKED new! You might have a blown head gasket (warped head or block) in the cylinder.

fakesnakes

You might have answered your own question. Cylinder 4 could look new due to the constant steam cleaning it is getting via hot coolant. Check that head gasket carefully and hope it is not a cracked block or head.

JMD

Whatever the problem, seems like your engine is tired.

Chances are you should be able to see the path of the water/compression on the gasket..

You COULD have a cracked head or cylinder, but more than likely if it is an internal engine issue it is a gasket.

You migh have a very small pin hole in a radiator hose also. sometimes a hols can be so very small that it is hard to find.

If you had not taken you engine apart already Imight have recomended a lower pressure (or "no" pressure!) radiator cap to try and "steal" a few more miles...

david01130

both head gaskets looked good but I replaced them anyways and put the heads back on. Im pretty tired so Ill finish the rest tomorrow. Im thinking the water problem is the radiator cap. I had a 7lb cap on it originally back in san diego and there wasnt any issued with the water comming out of the radiator except once there was a little. 16lbs is a lot and there wasnt much pressure in the radiator when I checked it after I found water in the overflow tank. Hopefully its just that because I cant think of anything else other than to pull the engine and rebuild it. I checked for cracks and couldnt find any from what I could see.

For the bad compression in cylinder 5 I think the rocker arm might have been just too tight. When I took the heads off the left valve on cylinder 5 was open and I had to turn the nut 8 times before it barely came loose. Does that sound too tight?

Gary H

The clean piston is from water getting in that cylinder. Either through a leaking head gasket, intake gasket or a crack in the head. Being an end cylinder, I wouldnt be suprised if it was the intake gasket. And yes, having the rocker arm adjusted to tight will cause a drop in compression. Next time, put a little oil in the low cylinder. If it goes up, rings are toast. You probably should have had the heads looked at while they were off though, to make sure the valves were all good and they weren't warped.

fakesnakes

If that valve was open, then 8 turns to loose could be okay. It it was on the base circle of the cam, then 8 turns is way too tight.

Also, most head bolts are one time use as they stretch to torque. Make sure you use new headbolts if required or you may have this problem all over again.

JMD

This would generally apply to most/all new factory engines, and most if not all Ford MODULAR engines, but probably not the bolts used on most or all factory Ford OHV engines.

But then again, if a person ain't on a real tight budget, head bolts/studs are cheap enough, but I have seldom replaced bolts on a close to stock build.