i recently had cams, and valvetrain installed into my very healthy stock 250psi compression pre install motor. the head had to be pulled, so a new oem head gasket was put in. the builder suggested putting on a "head gasket sealer" along with the head gasket, which is what they used on all their previous builds, so i agreed to it.

i noticed ive been loosing a lot of coolant lately, so i decided on doing a compression test. 90psi on all 4 cylinders, my spark plugs looks "whitish" considering im running on the rich side. im thinking im burning coolant because of a head gasket leak? the car runs fine, other than these findings.

what does HT think??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NAB18CR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i recently had cams, and valvetrain installed into my very healthy stock 250psi compression pre install motor. the head had to be pulled, so a new oem head gasket was put in. the builder suggested putting on a "head gasket sealer" along with the head gasket, which is what they used on all their previous builds, so i agreed to it.

i noticed ive been loosing a lot of coolant lately, so i decided on doing a compression test. 90psi on all 4 cylinders, my spark plugs looks "whitish" considering im running on the rich side. im thinking im burning coolant because of a head gasket leak? the car runs fine, other than these findings.

what does HT think??</TD></TR></TABLE>
It sounds like the "head gasket sealer" didn't cure right and the head isn't completely sealed. What did they use? Did they use that copper spray crap?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by espanol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
It sounds like the "head gasket sealer" didn't cure right and the head isn't completely sealed. What did they use? Did they use that copper spray crap? </TD></TR></TABLE>


my motor has that "copper spray crap" and it went off the compression tester 255+ on all 4


just sounds like an iffy intsall, but are you getting oil and coolant mixing?

 

maybe the head gasket is on backwards?

how did you do the compression test?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tartje &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


my motor has that "copper spray crap" and it went off the compression tester 255+ on all 4


just sounds like an iffy intsall, but are you getting oil and coolant mixing?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, if used improperly that stuff will never dry and never seal. The oem gasket and Arp headstuds will do the job just fine w/ out copper spray.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by NAB18CR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> "head gasket sealer" </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats most likely a problem. Stuff like that is like a band-aid. Cars make 700+ HP with OEM head gaskets and none of that sealant crap. Not to mention it usually makes a nice mess if you ever have to put a new head gasket on.

 

Will using a head gasket sealer and not sealing the block properly well and burning coolant cause the head or block to mishapen or warp in any way? It should still be ok if I can replace the HG and clean up the sealer right?

 

Question answered in your PM.

 

problem solved? hopefully

i went to PA today, 3hr drive to surje motorsports where D-Rob helped diagnose the problem. as soon as i got there, drob did a compression test with his tester. when derick told me cylinder 1 had 235 compression, i had a wtf? look on my face so i immediately took out my own tester and aint it a bitch, my tester was leaking at 90psi. we did all 4 cylinders and it was 235/240 across the board. we also did a leakdown test, everything passed with flying colors with less than 3% loss in each cylinder. well, it looked like my motor is one healthy son of a jdm itr

so what about the coolant loss? it appears to have been coming from a coolant hose at the back of the block with either a pinhole or a tear. with a snip and reconnection, i *think* the problem has been solved. ill try to check it out another day if im still leaking coolant.

i want to send many thanks to DRob and company for the help today. hes a great tuner/mechanic and highly recommended. ill sure be going back with my next project in the near future.

 

I'm glad you're pleased with the work, Ryan.

BTW, my father and I are the ones who did the cams/valvetrain/HG install the other week.

If you need anything else, feel free to call me.

- Derek